Author: John EckmanPage 13 of 102

Talking Heads, Live on Tour, 1979 on Warner Bros

The Warner Bros. Music Show was a series of releases sent to radio stations for broadcast between 1979 and 1988 – they weren’t ever really intended to be…

Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Sam Lay, and Buddy Miles – Fathers and Sons, 1969 on Chess

Vinyl Me Please just credits the LP to Muddy Waters, but the back cover really credits everyone in the all star band. It was Waters’s biggest seller. One…

Cat Power, Covers, 2022 on Domino

Chan Marshall’s third album of covers. Like the previous two, it includes a re-recording of one of her own – the song “Hate” covered here as “Unhate.” Favorites…

Japandroids, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, 2017 on Anti- Records

Third full length from Vancouver BC rock duo Japandroids, and their first on Anti-. Came with a 24 page booklet insert and poster. There was a ~5 year…

Fiona Apple, When the Pawn . . . , 1999 on Clean Slate / Epic

The full title is: When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King What He Knows Throws The Blows When He Goes To The Fight And…

R.E.M., reckoning, 1984 on IRS

R.E.M.’s second full length LP (following Murmur – Chronic Town was just an EP) and the best album titled Reckoning to come out in the 80s (the second…

Eddie Harris & Les McCann, Second Movement, 1971 on Atlantic

Follow-up to the massively successful Swiss Movement (“Compared to What”), recorded at Atlantic Studios. Harris and McCann are joined by Cornell Dupree, James Rowser, Donald Dean, and Bernard…

Gerry Mulligan Quartet, self-titled, 1962 on Verve

The Mulligan Quartet with Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow, and Gus Johnson – mostly recorded at Tom Nola’s studio in New York in May 1962, with one live track…

Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia Live in San Francisco 1973, 2021 on Philadelphia International Records

There’s a complicated set of dates here – recorded in 1973 and released originally in 2012 on CD by Philadelphia International Records and Legacy (Sony’s label for reissues),…

Peter Case, HWY 62, 2015 on Omnivore Recordings

I’ve been a big fan of Peter Case since discovering The Man With The Blue Postmodern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar in the 80s. I didn’t know it at the…

Bronski Beat, Truthdate Doubledare, 1986 on MCA Records

This was Bronski Beat’s second full lengthy, after the mega success of The Age of Consent – and the first after Jimmy Somerville departed (to form the Communards)….

Willie Nelson, Stardust, 1978 on Columbia

Probably my favorite Willie Nelson album. Produced by Booker T Jones – Nelson using his newly found creative control to follow successful outlaw country records with a bunch…

R.E.M., Document, 1987 on IRS Records

Their last full-length on IRS before making the jump to Warner Bros, capping really a perfect run from 1982 (Chronic Town) to 1987. The “No. 5” on the…

Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Spring is Spring, 1963 on Philips

I’m a huge fan of Gerry Mulligan, from his days with Miles Davis and Chet Baker and all the various quartets and orchestras. This is Mulligan with Bob…

Lucinda Williams, Southern Soul: From Memphis to Muscle Shoals & More, 2021 on Highway 20

This is volume 2 in Lu’s Jukebox In Studio Concert Series – six episodes recorded at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Florida as a benefit to venues who…

Various Artists, If You’re Going To The City: A Tribute to Mose Allison, 2019 on Fat Possum

Fantastic collection on Fat Possum of artists covering songs Mose Allison wrote. Three-sided vinyl, with an etching on the fourth side. Also includes a DVD of Mose Allison:…

Spandau Ballet, True, 1983 on Chrysalis

Spandau Ballet’s third album and major breakout – with Steve Norman on Sax adding to the New Romantic sound. The title single was unavoidable in the early 80s,…

Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger, 1975 on Columbia.

This was the follow up to Shotgun Willie, and was a commercial and critical breakthrough as Nelson moved away from RCA (with two albums on Atlantic in between)…

Big Joe Williams, Hand Me Down My Old Walking Stick, 1969 on World Pacific

World Pacific was an imprint of Liberty Records. Recorded in London in 1968, when Williams was ~65 years old and was regularly touring European and American festivals. My…

Sorcha Richardson, Hot Fuss, 2022 on Turntable Kitchen

Another full album cover from the folks at Turntable Kitchen. This one has Irish singer/songwriter Sorcha Richardson taking on The Killers’ 2004 Hot Fuss. It’s an unexpected approach…