Gary Duncan with Crawfish of Love - Snake Language 2006

There aren't many, if any, medals or awards given for the positions of best second lead guitar players in rock history. If there were, though, Gary Duncan would be right up there for his work in Quicksilver Messenger Service. Quicksilver is most-remembered for John Cippolina's striking, shimmering leads. Yet part of what made them a solid band, rather than just a pretext for guitar solo grandstanding, was Duncan's sympathetic second guitar, which could play (often in the same song) both rhythm and accomplished lead lines on its own, with a more traditional tone than Cippolina's.

Quicksilver Messenger Service, like many of the '60s San Francisco psychedelic bands, were assembled from disparate parts that few would have guessed would have been compatible. In Quicksilver, Duncan and drummer Greg Elmore emerged from the teen garage rock scene. Both had been in the Brogues, though Duncan (born Gary Grubb), wasn't in the band when they did their first single in 1965. Under the name Gary Cole, he joined the Brogues in the summer of 1965 and was in the band when they recorded their second and last single, which paired a fine sullen version of "I Ain't No Miracle Worker" (better known as done by the Chocolate Watch Band) and "Don't Shoot Me Down" (in the style of one of Duncan's favorite bands, the Pretty Things). In late 1965, the Brogues broke up and Elmore and Duncan moved from Merced to San Francisco to join Quicksilver Messenger Service.

On Quicksilver's first two albums, Duncan also contributed some vocals and co-wrote standout songs like "Light Your Windows," "Gold and Silver," and "The Fool." However, Duncan left at the end of 1968, frustrated by what he felt was the band's lack of motivation to expand their repertoire and write new songs. In 1969, he tried to form bands with his good friend Dino Valenti, who had been planning to be in the group that became Quicksilver Messenger Service before getting busted, before Duncan was involved in the project (and before Duncan had even met Valenti). At the end of 1969, though, Duncan ended up rejoining Quicksilver and Valenti got in the band as well. The band radically changed in character as Valenti took a heavy role in the singing and songwriting, and Cippolina and David Freiberg left over the course of their early '70s albums, which were less impressive than those of the previous decade. Valenti and Duncan kept the band going through much of the '70s, but by the end of the decade, Duncan left music for a while to work as a longshoreman for a few years.

Duncan was the sole remaining member of the vintage Quicksilver -- as their name had now been shortened to -- when Peace by Piece came out in 1986. He has remained active in the music since, sometimes as the principal in Quicksilver. AMG.

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The Electric Prunes - California 2004

In 2004, 37 years after they hit the charts with "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night," the Electric Prunes were not only still functioning with three of the group's original members on board (James Lowe, Mark Tulin,and Ken Williams), but they cut their most ambitious album to date, a wildly eclectic and thoroughly psychedelic song cycle titled California. While for years conventional wisdom had it that the Prunes' sound was largely the work of producer Dave Hassinger and composer/arranger David Axelrod, California left no doubt that these guys could conjure up plenty of shimmering, effects-laden guitar and lysergic melodies all by their lonesome, and "Makin' Some Noise" and "I'll Drag You Home" could pass for some unhinged outtakes from the Electric Prunes' first two albums. Lead singer Jim Lowe doesn't have quite the same pipes he did as a youngster, but these tales of living through the Summer of Love into the decidedly less groovy New Millennium suit his more weathered instrument quite well, and both lyrically and musically this stretches far beyond what the Prunes accomplished in their salad days, edging past psych-tinged garage rock into the gorgeous folk rock of "Rickenbacker 12-String," the off-kilter Brian Wilson homage "Pacific Ocean Blue," and the surreal set closer "Cinema Verite." California is a long, strange trip from a band who set an unexpectedly high target for themselves and thankfully hit the bulls-eye; fans of the band's vintage music and curious observers of psychedelic will find this well worth a listen. AMG.

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Tony Allen - Lagos No Shaking 2006

Tony Allen, drummer for Fela Kuti's band Africa 70 and one of the innovators of Afro-beat, has spent much of his solo career exploring other genres, melding them with his distinct percussion style and showing its, and therefore his, diversity. In Lagos No Shaking, however, Allen returns -- literally and musically -- to where he first started. Recorded during ten days in June 2005 in Nigeria's largest city and Allen's hometown, the album is pure Afro-beat, drawing from Kuti's sax players Baba Ani and Show Boy and local singers Fatai Rolling Dollar and Yinka Davies, among others, to complete his band. And what results is a good -- even great at moments -- album, and while it might not take you back completely to the days of Kuti's dominance, it's a lot closer to it that any other contemporary recording. The two guitars, one on rhythm and one on choppy, tinny riffs, and a bass -- probably the actual funkiest instrument on the album -- work in and out of the polyrhythms that Allen and percussionist Yinka Ogunye create as the foundation of the songs. The horns -- sharp and brassy yet slightly muted, just like they should be -- fill in when necessary, generating movement while everything else stays relatively mellow and controlled. Not that Lagos No Shaking is a relaxed record: there's still plenty of punch and swing in the arrangements, but it doesn't have the biting sarcasm and provocativeness that Kuti's music had, focusing more on feeling and continuity instead. Still, it moves, and it moves well. The band is always tight, with thoughtful, interesting grooves, and when Rolling Dollar adds his world-weary vocals, it's almost impossible not to be transported to a hot, bustling Nigerian street. "Ise Nla," the album's opener, is fun and busy, while in "Aye Le," despite its rolling horns, there's a melancholy in the scratchy vocals as he sings about the hardships of life, and the percussion and voice version of the traditional "Awa Na Re" is stunningly profound in its simplicity, the two sounds working together to bring the best out of the others without compromising their own importance. There's a genuine warmth to everything in Lagos No Shaking that comes from Allen's dexterous hands, a sincerity, and soul that can't be faked or duplicated, proving very much why he is such an important figure in Afro-beat, and why his albums should absolutely be listened to. AMG.

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Robyn Hitchcock - Eye 1990

Six years after his superb I Often Dream of Trains, Robyn Hitchcock returned to the acoustic format of that album with Eye, and while the surfaces of the two albums are similar and Eye was eagerly embraced by fans, the tone of the two discs is considerably different. I Often Dream of Trains was a collection of songs written as Hitchcock was slowly returning to a career in music after a two-year layoff, and there's a striking if subtle power in the occasional tentative moments and understated tone.Eye, on the other hand, is a far more confident album, and Hitchcock's performances boast a precision that befits a musician who had been recording and touring at a steady clip for the past six years, especially in his splendid guitar work. The surreal whimsy of I Often Dream of Trains also takes a backseat on Eye, replaced by the relative clarity of "Cynthia Mask," an idiosyncratic but unblinking condemnation of Britain's failings during World War II, "Raining Twilight Coast," a point-of-view profile of various emotional hurts, and "Queen Elvis," a meditation on the effects of fame; the mostEye can offer in the way of humor is "Clean Steve" and "Certainly Clickot." But if Eye isn't the understated masterpiece I Often Dream of Trains was, it's Hitchcock's most consistent and satisfying album of the '80s; the songs are intelligent, effective and don't rely on his eccentricities to work, while the melodies are winning and his vocals are beautifully modulated. While Eye lacks Hitchcock's exciting electric guitar work, it's still the best representation of his music from a period when he made a couple of good records but few great ones. AMG.

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Breathe Owl Breathe - Passage of Pegasus 2013

Long-running Michigan trio Breathe Owl Breathe spun their intricate sound so patiently and considerately over the course of more than a decade that they slowly transcended the folk and indie scenes they were born from, growing into an entity based on storytelling and instrumentation that became more unique and unexpected with subsequent releases. Sixth album Passage of Pegasusfinds the band coming into its finest hour so far, with singer/songwriter Micah Middaugh's endlessly descriptive lyrics breathed out in a Bill Callahan-esque croon and absorbed by the woven tapestry of counter-melodies, production, and shifting instrumentation from bandmates Trevor Hobbs andAndréa Moreno-Beals. Distinguished by Moreno-Beals' Zen-like cello lines and Hobbs' multi-instrumental juggling, the joyful and reaching instrumentation accentuates Middaugh's vividly imaginative lyrics on tunes like the monster movie meets awkward mumblecore movie soundtracking of "Silent Movie Reel" and the electro-tinged character study song "Explorer." Passage of Pegasusrepresents Breathe Owl Breathe at their height of experimentation in production, and also finds the trio calling on some friends they made on tour to help out with the proceedings, with guest spots from folk legends like Michael Hurley and Victoria Williams as well as indie luminaries from Little Wingsand Fruit Bats. Approaching a dreamlike state while remaining rooted in a decidedly earthy sound,Passage of Pegasus is the strongest work from the band so far, and points to even further progress toward something fearlessly unique and songs as curious as they are exacting. AMG.

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V.A. - Bagdad Cafe OST 1988

This is a unique original soundtrack featuring the songs and instrumental pieces from the quirky 1988 film. The centerpiece of the soundtrack is the Academy Award nominated "Calling You," written by Bob Telson and performed by Jevetta Steele. The spirited performance of "Brenda, Brenda" is captured, as are other musical interludes from the film. The second half of the soundtrack features a telling of the story of Bagdad Café, narrated by the film's director and co-author, Percy Aldon. Most of the songs for this film were written by Telson, and his own version of "Calling You" is included. Dig this movie, don't miss it. AMG.

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Chris Smither - I'm A Stranger Too 1970

Chris Smither left New Orleans in the mid-'60s for Boston, and quickly became part of a booming Cambridge folk scene that also included Bonnie Raitt, who went on to make his "Love (Me) Like a Man" a folk-blues standard. He eventually signed a deal with Poppy Records, which led to the release of I'm a Stranger Too! in 1970. Although he was just entering his mid-twenties, Smither's songs already had the insight and eloquence of some of the period's best singer/songwriters, yet with the roll of his Louisiana roots and a strong debt to bluesmen like Mississippi John Hurt, Willie McTell, andLightnin' Hopkins. He also had a great ear for outside material, borrowing from writers such as Neil Young and Randy Newman. He went back a couple of years to Young's days with Buffalo Springfieldfor the innocence of "I Am a Child," as well as to a pair of more recent choices from Newman's (then just released) 12 Songs. The production on I'm a Stranger Too!, built primarily around Smither's intricate, bluesy fingerwork and prematurely mature baritone, works best the closer that it's pared to the bone. As great as Newman's "Have You Seen My Baby" (the source of the album's title) and his own "Love You Like a Man" are as songs, the full band arrangements here seem a bit thin in comparison to some of the more stripped-down cuts. Smither went on to successfully re-record these and a few more tracks from the record (along with selections from 1972's Don't It Drag On) 20-plus years later, but there's still a certain charm to these early versions. I'm a Stranger Too! is a portrait of an artist who stepped onto the scene fully formed, yet still with plenty of room to grow. Reissued in 1997 by Collectables as a two-fer with Don't It Drag On. AMG.

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Brew Moore - The Brew Moore Quintet 1998

An excellent cool-toned tenor saxophonist proud of the influence of Lester Young, Brew Moore only recorded on an infrequent basis during his career. He did make two albums for Fantasy that were reissued in the Original Jazz Classics series. The three dates included on this set were all cut in San Francisco with local (and now obscure) musicians: trumpeter Dick Mills, pianist John Marabuto, bassist Max Hartstein, drummer Gus Gustofson and an unidentified guitarist. Marabuto contributed three originals; Mills wrote "Rotation," and the other four songs are familiar standards. Moore plays well (despite a hectic lifestyle, he was pretty consistent on records) and the music is relaxed and swinging. AMG.

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Tony Williams - Angel Street 1989

All of the recordings by Tony Williams' hard bop quintet of the late '80s/early '90s are worth owning. Trumpeter Wallace Roney, Billy Pierce (on tenor and soprano), and pianist Mulgrew Miller offered consistently satisfying solos, bassist Charnett Moffett was excellent in support, and the drummer-leader constantly pushed his sidemen; in concert his "support" could nearly drown out the soloists. For this 1988 studio session, Williams contributed nine originals including "Pee Wee" from his days with Miles Davis. The music is generally straight-ahead and full of passion. AMG.

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Sheryl Crow - Unreleased First Album 1993

Sheryl Crow's fresh, updated spin on classic roots rock made her one of the most popular mainstream rockers of the '90s. Her albums were loose and eclectic on the surface, yet were generally tied together by polished, professional songcraft. Crow's sunny, good-time rockers and world-weary ballads were radio staples for much of the '90s, and she was a perennial favorite at Grammy time. Although her songwriting style was firmly anchored to the rock tradition, she wasn't a slave to it -- her free-associative, reference-laden poetry could hardly have been the product of any era but the '90s. Her production not only kept pace with contemporary trends, but sometimes even pushed the envelope of what sounds could be heard on a classicist rock album, especially on her self-titled sophomore effort. All of this made Crow one of the most dependable stars of the decade, and she showed no signs of relinquishing her hard-won success in the new millennium.

BadSheryl Suzanne Crow was born February 11, 1962, in Kennett, Missouri. Her parents had both performed in swing orchestras, her father on trumpet and her mother as a singer; her mother was also a piano teacher, and ensured that all her daughters learned the instrument starting in grade school. Crow wrote her first song at age 13, and majored in music at the University of Missouri, where she also played keyboards in a cover band called Cashmere. After graduating, she spent a couple of years in St. Louis working as a music teacher for autistic children. She sang with another cover band, P.M., by night, and also recorded local advertising jingles on the side. In 1986, Crow packed up and moved to Los Angeles to try her luck in the music business. She was able to land some more jingle-singing assignments, and got her first big break when she successfully auditioned to be a backup singer on Michael Jackson's international Bad tour. In concert, she often sang the female duet part on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," and was inaccurately rumored by the tabloids to have been Jackson's lover. After spending two years on the road with Jackson, Crow resumed her search for a record deal, but found that record companies were only interested in making her a dance-pop singer, which was not at all to her taste.
The End of the Innocence Frustrated, Crow suffered a bout of severe depression that lasted about six months. She revived her career as a session vocalist, however, and performed with the likes of Sting, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Foreigner, Joe Cocker, Sinéad O'Connor, and Don Henley, the latter of whom she toured with behind The End of the Innocence. She also developed her songwriting skills enough to have her compositions recorded by the likes of Wynonna Judd, Celine Dion, and Eric Clapton. Thanks to her session work, she made a connection with producer Hugh Padgham, who got her signed to A&M. Padgham and Crow went into the studio in 1991 to record her debut album, but Padgham's pop leanings resulted in a slick, ballad-laden record that didn't reflect the sound Crow wanted. The album was shelved, and fearing that she'd let her best opportunity slip through her fingers, Crow sank into another near-crippling depression that lingered for nearly a year and a half. However, thanks to boyfriend Kevin Gilbert, an engineer who'd attempted to remix her ill-fated album, Crow fell in with a loose group of industry pros that included Gilbert, Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, David Ricketts, Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz. Dubbed the Tuesday Night Music Club, this collective met once a week at Bottrell's Pasadena recording studio to drink, jam, and work out material. In this informal, collaborative setting, Crow was able to get her creative juices flowing again, and the group agreed to make its newest member -- the only one with a recording contract -- the focal point.
Tuesday Night Music ClubCrow and the collective worked out enough material for an album, and with Bottrell serving as producer, she recorded her new official debut, titled Tuesday Night Music Club in tribute. The record was released in August 1993 and proved slow to take off. Lead single "Run Baby Run" made little impact, and while "Leaving Las Vegas" attracted some attention, it reached only the lower half of the charts. A&M took one last shot by releasing "All I Wanna Do," a song partly written by poet Wyn Cooper, as a single. With its breezy, carefree outlook, "All I Wanna Do" became one of the biggest summer singles of 1994, falling just one position short of number one. Suddenly, Tuesday Night Music Club started flying out of stores, and spawned a Top Five follow-up hit in "Strong Enough" (plus another minor single in "Can't Cry Anymore"). Crow was a big winner at the Grammys in early 1995, taking home honors for Best New Artist, Best Female Rock Vocal, and Record of the Year (the latter two for "All I Wanna Do"). Her surprising sweep pushed Tuesday Night Music Club into the realm of genuine blockbuster, as its sales swept past the seven million mark. After close to a decade of dues-paying, Crow was a star.
Unfortunately, success came at a price. In 1994, Crow had been invited to perform "Leaving Las Vegas" on Late Night with David Letterman. In a brief interview segment, Letterman asked if the song was autobiographical, and Crow offhandedly agreed that it was. In actuality, the song was mostly written by David Baerwald, based on the book by his good friend John O'Brien (which had also inspired the film). Having been burned by the industry already, some of the Tuesday Night Music Club took Crow's comment as a refusal to give proper credit for their contributions. Baerwald in particular felt betrayed, and things only got worse when O'Brien committed suicide not long after Crow's Letterman appearance. Although O'Brien's family stepped forward to affirm that Crow had nothing to do with the tragedy, the rift with Baerwald was already irreparable. Some Club members bitterly charged that Crow's role in the collaborative process was rather small, and that the talent on display actually had little to do with her. Tragedy struck again in 1996 when Crow's ex-boyfriend, Kevin Gilbert, was found dead of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Sheryl Crow Stung by the accusations, Crow set out to prove her legitimacy with her second album when the heavy touring for Tuesday Night Music Club finally ended. Bill Bottrell was originally slated to produce the record, but fell out with Crow very early on, and the singer ended up taking over production duties herself. However, she did bring in the noted team of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake as assistant producer and engineer, respectively. Froom and Blake were known for the strange sonic experimentation they brought to projects by roots rockers (the Latin Playboys) and singer/songwriters (Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega), and they helped Crow craft a similarly non-traditional record. Released in the fall of 1996, Sheryl Crow definitely bore the stamp of the singer's personality and songwriting voice, especially in the idiosyncratic lyrics; plus, she was now doing most of the writing, usually with her guitarist, Jeff Trott, proving that she could cut it without her estranged collaborators. The singles "If It Makes You Happy," "Everyday Is a Winding Road," and "A Change Would Do You Good" were all radio smashes, and "Home" also became a minor hit. Sheryl Crow went triple platinum, and Crow brought home Grammys for Best Rock Album and another Best Female Rock Vocal (for "If It Makes You Happy").
Tomorrow Never Dies [Original Soundtrack]Crow toured with the Lilith Fair package during the summer of 1997 (the first of several tours), and subsequently wrote and performed the title theme to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. In the fall of 1998, she returned with her third album, The Globe Sessions. A more straightforward, traditionalist rock record than Sheryl Crow, The Globe Sessions didn't dominate the airwaves in quite the same fashion, but it did become her third straight platinum-selling, Top Ten LP, and it won her another Grammy for Best Rock Album. It also spawned two mid-sized hits in the Top 20: "My Favorite Mistake" and "Anything But Down." In 1999, she contributed a Grammy-winning cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" to the soundtrack of the Adam Sandler comedy Big Daddy. She also performed a special free concert in New York's Central Park, with an array of guest stars including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Chrissie Hynde, the Dixie Chicks, Stevie Nicks, and Sarah McLachlan. The show was broadcast on Fox and later released as the album Live in Central Park, just in time for the holidays. "There Goes the Neighborhood" won her another Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal; however, partly because of some shaky performances, the album flopped badly, not even going gold.
Trouble in Shangri-La Hit with a case of writer's block, Crow took some time to deliver her fourth studio LP. In the meantime, she produced several tracks on Stevie Nicks' 2001 album, Trouble in Shangri-La, and also recorded a duet with Kid Rock, "Picture," for his album Cocky. Finally, in the spring of 2002, Crow released C'mon C'mon, which entered the LP charts at number two for her highest positioning yet. It quickly went platinum, and the lead single, "Soak Up the Sun," was a Top 20 hit and another ubiquitous radio smash. The follow-up, "Steve McQueen," was also a lesser hit. At the beginning of 2005 it was announced that there would be two simultaneously released new albums available by the end of the year. The project was then scaled back to the single-disc Wildflower, which saw release at the end of September. Crow was forced to take time off from her musical career in 2006 after being diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. After successful treatment, she returned in 2008 with her sixth studio album, Detours. The soul-inspired 100 Miles from Memphis followed in 2010 and featured guest spots from Keith Richards, Justin Timberlake, and Citizen Cope. By the end of that year she had performed with Loretta Lynn and Miranda Lambert on the title track of a Lynn tribute album, Coal Miner's Daughter. This country-focused collaboration was an early indicator of the direction that Crow's work would eventually take in the years that followed.
Seeking Major Tom A creatively quiet 2011 ended with her appearance on William Shatner's space-themed third studio album, Seeking Major Tom. Crow's delicate, piano-fueled cover of K.I.A.'s "Mrs Major Tom" was generally received by critics as one of the highlights of the disc. Then, in summer 2012, she revealed details of another health scare. Although Crow had been diagnosed with a brain tumor at the end of 2011, it was found to be benign and six months on, she was quoted in many news reports as feeling healthy and happy. That November she issued the download-only, politically charged "Woman in the White House." It was her first self-penned material to appear in a couple of years and was her most out-and-out mainstream country track to date. March 2013 saw the release of "Easy," the first single to appear ahead of Feels Like Home, a country-steeped full-length that appeared in September of 2013. AMG.

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Chevy - The Taker 1980

Although generally associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Warwickshire, England, bandChevy really had their roots in '70s hard rock and boogie. As for the players themselves, guitarists Paul Shanahan and Steve Walwyn, bassist Bob Poole, drummer Andy Chaplin, and particularly vocalist/guitarist Martin Cure were rumored to have been active with different bands as early as the late '60s, so that they were clearly veterans by the time their Lynyrd Skynyrd-like, eponymous track found its way into 1980's N.W.O.B.H.M.-derived Metal for Muthas, Vol. 2 compilation. An album calledThe Taker, recorded for the Avatar label, followed later that year, but after embarking on a short tour with Hawkwind and a featuring on BBC's In Concert series, Chevy began floundering. They experienced various internal personnel and external and business difficulties, eventually winding down their activities completely by 1983. AMG.

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Carmen Miranda - The Brazilian Bombshell Best of Carmen Miranda 1998

Sexualized as a caricatured commercial commodity yet also strangely neutered as an ethnic "other" in Technicolor motion pictures, Carmen Miranda did as much as Xavier Cugat to popularize Latin American music in the U.S.A. during the 1940s. Born in Portugal, raised in Rio de Janeiro, Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha became popular in Brazil during the 1930s as a cabaret singer, recording artist, and movie actress. This chronologically arranged Living Era sampler picks up her trail in 1939, when she began making records in the U.S. after successful work on Broadway and the beginnings of an eight-year involvement with 20th Century Fox in Hollywood. Usually accompanied by the Bando da Lua e Garoto, a small authentic Brazilian ensemble, she dishes out genuine Latin American songs, dallies with the occasional pop novelty, and sings "Chattanooga Choo Choo" in Portuguese. This compilation closes with two songs performed in collaboration with the Andrews Sisters in front of Vic Schoen & His Orchestra, a souvenir of Carmen Miranda's 1947 switch from Fox to MGM. She also made pictures with Paramount and was pursuing a career in television when suddenly, while rehearsing with Jimmy Durante on August 5, 1955, she died of a heart attack, an apparent victim of massive and prolonged cocaine abuse. This pleasant retrospective is an excellent introduction to the music of Carmen Miranda. AMG.

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