The Beatles- Beatles For Sale (1964)- **** The Kirkbys- It's A Crime: The Complete Recordings (2025)- ***
Paul McCartney & Wings- Red Rose Speedway + Bonus Tracks (1973)- **** (Watched and really enjoyed "Man On The Run." I feel an early solo Macca & Wings binge coming on.)
Peter & Gordon- Hot Cold & Custard (1968)- ***1/2 Paul & Linda McCartney- Ram (1971)- **** XTC- The Big Express: Steven Wilson Remix (1984/2023)- **** The Claypool Lennon Delirium- South Of Reality (2019)- **** Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys- Bayou Ruler (1998)- ***1/2 Wings- Wild Life: Abbey Road HSM (1971/2021)- **** The Orlons- Personal Playlist (2026)- **** (It's HERE, if you want it.) The Equals- Personal Playlist (2026)- **** (It's HERE, if you want it.)
Sun Ra- Bad & Beautiful (1972)- ***1/2 Radiohead- Amnesiac (2001)- ** (This was a mistake. It's as bad as I remembered.)
Todd Rundgren- A Wizard/A True Star (1973)- **** (Both this brilliant record and I were released on this date. The album in 1973 and me not in 1973.)
Peter Tosh- Mama Africa (1983)- **** Dub Specialist- Dub Store Special (1974)- **** Johnny Guitar Watson- Ain't That A Bitch (1976)- **** The Legal Matters- Chapter Three (2021)- *** (This is a nice record. But if you played it for me without telling me who it was, I would never have guessed it was the same band I just raved about. It's like they grew tenfold between this record and the new one five years later.)
Robert Plant- Dreamland (2002)-**** Todd Rundgren- The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect: Side One (1982)- **** XTC- Drums & Wires (1979)- **** Yes- Fragile Rarities (1971/2024)- ***1/2 Sex Pistols- Never Mind The Bollocks...: Kevin Gray Cut (1977/2025)- ****
v/a- Showcase Volume 1: Twelve Tribes Of Israel (1980)- *** Django Reinhardt- 1947, Vol. 2 (1999)- ***1/2 Sting- The Soul Cages (1991)- **** Olu Dara- In The World From Natchez To New York (1998)- **** The Legal Matters- Lost At Sea (2026)- **** Bob Dylan- Tell Tale Signs: Sal's Playlist (2008/2026)- ***1/2 Donnie Iris- Back On The Streets- ***1/2 (One of the best concerts I have ever seen. The Ritz, 1981, touring for his second album "King Cool." Amazing showman and vocalist. Killer band. I caught Kevin Valentine's drum stick, which I think is worth almost three dollars now.)
Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs- Pigus Drunkus Maximus (1987)- **** Michael Monroe- Outerstellar (2026)- **** (Another winner from Michael Monroe. This was my third or fourth pass and it is still holding strong. Here are two. The album closer is epic.)
The Babys- On The Edge (1980)- **** (John Waite is one of the greatest singers of all time. More people need to think so. Click on THIS for some of my faves.) Thin Lizzy- Jailbreak (1976)- **** (It may be an obvious choice for their best record, but maybe it was popular because it was their best. I believe Irving Berlin said that. And speaking as I was about John Waite, Phil Lynott is another amazing singer that does not get enough credit or respect. Phrasing? Well, there's Frank Sinatra. How about Robert Palmer? And how about Phil Lynott? Okay, easy there. That's not an official Top Three, but Philo is so damn good, I needed to mention it.)
Elvis Costello & The Confederates- Tokyo, 11/17/87 -**** (My two favorite EC records are "King Of America" and "Blood & Chocolate." My favorite concerts of all time are the five nights of Elvis on Broadway in 1986. There was nothing like it. This show is a pretty great representation of that week. It's HERE if you care.)
George Harrison- Electronic Sound (1969)- * (After the surprise enjoyment of "Wonderwall Music," I thought I'd try this. This is crap.)
Peter Tosh- Bush Doctor (1978)-**** The Harvey Averne Dozen- Viva Soul (1968)- ***1/2 The Kinks- Kinda Kinks (1965)- **** Nucleus- Elastic Rock (1970)- ****
Mod Lang- Borrowed Time (2026)- *** (The review I read said this record is "pulling from the widescreen pop drama of Big Star and the melodic muscle of The Raspberries without slipping into nostalgia." Unfortunately, every song sounds like The Beatles, which isn't a bad thing, other than, that certainly IS "slipping into nostalgia." Still worth a second spin.
Neil Sedaka- Personal Playlist (2026)- **** (Many years ago, a bunch of us got tickets to see Fountains Of Wayne. A few weeks after that, tickets went on sale for Neil Sedaka at Joe's Pub. I had seen FOW a number of times already and had never seen Neil. But, we had dinner plans and no one was even remotely excited by the prospect of seeing a legend, except me. The FOW show started later than usual and when Chris Collingwood took the stage, he immediately said, "Sorry we're late. We were singing with Neil Sedaka over at Joe's Pub." Still not over it.)
Deee-Lite- World Clique (1990)- ****
(One of the best dub records of all time, if you're into that thing, is HERE for your enjoyment.)
The Legal Matters- Lost At Sea (2026)- ***1/2 (Midwest powerpoppers have a little more going on than your usual power poppers. Full review coming on Monday's Burning Wood.)
Iggy Pop- Every Loser (2023)- **** Small Faces- S/T: Decca, MONO (1966)- **** Thin Lizzy- Bad Reputation (1977)- ****
Sun Ra And His Arkestra Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold (1976)- **1/2 (Original copies of this have sold for $500 on average, and as much as $1100! It's a pretty tough listen, even if you dig free jazz.)
Wingless Angels- Volume Two (2010)- **** Gene Clark- No Other (1974)- **** (Always thought this was a tad overrated...until today. Pretty great.)
Sun Ra- Jazz In Silhouette (1959)- *** Quiet Sun- Mainstream (1975)- **** The Left Banke- Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (1967, Stereo)-**** Ramases- Space Hymns (1971)- ***1/2 (Essentially the first 10cc record, written and sung by Kimberly Barrington Frost, aka Ramases. Solid, spacey, weird and a lot of fun.)
Rockfour- Octopus Ride: Rockfour Playing Syd Barrett (2026)- ****
The Electric Prunes- Underground: MONO (1967)- **** (Much better than the first album.)
v/a-Where The Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets, 1965-1968- Personal Playlist (2009/2026)- ***1/2 Ultravox- Ha! Ha! Ha! (1977)- **** Michael Monroe- One Man Gang (2019)- ****
Bob Dylan-Essential: Vinyl Edition (2016)- ***1/2 (I would happily swap "Lay Lady Lay," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Gotta Serve Somebody" off the vinyl for "Hurricane," "Shelter From The Storm" and "Silvio"from the CD. I'd also swap everything for 20 different versions of "Mississippi.")
Jerry Garcia/David Grisman- S/T (1991)- ***1/2 Elvis Costello & The Attractions- All This Useless Beauty (1996)-**** Bob Dylan- Shot Of Love (1981)- **** Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & Trinity- A Kind Of Love In: 1967-1971 (2004)- ***1/2 Rockfour- Octopus Ride: Rockfour Playing Syd Barrett (2026)- ****1/2 (This is the most fun I've had all week. I haven't thought about these guys in 20 years. We stocked a couple of their discs in our modest power pop and psych section back in the day. Then a few days ago, this record turned up in one of my Todd Rundgren groups. It's so damn good! Helps if you love Syd Barrett, though actually, it's so good, it may change your mind if you think you don't like Syd Barrett.)
Utopia- Oblivion (1983)- **** Say She She- Cut & Rewind (2025)- ****
Thad Jones- The Magnificent Thad Jones (1956)- **** (There are few things cooler than the groove on the intro of "April In Paris.)
George Harrison- Wonderwall Music (1968)- *** (This is much better and far more interesting than I remembered. I guess it helps if you don't go in expecting "Taxman." HBD, George.)
Bad Brains- S/T (1982)- **** The Honeybus- At Their Best (1989)- **** (R.I.P. Pete Dello.)
Miki Curtis- The First Ear (1972)- ***1/2 (Vertigo records release #100. First time hearing it. Curtis fronted the band Samurai, who I don't know, but his first solo album, sung all in Japanese, covers a lot of ground and all of it is incredibly interesting. It's a psych pop record at heart, but there are some sweet baroque moments, as well. Good stuff.) Enuff Z'nuff- Covered In Gold (2014)- ** (Loud, garish covers album, completely without finesse. 200 Beatles songs and they cover "Run For Your Life." What does that tell ya?)
Demolition 23- S/T (1994)- ****
Nucleus- We'll Talk About It Later (1971)- ***1/2
James Brown- In The Jungle Groove (1986)-**** (4:57 mark, James shouts "Clyde" and Mr. Stubblefield crashes into the single funkiest groove of all time. Never fails to rile me up. As badass as badass gets!)
