LouieB

I wouldn't be too surprised. But of course we all know, the Beach Boys invented quartet singing...(are you attempting to drag me BACK into this argument.... )... One of the best parts of Guaralnick's book on Elvis is talking about him being influenced by the incredible harmony singing of the groups of his day, both the secular and religious. (and Lieber and Stoller...??) LouieB

I was given the book a few years back and it is excellent. Both this one and Into Thin Air are fantastic. LouieB

Its a good but not great documentary and definitely worth watching. LouieB

Tim Easton looks way better with a beard by the way.... LouieB

I am a member of the BMCA so I took care of that. Never trust marketers..yea..good idea too. I don't think there is anything wrong with these recordings either, except I don't care to listen to music by people who are about to die every day of the week. (That includes Warren Zevon.) Just a personal thing. Johnny did some spectacular recordings in his life, I would personally like to remember him that way. LouieB

I think it is okay to like someone in person and not think their CDs are must haves. I like Special 20 well enough, but seeing him in person was far more revealing. LouieB

Yea, but sadly I don't own any. I plan to buy the one of the obscure Chicago label first. The story behind it is really cool. I think you can google and find some stuff. Guess I need to hop over to Bloodshot or Lauries and pick a few up. Now I am embarrassed. When these Archeophones arrive in the mail I will talk about them too. LouieB

I was half kidding. So sell them for half price. They should have given away coupons with UnEarthed because lots of us got this thinking it was the LAST recordings of Johnny Cash. How wrong we were. Oh and as far the the Cashes and Carters...if the proceeds were given directly to the Carter Family Fold or the Birthplace of Country Music Association, I would buy two of these CDs. LouieB

Okay I am willing to concede (half anyway) that maybe this isn't the point, but it is getting damn close. Another release exactly like this one will be even closer to vulture territory. Johnny cast a long shadow and has a large body (of work) so figure on the corpse being picked for many many years to come. I think Rick Rubin should give these albums away.... LouieB

There are so many. I don't know of one in Ohio. the Numero Group is putting out some cool stuff. They are being distributed by Bloodshot. I have not yet purchased any of their CDs. They cost more than most and I am a real cheapskate. this may be what you are refering to because they are covering some extremely obscure soul material from different parts of the midwest. But their catalogue looks terrific. We are living the best of times....everything is being reissued, even the most obscure artists are now well known. LouieB

Guess I owe you a beer.....Windfall always brings a tear to my eye too. LouieB

Yea, crazy huh? There are about three or four translations of his complete works. He sure got a bunch of living in in a short amount of time. LouieB

Yes, exactly. Allthough most of the material on there had nothing to do with minstral shows. There are several good books I understand, a few mentioned in A Change is Gonna Come. Minstrel shows were the longest running type of popular music in American history. Today we don't think much about it because of the obvious racial problems, but many early recording stars got their start in such venues (which also includes medicine shows). I am sure that the case could easily be made that much of what we think of as popular entertainment still has some overtones of that era, which lasted from af

Wow, that was depressing...!!! I had heard some of those cuts, but not all of them. The combined effect is stunning and not entirely in a good way. First off, I have to give Rubin credit for plugging in some really great accompanyment; good work on making it sound restrained and tasteful. Thank goodness this is Johnny Cash, I mean even with the ruined voice and being on his last leg he still more or less pulled it off. Some of the songs are okay, some are old chestnuts (Four Strong Winds, If you could read my Mind, Love's Been Good to me, etc.), some are sentimental and some are just plai

Downloading now. I actually have heard some of it on Sound Opinions and some other shows that have been reviewing it. LouieB

I take it all back.....frankly while this sounds like a pretty depressing release (and continues to have a whiff of taking advantage of Johnny), I am still interested in hearing it. I have heard some of it on the radio, but wouldn't mind hearing it. Somehow I suspect it will show up used any moment, since it is bound to freak a few unsuspecting buyers. LouieB

Archeophone Records is a label I just learned about in the last week or so. I read a review in The Reader and then remembered I had read about an earlier release that had interested me and then somehow passed through my brain. This is not your usual old stuff and some of the CDs come with labels indicating the material involves some derogitory racial material. For some time I have become more interested in Minstral music (something actually I learned a thing or two about from Michelle Shocked many years ago) and I intend to read a few books about it someday when I get the time. Meanwhi

I own a few of the later albums. 15 Big ones, Sunflower and Wild Honey. Maybe another one or two. (I own a solo Brian Wilson album too and recently got Smile as well.) By this time I was listening to other groups and other music. The world had moved on for me. Nothing against the Beach Boys, but alot was happening by the late 60s and early 70s. LouieB

Okay, so I have admitted that the Beach Boys aren't a group I "followed" other than hearing them on the radio, but as my recollections go, there were songs from most of the later albums that did chart here in the USA. Heros and Villians, Good Vibrations, Wild Honey, Cotton Fields, Surfs Up, Sail on Sailor, Rock and Roll Music, Keepin the summer alive, and Kokomo. (Thanks to wikopedia for assisting in this.) Most of these singles don't hold up compared to the early stuff. Oh and the Christmas album has two of the greatest rock Christmas songs ever, the man with all the toys and Little St.

Well that's true, but even so, the three big songs that were part of Smile all got air time, I remember them all well. And you can't forget Kokomo (although all of wish we could.) Are we talking Sunflower here? I have that. 15 Big Ones? I have that too. (How about that song about Johnny Carson??) LouieB

He's 80 actually and not dying. LouieB I did see this, it was excellent too. LouieB

I like Warren's final CD too. LouieB

I was going to pick up his new one at the show, but kind of got involved in other stuff. It appears to be pretty political, from the songs he sang from it at the show. LouieB

Okay....fair enough... I figured I had to stir the pot a bit here. Turn on an oldies station sometime (not classic rock) and there were any number of less successful (and sometimes African American) groups singing in incredible and complex harmony, usually about love....(let's not talk about the Four Seasons, because of course they were just a commercial group who sold millions of albums not a cult group like the Beach Boys...) Last weekend when I saw Dave Alvin, he sang Surfer Girl, which is part of his West of the West disk. (he acknowledged Brian as one of the greatest California songw

Agreed...people here turned me on to him in the first place. Cool..someone here was there. LouieB