Victor
With each album, the Derek Trucks Band just keeps on truckin’ — not only in terms of evolution but also each disc’s uniqueness: the improvisational jazz/blues of their self-titled debut; the Southern folk/blues bent of “Out of the Madness”; the Latin and fusion forays and expanded Indian influence on “Joyful Noise”; the mostly jazz leaning of “Soul Serenade”; and the melting-pot maturity of “Songlines.”
Rhino
One of these days, someone’s gonna do the 4-CD box set Cooder deserves — with early Rising Sons and Captain Beefheart material, session work, solo stuff, soundtracks, world music collaborations … But until then, this double CD culled from studio albums and soundtracks will have to do.
Decca
Good musical guilty pleasures are few and far between these days, but the East Village Opera Company comes to the rescue with its third release, an amalgam of ’70s rock excess and bombast fused with some of the finest operatic melodies.
Perpetual Obscurity
Thorn’s a songwriter, not a fighter.
The former pugilist traded in his boxing gloves more than 10 years ago after going so far as to fight Roberto Duran on national TV, opting instead to make music. Hailing from Tupelo, Miss., he has a blues-gospel viewpoint that informs his country-rock-R&B output.
Skuntry/Dualtone
This is Gordon’s swan song, finished a few months before his death in July 2002 at the age of 74.
