Art Bears - Milan 5/1/79

The Art Bears albums always felt like studio projects for me, so it was nice to hear a live show and get a different perspective. That the trio pulls it off is testament to the obscure genius in this music, Chris Cutler providing a heavy backbone with the drumming, something a bit less obvious from the recordings, and Frith is all over the place with the guitar and otherwise, sometimes conventional, usually soundscaping below Dagmar Krause’s strident vocals. I get the impression a really good sounding show may not exist given what is in the Art Box, so this is about the best it gets. I hope to be wrong on this.

Procol Harum - 4/69

One CD, but nearly filling it out, is this rather good sounding show from an era when the band had at least a couple records behind them. I used to listen to Shine On Brightly quite a bit when I was younger so I recognized quite a bit of the material here. There’s something about PH that doesn’t totally sink in for me, it’s as if they’re playing to a different audience, but I found this rather enjoyable nonetheless, probably because it wasn’t missing too many highlights. 

Jimmy McGriff/Groove Holmes - Giants of the Organ Come Together

I might have given this short shrift last go around, although I’m not going to change my mind about its twin CD (in concert) being the superior of the two. While the album kind of dulls a bit by the end, there’s a few rather smokin’ opening cuts, in the more commercial souljazz vein. Probably going to be a keeper after all.