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In May 64, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Muddy Waters braved the Manchester rain for an epochal TV special: the Blues & Gospel Train, which proved catalytic in the proliferation of [...]

This Is Goldwax: 1964-1968 **** Kent KENT 2 530 (2LPI Soak up the sounds of Tennessee label gold Memphis's Goldwax Records released some superb southern soul 45s in the mid-60s, [...]

John Mayall Thru The Years Live 60s-80s **** Indigo IGOLP 009 B (LP) Eight live tracks from late Godfather of British Blues Mayall's discography is gargantuan. It commenced in 1965 [...]

Muddy Waters Hard Again/I'm Ready/King Bee **** Floating World FLOATD 6458 (3CD) Blues icon's late-career albums Muddy debuted for Len and Phil Chess' Aristocrat Records in 1947 and went on [...]

Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds In The Diaspora 1980-1993 **** Soundway SNDWLP148 (3LR 2CD) Belated second instalment of infectious Ghanian grooving Twenty-five years after Soundway issued Ghana [...]

Dickey Betts Live At The Lone Star Roadhouse, New York City 1988 **** RockBeat ROC 3472 (CD, LP) Allman Brothers stalwart caught live Dickey Betts, who died in April aged [...]

Edgar Broughton Band Gone Blue--The BBC Sessions **** Esoteric ECLEC 42872 (4CD) Warwick rock'n'roll crew collated Doyens of the late 60s/early 70s free gigs and college scene, the anarchic Edgar [...]

The Chicago Blues Of ... Jazz Gillum Guido van Rijn **** Agram Books, 40 Euros ISBN 9789082657098, 346 pages Ace addition to blues series The fifth in a series of [...]

Congo Funk!--Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982) **** Analog Africa AALP 0098 (CD, 2LP) Another crack compilation from Analog Africa The 1974 Ali-Foreman fight [...]

John Broven's Walking To New Orleans history of New Orleans R&B celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer with a 65-track 2CD. Tony Burke asked him about them What first attracted [...]

Hit The Bongo! (The Latin Soul Of Tico Records) **** Craft Recordings CR 0660 (2LP) Celebrating 75 years of George Goldner's label This set features 1962-1972 mambo and boogaloo Eddie [...]

Robinson's, on the Manchester/Salford border, was owned by Edna and Arthur Robinson. The shop bulged with vinyl records. They also ran a wholesale business (they were the UK agents for [...]

Blowin' Like Hell: The William Clarke Story Paul Barry **** Palmetto Publishing, 18.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN 9798822914568, 141 pages Blues harmonica ace's ultimately tragic tale William Clarke hailed from a [...]

Jazz With A Beat: Small Group Swing 1940-1960 Tad Richards *** Excelsior Editions, 21 [pounds sterling] ISBN 9781438496009, 188 pages Diggin' the roots of the rock'n'roll revolution Tracing the history [...]

CHARLEY PATTON AND BERTHA LEE Oh Death/Troubled 'Bout My Mother (Vocation 02904, 10', 78rpm, 1935, US) 39,000 [pounds sterling] Just when one ultra-rare blues record is found, another copy--in beautiful [...]

A spate of burglaries of rare record stores in Chicago in November/December has obliged owners to band together to try to stop organised shoplifting that has seen thieves plunder specialist [...]

Family Bandstand **** Esoteric ECLEC 2850 (CD) British rockers' 1972 classic The fourth Family reissue from the Cherry Red stable revisits a record originally issued by Reprise in September 1972 [...]

On The Honky Tonk Highway With Augie Meyers And The Texas Re-Cord Company **** Bear Family BDC17700 (CD) Buckle up for a wild ride with the Texan don From Bear [...]

No 7: Barry's Record Rendezvous, Manchester Barry's Record Rendezvous, at 9 Blackfriars Street, where the River Irwell and Blackfriars Bridge connect Manchester and Salford, was one of Manchester's favourite record [...]

Nanci Griffith Working In Corners **** Craft Recordings CR 00640 (4CD, 4LP) The late singer's first four albums Inspired by Loretta Lynn and Townes Van Zandt, the Texan's 1978 debut [...]

Andrew Gold The Fraternal Order Of The All--Greetings From Planet Love **** Esoteric ELEC 2758 (CD) Late US songwriter's tribute to the 60s Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold originally [...]

William Bell One Day Closer To Home **** Wilbe Cat No TBC (CD) Soul legend still knocking them out One of last of the great soul singers and songwriters of [...]

Playing For The Man At The Door: Field Recordings From The Collection Of Mack McCormick 1958-1971 ***** Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40260 (CD, 6LP) A trip inside the world's best blues [...]

Thanks for the excellent article on radio transcription discs ('Spirit Of Radio') in RC 529 by Ian Shirley. You asked about other BBC and radio transcription discs. I don't own [...]

Chuck Berry: An American Life R.J. Smith *** Omnibus Press, 16 [pounds sterling] ISBN 9781913172954, 416 pages Digging into the dark side of a rock'n'roll trailblazer Another biography of Charles [...]

John Lee Hooker Burnin' **** Craft Recordings CR 00545 (CD, LP) Blues don captures the magic Originally recorded in one day in November, 1961 for Chicago's Vee Jay Records with [...]

James Booker Behind The Iron Curtain Plus ... **** 1002 (5CD) Much-loved Louisiana keyboardist caught live Born in New Orleans, Booker was a teenage piano prodigy who could play R&B, [...]

Sam Phillips ran the Memphis Recording Service, cutting blues artists for the Modern Records imprint in Los Angeles and Chess Records in Chicago. That was a success. So, why did [...]

A Pig's Taie: The Underground Story Of The Legendary Bootleg Record Label Ralph Sutherland & Harold Sherrick **** Genius Book Publishing, $75 ISBN 9781947521896,328 pages Viva Hooky Street, Los Angeles [...]

In a joint session at the 2022 annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Patristic Studies and the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Mona Tokarek LaFosse assembled a panel of reviewers to engage with the texts presented in the second volume of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures(Eerdmans, 2020). This article is a response to those papers by Tony Burke, the editor of the volume. The response addresses a number of themes raised by the reviewers, including the selection and arrangement of the texts, their troubling depictions of race and gender, the role of orality in their creation, and how the texts can be used in the classroom.

Soul Serenade: King Curtis And His Immortal Saxophone Timothy R Hoover **** University Of North Texas Press, 31.50 [pounds sterling] ISBN 9781574418811, 352 pages Born in Fort Worth, Texas in [...]

Frank Zappa Zappa '75: Zagreb/Ljubjana **** Zappa/Ume Z R 20040 (2CD) Thrilling live document of a band hitting their peak Twenty-seven tracks performed in November 1975 in Yugoslavia by a [...]

Albert Collins Cold Snap **** Alligator 4752 (LP) Feted axeman's mid-80s set revisited Known for his intense blues guitar-playing, Albert Collins' 1950s and 60s singles appeared on small Texas labels [...]

Blind Willie McTell Statesboro Blues--The Early Years 1927-1935 **** Document DOCD 5677 (3CD) Blues icon's formative years Born in 1898, street singer Willie McTell was the master of the 12-string [...]