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Jeff Burger

Jimmy LaFave's Trail Two & Trail Three

My recent review of Jimmy LaFave’s reissued Trail One and new Trail Four made no mention of the volumes in between because I hadn’t heard them. I have now, and can attest that they are every bit as memorable as the collections that preceded and followed them. Like

The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses

No one seems to know who first uttered that famous line about how the Velvet Underground’s debut album sold only a few thousand copies but all to people who wound up starting bands. What is clear is that the statement contains at least a grain of truth. The Velvets

Tom Russell's Tonight We Ride and Midway to Bayamon

Tom Russell is so prolific that it’s hard to keep up: I have about two dozen of his albums, and I’m still missing a few. This pair of 2014 releases almost slipped by me. Tonight We Ride, subtitled “The Tom Russell Cowboy Anthology,” is an updated version of

Buzzin’ the Blues — The Complete Slim Harpo

How many Slim Harpo recordings do you know? Perhaps you’ve heard “Raining in My Heart” (not the Buddy Holly tune), which made it to No. 34 on Billboard’s pop chart in 1961; “Baby, Scratch My Back,” which reached No. 16 five years later; or “I’m a King

Simon & Garfunkel - The Complete Albums Collection

I gave away all my Simon and Garfunkel vinyl in 1997, when Columbia released the excellent Old Friends box set. I figured I wouldn’t need the LPs because the three-CD anthology incorporated all the key album tracks, but I almost immediately regretted my decision. While Simon and Garfunkel made

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I, II & III 2014 Remasters

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I, II & III 2014 Remasters

Has any music reviewer ever missed the mark more than John Mendelsohn in his 1969 Rolling Stone critique of Led Zeppelin’s scorching, finely honed debut? After calling the album self-indulgent, he labeled Jimmy Page “a very limited producer and a writer of weak, unimaginative songs” and dismissed Robert Plant’