Aalive / Rare Junk
Two superb albums on one CD equal one must-own CD. The studio sides on Rare Junk include covers of the jazz standard "Willie the Weeper" (with its familiar "Hi de hi dee ho" chorus), "Collegiana" (done jug band style), "Cornbread and 'Lasses," Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe," and Jackson Browne's "These Days" in one of its better (and surprisingly upbeat) versions. Some of this stuff is so self-conscious in its humor -- "Sadie Green the Vamp of New Orleans" and "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe" come to mind -- that it's hard to believe that it was recorded with much confidence of success, but it works musically, capturing the vaudeville side of the band's orientation better than anything on their first two LPs. Alive, recorded at the L.A. Troubadour circa 1967, is one of the great live albums of its decade, capturing the early group in top form, clowning around in a loosely structured show that has them covering "Buy for Me the Rain" (which was already a hit), as well as B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby," the Reverend Gary Davis' "Candy Man" (in a version superior to the first album's studio cover), and Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." It is a great set, the guitars, mandolins, and banjos glitter in the clarity of the recording; and it is an honest, fully representative show, complete with wrong notes, false starts, jokes that usually (but don't always) work, and the ten tracks are a vital addition to any folk-rock, country-rock, or even a partly serious NGDB fan's collection. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide