What to get for that hard-to-buy-for relative? Here's something you can bet they don't have! It's Volume 24 of the burgeoning JMDL Covers collection...yes, we now have a volume for every hour of the day (matter of fact, there is more than you could listen to in 24 hours, and I wouldn't recommend it anyway lest your brain turn squishy!
First, thanks to the JMDL contributors: Tim Spong Leslie Mixon Catherine Turley Jim Johanson/Wally Breese Now, on to the tracks: 1. Bruce Anthony - The Jungle Line 2. Bruce Anthony - The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines 3. Bruce Anthony - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat Bruce is a jazz guitarist/baritone from the Delaware area...these are all tracks from demo tapes, never before released on CD. Love them all, especially Jungle Line. And he cleverly throws in a solo riff from Fiddler's "If I Were A Rich Man" in "Dry Cleaner"...brilliant! Thanks so much Tim!!! 4. Keb' Mo' - Big Yellow Taxi: Keb' is a major Handy-award winning blues talent, if you haven't heard of him check him out. This is a nice soulful funky take on BYT with a cute added vocal from his son. 5. Thom MacFarlane - Edith & The Kingpin: A simple stripped down version from Thom, with a singer-songwriter feel to it. 6. Shawn Colvin - Free Man In Paris: Shawn's performance at Joni's induction to the RnR Hall of fame, this is a very pretty and moving rendition from Shawn with some comments included. Never before released, thanks to Catherine the Shawn-meister! 7. Don Henley - River: This one is available on the Web, and is Henley's performance from the Bridge School Benefits. 8. The Lilac Time - Big Yellow Taxi: Another rare recording, this was included on the Promo CD "Welcome to Hell, Here's Your Accordion". Great Brit-pop from Stephen Duffy, who is famous for starting Duran Duran, then leaving the group right before they broke big. 9. Hal Frazier - Both Sides Now: Another soulful cover, Hal's version of BSN was released on LP in 1969. 10. Milan & Bibiloni - The Circle Game: Very pretty & true to the original version by M&B, who are an Italian guitar duo. This recording was e-mailed to me, and I've lost the name of the sender...so, if you're out there, stand up & take a bow, and thanks! 11. Sue Medley - Raised On Robbery (live): This one's a lot of fun, Sue's a Canadian singer influenced by Bonnie Raitt...she & band nail the tune pretty good including all of Joni's overdubbed harmony vocals! 12. Akiko Pavolka - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat 13. Akiko Pavolka - Amelia I was delighted to stumble upon this CD by Asian jazz singer Pavolka and her wonderful band. She's based in NYC so maybe some of you can check her out live sometime. REALLY nice instrumentation on these 2! 14. The Newcomers - Both Sides Now: Your basic 60's folk trio, nothing overly memorable about their cover of the franchise. 15. Lonnie Knight - For Free: Nice singer-songwriter take on the classic. He must have been able to relate to the subject matter as this was the only cover tune on his album of self-penned songs. 16. Walt Barr - Chelsea Morning: Here's another different twist on Chelsea, Walt's an electric jazz guitarist who turns in a nice "LA Jazz" sound on the song. 17. Keith Jarrett - All I Want: Surprisingly, nothing very creative here from piano virtuouso Jarrett. One of his earlier recordings, it's pretty enough and gets the job done and that's about it. 18. Louis van Dyke/Rogier van Otterloo - Both Sides Now: Scrumptious Dutch Jazz band takes on the franchise with wonderful results...and John, "van Dyke" is how he spelled it on the record jacket! ;~) So there's your Volume 24...hopefully contributors and subscribers have been able to give it a few spins...I'd love to hear what you think! Bob NP: Jeff Buckley, "Dream Brother"
