Just got back from a brief, but outstanding vacation in America's oldest city, St. Augustine, but managed to find a bit of time to listen to a few CDs.

'Dear Sweet Goodness' - Tony Vega Band. Definitely the hottest Blues-rocker I've stumbled across in quite some time. Killer guitars (Vega and Joshua Davidson--aka 'Orq'), outstanding vocals (Vega), and monster tunes. Gotta get more of this stuff!

'Mojave' - Concrete Blonde. Not through spinning it yet, but first impressions are good. Unique.

'Humble Colossus' - Plankton. Swedes playing 70's-style guitar rock in a UFO/Scorpions vein...except that these guys do instrumentals only. Sounded good when I was sampling it on the website, but it got old very quickly when I listened to the whole CD in one sitting. Great musicians, but...

'Trouble' - Steve Thorpe. Only listened to this once so far, but it's not bad. Pretty standard contemporary Blues that doesn't break any new ground, but that is well-executed.

'Roots and Branches' - Damon Fowler Group. Fowler is a local Bluesman that creates a lot of buzz, but I can't say that there's anything on this record that grabs me.

'Long Way Around' - Chris Whitley. I like this anthology, especially the opening cut ('Home is Where You Get Across'), but as anthologies go, there should've been more to it.

'Living Out of Time' - Robin Trower. I'm very sorry to say that all of the joy I experienced over Robin's retro 70s 'Go My Way' release was trashed by this piece of garbage. I never liked Davey Pattison's earlier collaborations with Trower--way too slick and sappy--and I had my doubts when I saw he was back. Unfortunately, this CD is even worse than the stuff they were pumping out in the late 80s/early 90s. Pattison turns nearly every cut into pure crap...not that the songs are that great to begin with.

Comps:

I've been trying to go back and listen to some of the many comps/boots I've received over the last few years. I listened to most of these a few weeks ago, but thought I'd pass along a few words here and there anyway.

'Texas Clubland' and 'BBC 1972//Jeff Beck Group' - BradH. Brad was kind enough to send professional looking inserts for these two CDs and it prompted me to give them a listen. I can't say that the Jeff Beck Group was ever one of my favorites and the BBC performance didn't do anything to change my mind, but it nonetheless has some nice moments. On the other hand, I listen to Clubland more often that any other comp I've received and still enjoy it immensely.

'Timemasheen' - jack70. Getting any of Gordon's Timemasheen comps is a cause for celebration. The music is unique, meticulously compiled, and often challenging. I have several favorites among them and keep them 'filed' together so that I can find 'em when I'm ready to listen. That said, I don't care much for the Scandinavian pop included in the most recent additions. Nice to be exposed to for the uniqueness, but musicially, not my thing.

Clapton and Hendrix Blues boots - JDaniel. I like both of these. At least Clapton reinterprets Robert Johnson's tunes this time around. The Hendrix stuff is outstanding.

'Unpop' - Jim Clark. There are one or two cuts that I like just fine, but mostly it leaves me cold. Just one of those things.

My own Sonny Landreth comp twofer. I like it, but then again, I put it together, so it would be pretty weird if I didn't.

There's more, but I can't remember any of it right now.