Rev. Gary Davis – Manchester Free Trade Hall, 1964 (Document Records, 2007)
When blues moved to urban areas, like Chicago, the focus became blues shouters or those that simply hollered. Well, the Reverend is not from the city, but in stark contrast to Skip James, Davis possessed a guttural grunt that could very probably not be replicated. Through his catalog, as he aged, listeners can hear how his voice progressively became more and more intimidating and gruff. Although on later sides, as on the Biograph ’71 releases, Davis seems almost dazed and out of touch with his art. The Manchester show provides us with a glimpse into the Reverend’s powers shortly after his re-emergence from obscurity.
Firstly, it must be noted that the recording itself is of a higher quality than might be expected. And while, surely, it’s not perfect – it’s relatively clean, in a dusty blues sorta way. Davis’ sets were able to run from overtly religious in tone to irrefutably secular. Here though, listeners aren’t offered the charming religiously flavored tunes, but instead the recording begins with a song that the Stones as well as Fred McDowell played, “You Got to Move”. While not the strongest version put to disc, it’s strong enough not to obviously point to the aging of a master.
The guitar and vocal powers of this original purveyor of blues do show ware occasionally as on “Cocaine Blues”. But given the subject matter, it seems oddly befitting. There are a few instrumental tracks that serve to further illustrate Davis’ age – but really even at this point of his life, the Reverend’s stronger than countless rockers who ape his cool that it doesn’t really matter. Included amongst these instrumentals, and the closer to this set, is a Scott Joplin number, “Maple Leaf Rag”. It’s a charming and stately way to close an evening, while a flaw or two is apparent, again, it’s the Reverend, so it really doesn’t matter.
Tracklisting:
01 – You Got To Move
02 – If I Had My Way
03 – The Sun Is Going
04 – I’m A Soldier
05 – I Got A Little Mama, Sweet As She Can Be
06 – Sally, Please Come Back To Me
07 – Cocaine Blues
08 – Cincinnati Flow Rag
09 – Children of Zion
10 – Coon Hunt
11 – Maple Leaf Rag
Rhino 39 – Self Titled (Nickel and Dime, 2007)
Nuggets and all of the KBD compilations have served to illustrate the point that, if your band has one really good song, it might only be part of a shitty album – that is if your band even got around to recording the ten songs it knew.
Rhino 39 can not be categorized alongside those acts though. Their various compilation appearances as well as their lone single point towards what could have been an indispensable artifact of the ‘70s LA/LBC punk scene.
Along with those released sides is an unearthed clutch of tracks recorded with original singer Dave Dacron. It’s always difficult to pin point the birth of a style, and some point to this work here as early hardcore. That point can be debated, of course, but Rhino 39 performing alongside Keith Morris era Black Flag serves as indisputable evidence.
Rhino’s songs range in theme from group think on “Xerox 12″ to the suggested murder on “Small Art”. It’s in this later song that the lines “Pull the trigger/In the schoolyard/Make yourself feel bigger” appear. The eerie similarity to the words of Darby Crash can’t be more apparent – in addition to hilarious. One aspect of this band that set it apart from its contemporaries, at least on studio recordings, is the inclusion of an electric piano. “Pack of Lies” instantly recalls past LA bands of an altogether different era and genre while still working forward to change how rock is played (i.e. fast and dumb).
The self-titled compilation assuredly isn’t geared toward casual punk listeners, but it has more than just filler that only collectors could want. And if nothing else, watching the performance video included on the second disc with its dusty images and sound from another source is pretty amusing.
Tracklisting:
Disc One
01 – Xerox 12
02 – Prolixin Stomp
03 – No Compromise
04 – Head Cheese
05 – Pack O’ Lies
06 – Small Art
07 – Manifest Destiny
08 – J. Alfred
09 – Turn Your Head And Cough
10 – Growing Pains
11 – Good Life
12 – Locker Room
13 – Pie Face
14 – All For Nothing
15 – J Alfred (Version W/ Organ at End.)
16 – Marry It
17 – J. Alfred
18 – Sleepwalking
Disc Two (DVD)
01 – Take Your Medicine
02 – Hurry Up And Wait
03 – Untitled
04 – Sleepwalking
05 – Tomorrow Morning’s Light
06 – Head Cheese
07 – Near Extinct
08 – Try To Hard
09 – Remember To Forget
10 – What Is Your Name?
11 – Unblues
12 – Bars And Bricks
13 – Minute By Minute
14 – J. Alfred
15 – Using The Night
Video: Live at Long Beach City College, 1979