Re: Conditioning

At 02:05 PM 3/21/2002 +0000, Doug English wrote:
>You are so right about Harlan, except I'd put it behind Southern Mark Smith
>and The Human Jungle, and well ahead of Soul Happy Hour. With all due
>respect to Max and the person who said the albums without him aren't as
>good: Condition Blue is a great album that does not suffer from Max's
>absence in the slightest, in my humble OPINION.

Agreed. Do I love Max? Yes, I do. Would it have been cool if he had continued in the JBC through the late '80s and early '90s? Sure. Is Max supremely talented and one of the best players I've ever seen or heard? You betcha!

But jeezus folks, the guitar playing on things like CULT OF THE BASEMENT and CONDITION BLUE is just out of this world, in large part thanks to the godlike Alex Lee. If you think they're lesser albums (I don't, but bear with me as I play Devil's Paralegal for a sentence), seems like the blame would be better placed on Pat's writing, rather than ascribing it to the absence of Max.

And speaking of "Southern Mark Smith" -- I *strongly* prefer the "original" version on the "Real Men" 12" (and on BLOODY NONSENSE) to the "Big Return" take. I take it that the band and/or their anthologizers prefer it the other way, since it's the "Big Return" version that's on A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, DRAINING THE GLASS, and probably a dozen other anthologies, which I find doubly tragic since my BLOODY NONSENSE vinyl has a big, probably permanent POP! in the first few bars. Anyone else share my preference?

later,

Miles Received on Thu, 21 Mar 2002 08:39:54 -0600