ALBUMS

• CHARLIE RICH: FEEL LIKE GOING HOME: THE ESSENTIAL CHARLIE RICH: 1997: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: A double CD with 18 songs on each disc. A great career retrospective. His music is all over the place- jazz, rockabilly, country, blues, soul and gospel- which may be one of the reasons he wasn’t a bigger star than he was. A great talent- sad that he’s remembered for his countrypolitan hits from the 70’s- which were not Charlie at his best.

• DON MCLEAN: AMERICAN PIE: 1971: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: “American Pie” and “Vincent” great singles- and the rest of the album is outstanding. Great and underappreciated songwriter.

• GEORGE HARRISON: ALL THINGS MUST PASS: 1970: 5+ OUT OF 5 STARS: George’s best album and the best Ex-Beatles album. He set the bar high with his first real solo album- that his work after this was considered disappointing when it really was solid.

• STEVE FORBERT: ALIVE ON ARRIVAL: 1978: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Forbert’s great debut album made him into a ‘new Dylan”- he wasn’t but no one else is either-but forty years later he’s still around and touring.

• ELTON JOHN: GREATEST HITS: 1974:  4 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Docked a half a star due to there being better and more complete compilations available today.