Jim Dandy to the Rescue!!!

One of my favorite live albums of long ago, and it still ranks right up there, is Black Oak Arkansas' "Raunch and Roll Live". You knew it had to be good just from the picture of Jim Dandy on the back cover. Wanna know where David Lee Roth got his ideas?? Look no further. Hey, he even admits it. The highlight of the Black Oak live show was when Jim Dandy got out his scrubboard and they smashed the guitars right after Brother Tommy Aldridge's drum solo in the song "Up". Yeah, they rocked.

Now I see, as part of Rhino Records hugely over-priced "Rhino homemade" series, a double "Raunch and Roll" containing two entire shows, songs from each making up the original album. So you get other cuts like "Uncle Elijah" that didn't make the first cut, you get the entire original version of "Raunch and ROll", and you get alternate versions of the same songs. Now my friends, is it worth it?? Don't ask me, I haven't bought it. Too pricey for me. But i'd really like to hear it.

Another over-priced goodie on the Rhino "homemade" thing is the Cactus "Fully Unleashed: live gigs vol. 2". Now, I actually popped for the Volume 1 of this and I must say it was worth it. Primo smoking boogie with the original line-up of Rusty Day on vox, Jim McCarty (Ted Nugents #1 influence!!) on axe, Bogart and Appice. This one is one whole concert in it's entirety with all the big hits like Token Choken, Oleo, and Evil.
And i'm really, really itching to pop for Vol. 2 however, jesus, there's no way i'm paying $50 for this.

I have picked up some other stuff like:

Chicago at Carnegie Hall: Don't laugh. Terry Kath-era Chicago rocked!! Listen to the 15 minute guitar jams on this one and you'd think it was the Allman Bros. with a horn section!!

Leaf Hound-Unleashed. Now this was a bit of a disappointment. Expecting Zep-like blues boogie, I was a bit let down to hear Bad Company sounding mid tempo hard rock. Not bad, but not good. Features ex-Cactus vocalist Peter French.