Reissues have always been around in the form of greatest hits and best-of packages. But after then-independent Rhino Records started cross-licensing tracks from major labels to create anthologies and compilations in the ’80s and ’90s, the majors realized there was money to be made by dusting off their own tapes. Music listeners benefitted from CDs with bonus tracks, alternate takes, and improved sound.
These days, it seems there’s a fresh reissue per day, and I had to wonder if the trend had gone too far when I got a press release announcing The Best of Milli Vanilli (35th Anniversary). You remember them; their Grammy for Best New Artist was revoked after it was revealed that the pair of pretty faces in padded shoulders didn’t sing, play, or write any of the music. Is this something that warrants an encore?
Fortunately, there are plenty of bona fide artists truly worth revisiting.
Steve Winwood was a child prodigy, and when Spencer Davis first encountered him, he was playing in his father’s dance band, still wearing his school uniform, including the short pants. Davis scooped up 14-year-old “Stevie” and his brother, Muff, for the Spencer Davis Group, with the younger Winwood singing, playing keyboards and guitar, and soon co-writing hits like “Gimme Some Loving” and “I’m A Man.”
Because his other talents are so staggering, to this day, fans are often surprised when he straps on a guitar and proves more than worthy on it, too. But he was the Davis Group’s main lead guitarist, well evidenced on the band’s A’s and B’s, 1964-1967, chronicling the singles and EPs during Winwood’s brief-but-prolific tenure. Since the band’s British output was much larger than their American releases, this is a must for Davis/Winwood fans.
Originally a blues and R&B outfit, their 1964 debut single, a cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Dimples,” features 16-year-old Stevie’s soulful vocal. Their fifth single, “Keep On Running,” finally dented the American charts and featured Winwood’s distorted guitar hook. It was the flipside of the follow-up “Somebody Help Me,” that first showcased his lead guitar as a blues-rock contender; “Stevie’s Blues” was released three months before John Mayall’s Blues Breakers album featuring Eric Clapton, who was already flooring crowds at club gigs. Winwood’s fat-toned 15-second intro cements a position too often overlooked, as a great among British blues guitarslingers. Never a shredder, his maturity belied his teen years.
Other cuts showcasing the six-stringer include “Neighbour, Neighbour,” “Dust My Blues” (sung by Davis), and “On The Green Light.” Winwood departed the group to form Traffic, followed by Blind Faith, and later enjoyed a platinum solo career. But this double-CD’s 37 tracks illuminate the beginnings of one of rock’s brightest lights.
Another youngster channeling raw emotion through his guitar was Dave Davies of The Kinks. I interviewed Dave for my August ’23 column, “Dave Davies’ Kinky Journey,” following the release of the band’s self-curated compilation The Journey, Part 1. The Journey, Part 2 is now out, and, like its predecessor, I highly recommend it.
As before, well-known hits mingle with album cuts and obscurities. The two CDs, which contain 34 tracks as opposed to the vinyl’s 27, are not sequenced chronologically, instead grouped along older brother Ray’s thematic “journeyman,” with liner-notes commentary from the brothers and drummer Mick Avory. “Till The End Of The Day,” from ’65, was often a set opener, and it takes that spot here. A heavy riffer in the manner of “You Really Got Me,” it features one of Davies’ treble-to-spare solos.
Dave’s versatility shines as he adapts to the many moods and stylistic turns of Ray’s songwriting. There’s a banjo-like acoustic on 1970’s “This Time Tomorrow,” and Preservation Act 2’s “Scrapheap City,” sung by Dan Hicks alumnus Maryann Price, points to his country influence. Of the droning, Indian-inflected “See My Friends,” Avory writes, “I think we were the first popular band to attempt anything like this.”
The three-song “New Victoria Suite” from ’75 shows what a tight unit the Kinks were live, including Dave’s extended solo on “Slum Kids.” From the early days, “I Need You,” with its “You Really Got Me” riff played backward and sputtering solo, is perhaps Dave’s crowning achievement.
Not as recognizable, singer Genya Ravan was a bit of a pioneer. In 1964, her Goldie & the Gingerbreads were the first all-female group signed to a major label, and were produced by Shel Talmy, of Kinks and Who note. Resurfacing in the late ’70s, she released two strong hard-rocking albums, Urban Desire followed by …And I Mean It, both available again.
A Springsteen-esque take on tougher ’60s girl groups like The Ronettes and Shangri-Las, they hold up today, as does the guitar playing. On the latter, Mick Ronson solos on a duet with Ian Hunter, while the former features one Ritchie Fliegler, best-known in the guitar community for his books on amps and role in the guitar industry, but also a veteran of Lou Reed, Tom Verlaine, Alice Cooper, and others. Ritchie is still active, but listen to him rip way back when.
© 2024 Dan Forte; all rights reserved by the author.
This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
