New Generation Of Blues, A (Expanded Edition/Remastered)

A New Generation of Blues is a basically competent, though hardly enthralling, effort from Alexis Korner that alternates between minimal, acoustic-flavored production and fuller arrangements with jazzy touches of flute and upright bass. Korner wrote about half of the material, leaving the rest of the space open for R&B/blues covers and adaptations of traditional standards, helped by Pentangle rhythm section (and former Korner sidemen) Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. "The Same for You" has a strange, ever-so-slight psychedelic influence, with its swirling flute, fake fadeout, and odd anti-establishment lyrics. Korner's voice is (and always would be) a tuneless bark, but it sounds better here than it did on the first album to prominently feature his vocals (I Wonder Who, 1967). As such, this album is one of the best representations of Korner as a frontman, though it certainly would have sounded better had he enlisted a different singer -- perhaps one of his numerous ex-employees, like Duffy Power -- to handle most or all of the vocals.The 2006 CD reissue on Castle adds historical liner notes by Korner biographer Harry Shapiro and nine bonus tracks, seven of them (four previously unreleased anywhere) originating from 1967-1969 BBC sessions, the others being two September 1968 studio recordings ("Operator" and "Steal Away") with Robert Plant on lead vocals. Those Plant-sung items are perhaps the rarities that will gain the most attention here, though "Operator" first came out way back in 1972 on the Bootleg Him! LP, and "Steal Away" previously appeared on the 1996 CD On the Move. Of the BBC cuts, three (including a surprising cover of Joe Tex's "The Love You Save") are from a November 1967 session he did as part of a duo with singer/multi-instrumentalist Victor Brox, while the final four are from a March 1969 session on which he sang and played solo with acoustic guitar. Though not entirely keeping in character with the tone of the A New Generation of Blues album (which featured a full band with entirely different players), the bonus tracks help round out the picture of the diverse territory Korner covered in his late-'60s music. [The 2006 reissue contains bonus tracks of BBC sessions and previously unreleased versions.] ~ Richie Unterberger|