EDGAR WINTER - ENTRANCE (EPIC 1970) Jap DSD mastering cardboard sleeve sleeve

Although he's often skirted the edges of blues music, at heart, saxophonist, keyboardist and composer Edgar Winter is a blues musician. Raised in Beaumont, TX, the younger brother of ukulele player and guitarist Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter has always pushed himself in new directions, synthesizing the rock, blues and jazz melodies he hears in his head. As a consequence, his fan base may not be what it could have been, had he made a conscious effort -- like his brother Johnny -- to stay in a blues-rock mold over the years. He's one musician who's never been afraid to venture into multiple musical arenas, often times, within the space of one album, as in his debut, Entrance (1970 Columbia Records).
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Edgar Winter came out of the chute kicking with this remarkable record filled with jazz, blues and a little old-fashioned rock & roll. The record follows an established theme throughout its first side, stringing the songs together without breaks, highlighted by dreamy keyboard and sax work, plus Winter's smooth vocalizations. But jazz isn't the only thing Edgar brings to the party. His first recorded version of the old J.P. Loudermilk tune "Tobacco Road" has a few nice punches in it (although the live version with White Trash a few years later would prove the definitive one). "Jimmy's Gospel" plays on his early church influences, while "Jump Right Out" is the predecessor of half a dozen "jump up and dance" numbers Winter would pepper his records with in years to come.[allmusic]
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SIGMUND SNOPEK III - VIRGINIA WOOLF (WATER STREET 1972) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus

If the modernist novelist Virginia Woolf seems like a bizarre title subject for a rock album, it nevertheless fits the relentless peculiarity of the music on the first album from Sigmund Snopek III. Actually, this is the second album by Snopek's band the Bloomsbury People following a self-titled effort in 1970. The band plays on the entire album, but it was credited, for whatever reason, to Snopek alone. Snopek's muse and music certainly act as the impetus and grand vision for the entire project, and what an intriguingly skewed vision it is. "Virginia Woolf" is essentially one epic (novelistic, you might even say) composition broken up into song-sized portions, and even broken down further within individual songs. There is a continuity and wholeness to the entire piece, at least, that is somewhat lost when you try to listen to it as a collection of songs. The songs by themselves can occasionally sound choppy and stylistically schizophrenic -- albeit almost always riveting -- due to the ambitious amalgam. Strong intimations of rock, blues, psychedelia, and jazz mingle with classical motifs, structures, and lofty compositional techniques in a fusion that is not really rock in any conventional sense of the term (although it does often rock), but is not quite classical either. Progressive rock didn't quite exist officially at the time the album was recorded, and while Snopek's disparate composite might be seen as a prototype for that genre, it does not entirely satisfy the description the genre ultimately took on. What it can be called is avant-garde experimentation that happens to utilize recognizable pop-style melodies, rock instrumentation, and some of the deft interplay of jazz, with an ultimate freaked out, psychedelic tinge that might easily have impressed Frank Zappa had he heard the album. (That especially goes for the marching band drum solo that erupts a couple minutes into the title track.) The songs themselves essentially resist classification and don't seem to follow the authorial theme closely, but the aforementioned "Virginia Woolf," seesawing "Orange," and majestically symphonic "Blue" are standouts. Virginia Woolf is only partly successful, but it is a compelling piece of work nonetheless.[allmusic]
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AFTER ALL - AFTER ALL (ATHENA 1969) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve

"Hastily put together in 1969 by a veteran quartet of Tallahassee, FL, musicians and together for only a handful of months, After All is merely a footnote in the history of late-'60s and Florida rock. Their single recorded effort, however, was a moody slice of acid-tinged progressive pop that, while perhaps not among the finest obscurities from the era, brings back the grooviness and off-the-cuff adventurousness of the decade in full color. All of the members of After All had a history playing in various rhythm & blues and jazz bands, dating back to the late '50s, performing at clubs and parties throughout the Tallahassee region. Drummer Mark Ellerbee was fresh out of Vietnam and a graduate of the Florida State School of Music when he bumped into fellow Florida State graduate and keyboardist Alan Gold, who was performing at the time in one of the area's top night club bands. With the addition of fellow scenesters bassist Bill Moon and jazz guitarist Charles Short, After All was officially born. The group envisioned creating a concept album by throwing together a variety of the era's newest styles, from acid and classical rock to structural complexity and surreal lyrics. To help with the latter, they enlisted a young local poet, Linda Hargrove, to provide the lyrics to most of the songs. The band knew a Nashville producer who was willing to record a "spec album" for them at no cost provided if they did it quickly, so they entered the studio in 1969 and recorded After All in a couple days. Following the release of the album on Athena Records, the instrumentalists returned to Florida and took up their respective careers again. Hargrove, on the other hand, remained in Nashville and carved out a fine, if under-recognized, career for herself as a country singer/songwriter and performer. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide"
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