Three cheers for Wounded Bird!

I recently stumbled across Wounded Bird Records, a great CD re-issue label. They're in the process of re-releasing a ton of "missing" CDs from some of my favorite artists of the 1970s, albums that have been missing from my collection ever since I sold off all my vinyl and gave away my turntable. It's great to have a company focusing on some of these second-tier albums (from formerly first-tier artists) that have been lost for a couple of decades now.


What kinds of reissues am I talking about? Well, some of my personal faves include all of the later Blood, Sweat & Tears albums, including New Blood, No Sweat, and New City; Dave Brubeck and sons' Two Generations of Brubeck; Billy Cobham's Crosswinds and Total Eclipse; Don Ellis' Tears of Joy and Connection; Maynard Ferguson's M.F. Horn, New Vintage, and Primal Scream; Ellen Foley's terrific Night Out; and Carole King's One to One and Speeding Time. Good stuff all, even if (with the exception of the Ellen Foley album) they don't represent the artists at their peak of populariry.

Wounded Bird has a fairly large roster of artists, with new re-issues being added all the time. Some of the other artists represented include Amazing Rhythm Aces, Ambrosia, Bad Company, Badfinger, Black Oak Arkansas, Brownsville Station, the Byrds, Harry Chapin, Chic, Jimmy Cliff, Larry Coryell, Rick Derringer, Dr. John, George Duke, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Firefall, J. Geils Band, Louise Goffin, Jan Hammer, Deborah Harry, Richie Havens, The Hollies, James Gang, Keith Jarrett, Labelle, Nicolette Larson, Manhattan Transfer, Montrose, Mott the Hoople, Maria Muldaur, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Poco, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lee Ritenour, Patrice Rushen, David Sanborn, Siegel-Schwall Band, Thin Lizzy, Wet Willie, and Wishbone Ash. (Some of these names are a real blast from the past!)

Anyway, it's great to have this music finally available on CD. The re-issues are fairly straight ahead, no fancy new liner notes but with all the original album art and inserts. More important, the sound is about as good as you can expect, given the material; pricing is in the surprisingly affordable range ($10-$12 per CD). You can order direct from their website or from Amazon.

Check 'em out!