Description
At last! A fitting tribute to one of America’s greatest roots music bands. The 1990 album The Blasters Collection was terrific, but Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings leaves it in the dust. Not only do you get all four of their Eighties Slash albums in their entirety, you get eight previously unreleased songs–in addition to the three tracks from The Blasters Collection that were at that time previously unreleased. This anthology also includes The Blasters’ two contributions to the soundtrack of the 1984 film Streets of Fire: “One Bad Stud” and “Blue Shadows.” The new songs include “Can’t Stop Time,” “Flattop Joint” (an alternate version to the one found on 1980’s American Music), “Leave My Money Alone,” four live tracks from 1982–“What Will Lucy Do,” “Crazy Baby,” “Got Love If You Want It,” “Walkin’ With Mr. Lee,” and a live duet featuring Phil and Dave Alvin from 1985 on “Take Out Some Insurance.”
This band knew how to rock with Fats Domino’s sax player Lee Allen (later replaced by Steve Berlin, who would eventually join Los Lobos), pianist Gene Taylor (who had performed with Ronnie Hawkins’ Hawks and Canned Heat), drummer Bill Bateman, bassist John Bazz, and of course siblings Phil (guitar, vocals) and Dave (lead guitar) Alvin. Like they sang in “American Music,” they were a combination of “Louisiana boogie and the Delta blues. We got country swing and rockabilly too. We got jazz, country-western and Chicago blues. It’s the greatest music that you ever knew.” This will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
