From the shambling miscreant who pled “Oh lawd, please doan let me be misunderstood” and unleashed the careening proto-punk primal screams of “It’s My Life” comes a collection – no, clinical research study – of blues, gospel and rock standards. Drummer/producer Tony Braunagel herds all ears on deck with a perfectly concocted aura of one-take looseness that lubricates the big-league sound, a special treatment not reserved for the roots material alone but the curveballs in kind, such as the beer-sloshed Tex-Mex bash “Como Se Llama Mama”; the sultry, lone-spotlighted “GTO”; and “Circuit Rider,” a honky tonk bum-rush that out-Monday-Night-Footballs Hank Williams Jr. Perhaps if Burdon had stuck only to these guns throughout his career, completists would feel more compelled to pay this a visit, but the record should be considered essential study material nevertheless – after forty years of thumbing his nose at every straight in sight, one could glean some useful survival techniques at a bare minimum. Order at www.spvusa.com
