Product Description
Raven presents, on a Double CD, two landmark albums by legendary multi-instrumentalist, producer and solo artist AL KOOPER. Few American musicians have pursued a more diverse or more fascinating career than Kooper. As well as playing organ on Bob Dylan’s timeless ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, having formed Blood Sweat & Tears and produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kooper has issued a dozen solo albums. I Stand Alone (his debut LP, 1968) incorporates soul and pop, jazz and classical elements, making for a seamless and enjoyable whole. As well as covers of ‘Hey, Western Union Man’, ‘Coloured Rain’ and ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, Kooper excels with classy originals ‘I Can Love a Woman’ and ‘Right Now For You’.

You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (1969) ups the ante with the brassy ‘Magic in My Socks’, the swooping, soulful ‘Loretta (Union Turnpike Eulogy)’, the joyous pop-rock of the title track and extraordinary covers of Motown tunes ‘Too Busy Thinking about My Baby’ and ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You’. This top-value package comes complete with seven bonus tracks, including ‘Brand New Day’ from Kooper’s original soundtrack for the film The Landlord (1970). Kooper maintains a busy touring and recording schedule to this day (Black Coffee, 2005) and, as All Music states, he “remains a formidable performing talent, and one of the most inspired and intelligent people in rock music”. This great value 2-CD set showcases Kooper’s incredible musicianship at its creative and innovative peak.

CD 1
— I Stand Alone [1968] —
1. Overture
2. I Stand Alone
3. Camille
4. One
5. Coloured Rain
6. Soft Landing On The Moon
7. I Can Love A Woman
8. Blue Moon Of Kentucky
9. Toe Hold
10. Right Now For You
11. Hey, Western Union Man
12. Song And Dance For The Unborn, Frightened Child

CD 2
— You Never Know Who Your Friends Are [1969] —
1. Magic In My Socks
2. Lucille
3. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
4. First Time Around
5. Loretta (Union Turnpike Eulogy)
6. Blues, Part IV
7. You Never Know Who Your Friends Are
8. The Great American Marriage/Nothing
9. I Don’t Know Why I Love You
10. Mourning Glory Story
11. Anna Lee (What Can I Do For You)
12. I’m Never Gonna Let You Down

— Bonus Tracks —
From Easy Does It [1970]:
13. Piano Solo Introduction
14. I Got A Woman
15. Buckskin Boy
16. Sad, Sad Sunshine
17. God Sheds His Grace On Thee

From The Original Soundtrack Album “The Landlord” [1970]:
18. Brand New Day
19. Love Theme From “The Landlord”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016GLZLK/?tag=imwan-20

I'm really tempted by that Al Kooper twofer. I've been wanting to hear I Stand Alone since I saw it at WT Grant when I was about 11 years old, and that was before I knew anything about the guy. A living legend, for sure.

While it's disappointing that the "plus" bonus tracks on the Al Kooper two-fer are previously-on-CD tracks from other Kooper albums, I still highly recommend this set. Those not familiar with these 2 albums are in for a treat. Now if only Raven would restore the rest of Kooper's catalog to in-print status...the last batch of Japanese reissues were a little too expensive for my blood!

As an Al Kooper fan-atic, i had to chime in on this one. Heartily second JMarch's praises of these two albums. Got 'em both in bargain bins on vinyl about 5-6 years after their release and have been a fan ever since. The early solo LPs to a large extent really sound like the TRUE follow-ups to the Kooper-dominated first Blood Sweat and Tears LP, "Child is Father To the Man" (whereas IMHO "Blood Sweat and Tears", relative to "Child", sounds like what it was - a band starting all over again). To this day, i consider "Magic In My Socks" (the lead track from "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are") to be the best Blood Sweat and Tears song never recorded. Those bonus tracks are all from his "Easy Does It" double-LP, third solo outing. The two songs from "The Landlord" OST were rerecorded for the "Easy Does It" LP, and are most likely those versions on this set. The United Artists OST LP has never been released on cd as of yet (except of course for my home-brewed vinyl transfer). Al Kooper - among his many other musical achievements, a grandfather of blue-eyed soul.

Japan originally released his Columbia solo catalog in jewel-cased cds in the mid 1990's, and then rereleased them in the mini LP sleeves in 2003 (and allegedly newly remastered for this release). A couple of his other titles have been released outside of Japan, "New York City, You're A Woman" was released i think in the UK in digipak, and "Kooper Session with Shuggie Otis" has come out on cd in Germany i believe. The only solo release by Columbia in the states was "Al's Big Deal", a truncated cd of the 2-LP solo anthology set, that came out in the late 80's or early 90's and quickly went out of print.

I do have Kooper's Rare and Well Done collection that came out on Columbia/Legacy in 2001. It was a great introduction to his work, as all I had really heard before that was the first Blood Sweat & Tears album and "Season of the Witch" from Super Session. I was impressed at the sheer variety of music he has done. Yep, I think I'm definitely getting this twofer.

I did get the Kooper twofer in the mail this week, and I love it. Great arrangements, musical variety and a touch of experimentation -- basically everything I look for in an album. I don't pretend to be an expert on sound quality but I was impressed with how lifelike the piano sounded on one of the Disc 2 tracks, and that was on my office computer. A word of thanks to JMarch and Rick W for recommending this.

Glenn, very glad that you tried this 2-fer out, and that you are pleased with the music. Koopers' solo career is grossly overlooked and underrated, it's heartening that folks are still discovering it. And if you liked these LPs a lot i'd strongly recommend the UK cd of "NYC, You're A Woman"; pretty much cut from the same cloth.