The Stooges sure made a bigger impact than anyone could have predicted from a bunch of Michigan misfits who made their debut at a college Halloween concert. The right band at the right time, Iggy Pop, the Asheton brothers, and Dave Alexander came along at the end of the '60s and captured the violence and anger in the feedback of the preceding decade's good vibrations. It's impossible to imagine post-'60s rock without the band's self-titled 1969 debut, or its 1970 follow-up Fun House, both of which have just been reissued in double-disc Rhino editions. (It's impossible to imagine post-'60s rock without Raw Power either, but that's another label's business.) Both albums have been rounded out with alternate takes and rarities, and remastered to make the fuzz pop…
Still, there's nothing wrong with a little peace-and-love music once in a while. Never fully appreciated, perhaps because he was so quickly tagged as the British Dylan, Donovan made some of the strangest, most imaginative music of the '60s. Embracing the countercultural promise of Aquarian Age renewal he sang about it in ornate, wide-eyed songs that brought the furthest reaches of the psychedelic moment onto the pop charts. The three-disc Try For The Sun: The Journey Of Donovan (Sony/Legacy) puts it all into a compact package, from the early, admittedly Dylan-ish hits through the weirdness of "Atlantis" to Donovan's recent efforts…
The two-disc Johnny "Guitar" Watson: The Funk Anthology (Shout! Factory) focuses on just one part of another venerable musician's journey. After kicking around odd blues for a few decades (and influencing Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, and others in the process), Johnny "Guitar" Watson found unexpected success in the funk era of the late '70s, bending blues riffs and colorful tales of disco queens and extraterrestrials into funk anthems, including hits like "Superman Lover." Folks like Prince and Rick James were listening, and their inspiration still sounds inspired…
If only the same could be said for Come On Back (Rounder), the latest from alt-country stalwart Jimmie Dale Gilmore. He has one of those voices that sounds great singing just about anything. Trouble is, he knows it. This covers album—his first solo effort since the mostly covers One Endless Night five years ago—is plagued by dull arrangements and unexpectedly passionless singing. Maybe someone should slip him a copy of Fun House and see what happens.