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Catbone is a blues-centric imprint of MVD Audio, and is headed by one Ken Hatley, a blues aficionado and musician himself. A series of releases under the confusingly- and possibly-misleading banner of \u201cCatbone Unreleased,\u201d these five discs nonetheless offer up some fine and interesting music.<\/p>\n
Various Artists \u2013 <\/strong>Saturday Night in Shankletown<\/strong><\/em> Various Artists \u2013 <\/strong>Bar-B-Cue’n Blues<\/strong><\/em>
\nThis disc kicks off with Billy Boy Arnold<\/strong>‘s \u201cI Wish You Would,\u201d a song most familiar to rock fans through its cover by the Yardbirds<\/strong>. The Chicago blues harpist (repeatedly mis-credited on this disc as Billy Boyd<\/em> Arnold) has cut the track several times during his illustrious career, and \u2013 sadly typical of this series \u2013 the liner notes make no mention of which version this is. His stomping \u201cEl Dorado\u201d will be more familiar as \u201cI Ain’t Got You,\u201d also covered by the Yardbirds. The disc collects classic blues sides \u2013 both old and (more often) contemporary \u2013 by Muddy Waters<\/strong> and James Cotton<\/strong>. But it also mixes in some left-field selections: George Cummings<\/strong> (of Dr. Hook<\/strong>); a Commodores<\/strong> cover of the soul hit \u201cI Know I’m Losing You\u201d and some late 90s collaborations between Nanette Workman<\/strong> (a sensation in French-speaking Canada, I’m told) and Peter Frampton<\/strong>. The disc wraps with a slick number from label head Hatley himself; it answers the question, \u201cWhat would Paul Shaffer<\/strong>‘s band sound like playing the blues?\u201d In total, Saturday Night in Shankletown<\/em> is a mishmash that has no discernible unifying theme; it’s a bit like listening to a non-commercial, free-form blues station (does such a thing exist?) at three in the morning.<\/p>\n
\nA theme \u2013 such as it is \u2013 is beginning to develop on the second volume. More Billy Boy Arnold, James Cotton and Muddy Waters. The lyrics to Arnold’s \u201cCatfish\u201d will ring familiar to anyone who’s ever listened to the Beatles<\/strong>‘ cover of \u201cMatchbox.\u201d (A quick bit of checking suggests most if not all Arnold tracks on this series are taken from an album he cut in the early 70s called Catfish<\/em>, featuring the Groundhogs<\/strong> as his backing band.<\/strike> Who knows?*<\/strong><\/font>) This set’s left-field cut is \u201cI Don’t Know What You’ve Got,\u201d a soulful Little Richard<\/strong> hit from the mid-sixties. It’s a fine tune, well worth having. But its placement here makes neither sonic nor thematic sense. At least the series is consistent in its…inconsistency.<\/p>\n
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