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At the time this stuff came out, there were SO many releases it was hard for even the keenest music fan to hear it all let alone buy the records. This or the new Doors ? or a new Butterfield ? Hence one often finds now that great releases at the time still sound fine and should have perhaps been getting a wider hearing. To their credit D&B and their heavy friends were not content to mine one or even two genres – this set has rock, soul, blues and country elements. They obviously heard Ike and Tina and that comes through, but the songs go to different places. Often joyously upbeat as on second track here ‘My Baby Specializes’ the band create an irresistible groove with spot-on horn playing, handclaps and crisp guitar. The vocal interplay is special, that’s for sure. Often D&B tracks appear on compilations playing up the presence of E Clapton when the guitar is manifestly Dave Mason (one of our most underrated musicians ? I reckon so) – but whatever the ensemble these artists used the finest. Delaney even made a cracking moody tourdeforce of an album with John Hammond. Six bonus cuts make this CD a 16-tracker. ‘I’ve Just Been Feeling Bad’ has very Joe Cocker feel whilst the sneaky punch of ‘Dirty Old Man’ is Southern Blues of the Etta James persuasion. As an example of their studio potency, this expanded set does just fine..now how about a handpicked live compilation ?

Pete Sargeant