Relix's Best of Kingfish
	production credits unknown
	Released on January 7, 1997
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
RRCD2084 cover [high resolution scan]

A fishy title if ever there was (there was). U C, Relix only had access to archival material and live recordings. Basically the little fish that others had thrown back in the water. Relix’s Best of Kingfish samples the best of the 1985 eponymous album, Alive in ’85 and A Wing And A Prayer, three releases from the mid ‘80s that you’d have to cast your net pretty wide to catch. Not that the haul is fruitless, but you’ll need to be hungry for any R&B action to find this appetizing. If you’re in search of terrapinalia, there are far better streams to mine: the solo work of Garcia and Weir as well as Robert Hunter, New Riders and even Mickey Hart. Perhaps the first Kingfish record belongs in that category. But Relix inherited a weaker elixir. Some of this does match my expectation for Bob Weir’s cowboy blues, like “Dangerous Relations” and “Riding High.” A live track featuring John Lee Hooker and Mike Bloomfield (“Put Your Hand On Me, Babe”) is also an obvious winner. The rest of the record is what you’d expect from a band whose tight R&B antics could draw bodies from over the county line to rock the juke joint on a Saturday night. But without the names and connections, Kingfish would flounder in a medium where it takes the personality of a Stevie Ray to break into major markets. There’s a small, deadicated audience for this type of music, likely the same folks who circle Merl Saunders’ shows in the Friday paper and wrap the memories in Saturday morning’s.

RRCD2084 booklet gatefold

TRACK LISTING

1. STATESBORO BLUES
2. NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME
3. HIDDEN CHARMS
4. SCHOOL DAYS
5. DANGEROUS RELATIONS
6. IF THAT'S THE WAY
7. PUT YOUR HAND ON ME, BABE
8. MONEY HONEY
9. MONA
10. RIDING HIGH
11. TASTE OF THE DEVIL
12. RIP IT UP
13. KEY TO THE HIGHWAY

CREDITS

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