Arthur Brown,”Dance” (Cherry Red / Esoteric)-The “Fire” hitmaker has tended to be dismissed as a rather eccentric one-hit wonder during the decades that have slipped by since he enjoyed his sadly all too brief flirtation with fame and fortune in 1968, but the flamboyant artist who was once dubbed the “God of Hellfire” has actually assembled a very interesting body of work in the interim. “Dance” first saw the light of day in 1975, and although it isn’t the great man’s finest creation the newly remastered album does include a typically over the top revamp of The Animals’ “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place”, and as an added bonus the good people at Cherry Red have seen fit to reward purchasers with six bonus tracks culled from Mr.Brown’s performance on BBC Radio One’s “In Concert Show” in April of the same year.

Bernard Allison,”Luther’s Blues” (Ruf Records)- Guitarist Luther Allison was one of the prime practitioners of the classic Chicago blues until his untimely death from a brain tumour in 1997, and his equally gifted son Bernard has been maintaining the family tradition with a similar flourish since making his debut on record three decades ago, albeit with a more rock orientated and funky approach to music making than his illustrious father would have been comfortable with. The younger Allison has always made a point of including one or two of Luther’s songs on every album that he’s recorded over the years, and this hand picked anthology brings them all together on record for the first time. “Serious,” “Life Is A Bitch,” and “Let’s Try It Again” are the pick of this excellent 2 CD set from the label founded by Luther’s former manager Thomas Ruf in 1994.

Mitch Ryder, “The Roof Is On Fire” (Ruf Records)- The veteran performer who has been dubbed “The unsung hero of Detroit rock’n’roll” hasn’t really made too much of an impact on the public consciousness since his golden era in the mid sixties, when Ryder and his band the Detroit Wheels soared into the higher reaches of the singles charts with crowd pleasing ditties such as “Jenny Take A Ride” and “Devil With A Blue Dress On.” His enthusiasm for music making seems to have remained undimmed however on the evidence presented by this excellent live set. The contents find Mitch and his energised German band strutting their stuff in no uncertain fashion at venues in Dresden, Berlin and Bonn as they revive classic creations such as Dylan’s “From A Buick 6” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and the great Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross.”