Tony Joe White

★★★★★ Swamp Music RUN OUT GROOVE. LP

Impeccable rarities set from the Swamp Fox’s 1968-’70 Monument years.

It’s the first time on vinyl for this cherry pick of rarities, demos and alternate takes, the majority taken from the long out-of-print Rhino Handmade box of the same name. Beautifully packaged in laminate trifold numbered sleeve, with lined inners and spread over three 180 gram LPs, the Billy Swan-produced tracks are split between those with full band and sweetening horns, and those with just White, his guitar and harmonica. In the former camp: the mesmeric Boeuf River bayou blues of Willie And Laura Mae Jones and the acid funk of A Man Can Only Stand So Much Pain. In the latter, Chain Of Fools, in his hands a heartfelt avowal, and Hey Jude, discovered while sourcing the masters for this compilation, smothered in whomper stomper wah wah and fired with intensity.