JASON & THE SCORCHERS
Wildfires + Misfires: Two Decades of Outtakes & Rarities
(Courageous Chicken/Yep Roc)
It should go without saying that Jason & the Scorchers were one of the very best American rock bands. Though the group has been relatively inactive for the past few years, frontman Jason Ringenberg keeps the flame brightly burning with archival material released on his own Courageous Chicken label. Wildfires + Misfires is a collection of outtakes, demos, live tracks and B-sides that spans the 20 years of the band's existence.

Demos of famous tracks include raw takes of "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and "Shop It Around." There's also an acoustic C&W version of "If Money Talks," one of the band's greatest rockers, sung by drummer Perry Baggs; the rousing pop song "Comin' Round" later evolved into "Crashing Down." Also enclosed are demos of otherwise-unheard songs. "Don't Stop Doin'" (from the Still Standing era) and "Too Much Too Young" and "Break Open the Sky" (from the underrated Thunder and Fire era) rock nicely, while the T&F-era "The Slow Train Never Stops" adds to the band's collection of great ballads. There's also a powerhouse cover of the traditional "Gospel Plow" from the Clear Impetuous Morning demo sessions.

Professionally recorded outtakes include the chooglin' "Buried Me Like a Bone" and a grungy cover of "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town" (with the Georgia Satellites' Rick Richards on guitar), recorded for A Blazing Grace, while the T&F sessions provide the midtempo burner "Window Town" and pretty ballad "Fallen Angel." A faithful "Long Black Veil," from the Lost and Found sessions, and a fierce "Cappuccino Rosie," recorded during the same concerts that make up the Scorchers' live album Midnight Roads and Stages Seen, round out the unused tracks. Live cuts include an uncharacteristically acoustic "Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel," a smokin' "Lost Highway," a fun-filled "Polk Salad Annie" (shouted by guitarist Warner Hodges) and a titanic "Tear It Up," with guest picker Link Wray. There's not a stinker in the bunch, so this amounts to a new Scorchers album for those of us who've been jonesin' for one. It's also not a bad place to start for neophytes, as it covers the length and breadth of the band's remarkable career. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: drivin' n' cryin', the True Believers, Dash Rip Rock