Robert Baird

Having heard from the good folks at Ralston Purina&#151sorry, "good folks" seems to be a trigger for 60's TV commercial flashbacks for puppy chow or something. Lemme try again...When I heard from the good folks at the burgeoning mini&#150mega empire that Concord/Fantasy Telarc has become that a new series called <I>Stax Profiles</I> was about to begin, I anxiously tore open a Concord box that arrived in the office yesterday.

Starting this blog has made me feel almost the same way I did when Frank Sinatra died and I wrote in the pages of <I>Stereophile</I> that when I became a music writer, lo those many dark-haired days ago, I knew that someday I'd have to write a Francis Albert obit. When the blog craze first began to gallop, I knew intuitively that someday, I too would be sucked into the immediacy maw and be lured into venting my opinions, valuable or not, in the blogosphere.

<I><B>Hammersmith Odeon, London `75</B></I><BR>
Columbia

<I><B>Lotta Love Concert</B></I><BR>
Rhino

<B>NEKO CASE: <I>Fox Confessor Brings the Flood</I></B><BR>
Anti 86777 (CD). 2006. Neko Case, Darryl Neudorf, prods.; Craig Schumacher, Chris Schultz, engs. AAD. TT: 34:55<BR>
Performance ****&#189;<BR>
Sonics ****

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS: <I>Electric Blue Watermelon</I><BR>
ATO (According To Our) Records 0026 (CD). 2005. Jim Dickinson, prod.; Roland Janes, Pete Matthews, Kevin Houston, engs. AAD? TT: 49:23<BR>
Performance <B>****</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>

<B>JOHN PRINE: <I>Fair & Square</I></B><BR>
Oh Boy OBR-034 (CD). 2005. John Prine, prod.; Gary Paczosa, prod., eng.; Thomas<BR>
Johnson, Brandon Bell, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 62:16<BR>
Performance ****&#189;<BR>
Sonics ****&#189;