Sunday Nights: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough CD (Fat Possum)

When you do a zine, you get comps, comps, comps, 8 zillion CDs with twenty songs each by no-name, no-hope bands, each one praying that a sensitive critic will spot their brilliance from among the dross. It's daunting and a great responsibility, one which I honor by hiding all such releases behind a pile of dirty pajamas in the corner of my bedroom. This is not one of those comps.. Kicking off with the revived Iggy & the Stooges howling about rape and submission, this disc honors late bluesman Kimbrough--covered in the Lost in the Grooves book in a short 'n' sweet essay by Matthew Smith--and his stark, elemental tunes, featuring classy-yet-still-raunchy interpretations from the likes of Spiritualized, the Blues Explosion, Pete Yorn w/ Cat Power, the Ponys, Jack Oblivion and yet more Stooges to close the door. Highlights: thee Shams stirring up a harp-drenched storm on “Release Me” and the aforementioned Iggy, chortling like a horn toad about how there's a “whole lotta rapin' goin' on!” -Kim Cooper