Classified [Remixed and Expanded Edition]

by James Booker

Overview

While there has suddenly been a flood of CDs featuring masterful New Orleans keyboard wizard and vocalist James Booker, his best release arguably remains Classified. The 12-track set was a landmark album, as Booker displayed every facet of his distinctive style. He did up-tempo blues, quasi-classical, rock and R&B, making them all sound easy while performing frequently awesome keyboard feats. His "Professor Longhair Medley: Bald Head/Tipitina" pays homage to a legend while also demonstrating how much farther Booker's pianistic skills had developed. While his vocals sometimes aren't the equal of his brilliant playing, they're never less than effective and are sometimes almost frightening in their intensity. [The sessions for Classified were held in 1982, and Booker was not in very good physical or mental shape for them, but producer Scott Billington, returning to the original tapes some thirty years later, found more than he remembered there, and Rounder Records issued an expanded edition of Classified in 2013 that added several previously unreleased tracks.] ~ Ron Wynn

Product Details

Release Date:	10/15/2013
Label:	Decca / Rounder
UPC:	0011661917521
Rank:	56523

Tracks

1. Classified
2. If You're Lonely
3. Warsaw Concerto
4. Lawdy Miss Clawdy [Solo Piano Alternate Take]
5. Medley: Tico Tico/Papa Was a Rascal/So Swell When You're Well
6. All Around the World
7. Angel Eyes
8. Lonely Avenue
9. Professor Longhair Medley: Tipitina/Bald Head
10. King of the Road
11. Theme from the Godfather
12. Lawdy Miss Clawdy
13. I'm Not Sayin'
14. Hound Dog
15. All These Things
16. Yes Sir, That's My Baby
17. Baby Face
18. If You're Lonely [Solo Piano Alternate Take]
19. Madame X
20. One For the Highway
21. Three Keys
22. Amen

Album Credits

Performance Credits

James Booker   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Johnny Vidacovich   Drums
Alvin "Red" Tyler   Sax (Tenor)
James Singleton   Bass

Technical Credits

John Parsons   Engineer,Producer
James Booker   Arranger,Composer
Fats Domino   Composer
Roger Miller   Composer
Doc Pomus   Composer
Jay Gallagher   Engineer
John Nagy   Mastering
Walter Donaldson   Composer
Scott Billington   Design,Mixing,Producer
Aloysio de Oliveira   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Roy Byrd   Composer
Matt Dennis   Composer
Nino Rota   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Gus Kahn   Composer
Harry Ruby   Composer
Bert Kalmar   Composer
Lloyd Price   Composer
Public Domain   Composer
Titus Turner   Composer
Allen Toussaint   Composer
Earl K. Brent   Composer
Bunny Matthews   Liner Notes
Richard Addinsell   Composer
James Gibson   Composer
Nancy Given   Adaptation to CD
Jose Gomez de Abreu   Composer
Earl Brent   Composer
Irmaos Vitale   Composer
Parti Siae   Composer
Edward Buzzell   Composer
James C. Skinner   Composer
Jose Gomes De Abreu-Aloysio De Oliveira   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Paul Mufson   Mixing