This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
In one form or another, the King Biscuit radio show has been broadcasting live music for decades. (I have an old Sonny Boy Williamson LP with pictures taken at a show in the ’30s.)
Lately, it’s begun to release some more recent recordings on CD — like these two discs featuring Canuck rockers April Wine and Jimi Hendrix acolyte Jon Butcher. Why these two? Your guess is as good as mine. The April Wine disc is a fairly bland outing from the ’82 Power Play tour. It’s hit-packed to be sure — I Like To Rock, Roller, and Oowatanite are all on the set list — but hardly a spectacular gig. Even more unspectacular are the liner notes, which misidentify two band members (Miles instead of Myles Goodwin, and more laughably, Johnny instead of Jerry Mercer). Butcher, on the other hand, acquits himself more capably — for what that’s worth. Sure, he’s a gifted rock guitarist, a soulful singer and a sensitive, intelligent blues-rock songwriter. But I’m still willing to bet even his mother can’t name three of his songs. The King Biscuit folk have to have better tapes in the vault than these. (F’rinstance, how about that old Sonny Boy gig?)
