Has anyone already bought/planning to get KFOG Live from the Archives 17? It looks like it's starting to sell out at a few places, though I imagine it'll be around for a few more weeks, at least.
I haven't decided yet. Previous volumes have had 16-17 tracks but this one only has 12 @ the same price, and I'm so incredibly non-plussed by the lineup. I wasn't thrilled about last year's either, but that one's genius compared to this one.
It feels like they didn't put too much thought into this one. Most of the current tracks (Greg Laswell, M. Franti/Spearhead, Train, John Butler Trio, Brandi Carlisle) are found on other AAA samplers this year. Then many of the other tracks are puzzling. Ziggy Marley? That perfomance was from '06. He wasn't too relevant then, and he's even less relevant now. Ray LaMontagne has a new song and album out, so what's with throwing in a song from '05? Same with Sarah McLesbian and '04. (Although, to be fair, this version of "Possession" is absolutely flawless -- whereas most of the other recordings on this album leave something to be desired, imo.) Then that Kenny White track sticks out like a sore thumb. It's fine in one of these, but against everything else (and especially as the last track) it's like they just threw in a track at the end by someone of that obscurity just to throw in a track by someone of that obscurity. If it was someone who came into the studio this past year and were blown away with then I could see it, but it's well over a year old so it would have made more sense on last year's. So really the only tracks that even make sense are ALO, The Dead, and Jackie Greene, the latter two which I'm not too thrilled about anyway and ALO can't save this album.
I have 3-16, so the only reason I would pick this one up is to be a completist. At least the cover art is good, though KFOG usually does fare pretty well in that dept. Ho-hum. This one may be one to wait for Amoeba, although maybe not as the last few volumes still seem to be holding up their price fairly well. (Some of the middle-early volumes, on the other hand, like the ones from 6-12, are way cheap now.)
