The Crusaders - The Golden Years (1992) {3CD}

Tracklist

CD1

1.The Young Rabbits
2.Blues Up Tight
3.Fancy Dance
4.Eleanor Rigby
5.Way Back Home (Intro)
6.Way Back Home
7.Hard Times
8.Thank You
9.Stomp and Buck Dance
10.Greasy Spoon
11.A Ballad for Joe (Louis)
12.Chain Reaction
13.Rainbow Visions

CD2

1.Spiral
2.Keep That Same Old Feeling
3.Free as the Wind
4.I Felt the Love
5.The Way We Was
6.Nite Crawler
7.Sweet N' Sour
8.It Happens Everyday
9.So Far Away [Studio Version]
10.Put It Where You Want It

CD3

1.Marcella's Dream
2.Fairy Tales
3.Street Life
4.The Hustler
5.Carnival of the Night
6.Elegant Evening
7.Last Call
8.A Search for Soul
9.Don't Let It Get You Down

Issued in 1992, the first of GRP's Crusaders boxes deliberately limits its reach to a 20-year stretch, stopping just before the crucial departure of drummer Stix Hooper -- hence the arguably apt title The Golden Years. The three discs occasionally give us a good idea of the band's evolution from a fine Texas bop outfit to the soulful groovemeisters somewhat beyond category, but there are unexplained flashbacks in the chronology and a frustrating lack of recording dates, a failing that also marks the later box set, Way Back Home. Disc One roughly documents the transition from the Jazz Crusaders to the Crusaders, with the live "Eleanor Rigby" serving as the pivotal turning point, though some may lament the short weight of material (albeit licensed from Pacific Jazz) from the 1960s. Musically, Disc Two is a gas, an uninterrupted cornucopia of first-rate material -- two tracks from Those Southern Knights, almost the entire Free as the Wind album, and doubling back to two monster cuts from Crusaders I, the sublime "So Far Away" and percolating "Put It Where You Want It." Disc Three moves at a somewhat lower level, but you do get the full-length "Street Life," and the set closes with a flashback to The Second Crusade. Missed chronological opportunities aside, newcomers and established fans will find a terrific selection of fine grooves and zesty music-making in one compact box.~Richard S. Ginell