johnny Guitar Watson - Johnny "Guitar" Watson And The Family Close (1981) [Remastered 2006]

This intriguing and bizarre album was originally released in 1981, and features Johnny "Guitar" Watson playing all the instruments and singing all the vocal parts. The end result has a surprisingly contemporary 21st century feel, and sounds a bit like Shuggie Otis' similarly lost-solo sessions from a decade earlier, mixing hard blues, jazz, soul and touches of funk into a fascinating hybrid that is remarkably fluid and light on its feet. The whole album is of a piece, but some obvious highlights include "Family Clone," "Ain't Movin'," "Voodoo What You Do," and some mind-blowing vocoder guitar on "Come Dance with Me." Not quite a great lost classic, but it comes pretty darn close. [Also released with bonus tracks.]