The state of Leo Kottke's catalog on Capitol

I'm pretty well taken-care-of on this score. I have decent lps of all of Leo Kottke's Capitol lps from Mudlark up through Did You Hear Me? and many of the Chrysalis ones. The Chrysalis CDs are (were?) pretty decent, but every CD I ever bought of a Leo Kottke album from the Capitol era was problematic for one reason or another.

The only CDs I can recommend for the Capitol era are The Best of Leo Kottke (note: NOT Leo Kottke - The Best), and Rhino's Leo Kottke Anthology. Both sound excellent.

Every CD of the individual albums I've ever encountered are either remixed with extra reverb and tinny eq, or they're very very dull representations of the original tapes.

The above compilations illustrate that the material can sound excellent on CD. I keep checking HDTracks to see if the original albums have been remastered, but so far no soap.

 

I have noticed that except for an "Instrumentals" compilation the Capitol albums are missing from official streaming sites. Too bad. Fortunately the LPs are not hard to find in good shape.

 

That's true, and every copy I've heard has sounded great. The early pressings with PM (probably Paul Martinson) in the deadwax are best, but even the early-eighties green label ("Mastered by Capitol) reissues sound good (though some of them are missing songs, notably Greenhouse, which loses the beautiful "Tiny Island" on that pressing).

 

I saw a reissue of Mudlark where they deleted four songs.

 

Whoa!

Yeah, I see it on discogs. Some really great stuff got culled off that pressing.

"Eight Miles High", "Stealing", "Lullaby", and "Hear the Wind Howl".

Wow. "Stealing" is one of my absolute favorites.

 

Ice Water (my fave) and Chewing Pine are two of my faves on vinyl Unlike some fans, I LOVE Leo's vocal work too. Can't get enough and to my ears, a bit like Jim Morrison, especially on "Morning Is The Long Way Home".

When I first heard Leo it was on Prairie Home Companion. In the Twin Cities. Leo lived nearby (I was in Edina and Leo lived in Eden Prairie). Still regret never getting over to St Paul to see Leo live on the Companion in its infancy. What a wonderful PBS show. And Leo was a regular.

Also love Mudlark---his Eight Miles High cover is wonderful!! Sublime!

 

All the individual Capital era albums I have on the One Way label. I have not owned the vinyl for a long, long time. But when I did, I even had Live At The Scholar House and Circle Around The Sun. I used to frequent Dinky Town to shop the record stores there, especially Discount Records.

I once had a girlfriend who lived in Golden Valley, who moved to Edina. It was a long drive from Amery Wisconsin to see her every weekend!

 

I am one of those who much prefers his songs where he sings. Time Step is my favorite album. But the instrumental album I like best is Dreams And All That Stuff.

 

BGO has 4 Capitol titles:
Mudlark
Ice Water
Greenhouse
My Feet Are Smiling

I wonder if they are better than the One Way Records CDs? I have been generally happy with many BGO releases. Does anyone have any of these BGO titles? How do they compare to the One Way Records versions?

 

Just came to post that Leo Kottke is the American Bert Jansch, all of his albums (especially the Capitol era) deserve to be in print, and he is a national treasure. Mudlark has barely left my turntable all month.

 

- a great comparison, that never occurred to me. Good stuff.
I wondered about BGO vs One Way for years, as just the BGO's are readily accessible. Just picked up One Way Dreams and Ice Water. BGO is more rock-solid and bass-heavy where as One Way is brighter.
I prefer the One Ways. A lot more of the crisp details of the back up musicians can be heard. Of course the One Ways are harder to find and less affordable.
I missed him live in Reading/Allentown last Aug. and I'm kicking myself. He's in DC at the Lincoln Theatre one week from tonight, for those in the area - general admission though.

 

He has created some amazing and iconic music

The SACD of 6 and 12 string guitar sounds terrific

 

Kicking myself for not getting the original vinyl on Tacoma when I saw it for a few bucks--it was NM in the shrink.

 

I owned the Takoma on vinyl in its day. But the SACD is really great. I do not recall the vinyl sounding as natural as the SACD

 

Slightly off-topic, but as my Kottke collection nears completion, it's frustrating that 12 String Blues and Circle Round the Sun are still missing in action on CD.

The only other available-on-CD title I still need is his S/T release from '76.

 

Do you mean master of six and twelve string guitar or something before that? The one titled master of 6 and 12 string is in print on SACD I think. I may have had it on CD at one point also.

 

Leo Kottke - 12 String Blues
The first Leo album I ever bought, on a Baltimore record store owner's recommendation in 1973: Leo Kottke - Circle 'Round The Sun

 

The first one I bought. And he appeared quite often on Prairie Home companion in the 70's--it was on the telly in Minneapolis/St Paul, as Leo lived in nearby Eden Prairie.

Still have the original vinyl. Chewing Pine was my next vinyl purchase.



Loved this very Doors like vocal (his Morrison-like voice is music to my ears). The more Leo sings, the more I like!
He performed this one on the TV show, plus Pamela Brown...my two faves off that LP.

Morning Is The Long Way Home