Just Plug Him In

A fully remastered version of what was, in all honesty, a fairly lo-fi, low-key release back in 1991, Just Plug Him In is a live anthology that traces Chris Spedding from the late '70s through to the late '80s and, in between times, reminds us just why he's ranked among rock's most in-demand guitarists. An opening blast from the tour he played with Robert Gordon in 1979 kicks things off, a dramatic "Gunfight" that sets us up for a six-song session from 1977. Touring behind his Hurt solo album, and playing solo for the first time too, "Snakes and Swallowtails" and "Hey Miss Betty" crown this particular sequence in dramatic style. From there, we move to a couple of songs from a Berlin show in 1989; that same year also provides a phenomenal stomp through "Shaking All Over," a song that could have been written with Spedding in mind. But it's the quartet of cuts from Spedding's time in New York, in the early '80s, that really crowns the collection, the proto-punk passion of "Motorbikin'" and the frenetic "Guitar Jamboree" leading up to a fabulously moody "Mary Lou." The sound quality is still a little murky, but this is classic stuff in anybody's book, and you can never get too much Chris Spedding! ~ Dave Thompson