'Feet and Teeth' is the second album of Belgian blues band The Alley Gators. "Alligator feet and alligator teeth are regularly used in South to increase gambling luck. Like the ever-popular rabbit foot, also considered lucky for gamblers, the alligator foot may worn as a key chain charm or carried in a mojo bag along with such natural curios as rattlesnake rattles, badger teeth, bat hearts, nutmegs, buckeye nuts, Lucky Hand roots, five-finger grass, John the Conqueror roots, and lodestones dressed with magnetic sand."

Canned Heat is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its interpretations of blues material and for its efforts to promote interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called "canned heat", After appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals at the end of the 1960s, the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Hite (vocals), Wilson (guitar, harmonica and vocals), Henry Vestine and later Harvey Mandel (lead guitar), Larry Taylor (bass), and Adolfo de la Parra (drums).

Faded old-world flowers adorn both sides of the cover with a big strip of black grease disturbing the lovely imagery on the back. Beginning with Arthur Crudup's "My Baby Left Me," like that other band of famous backup players, the Section, how can this be anything but very musical? Guitarist/vocalist Henry McCullough's "Mistake No Doubt" has eerie backing vocals and is suitably well done, as is his "Let It Be Gone," and though this is far from commercial, it is important to have this document of the guys who made magic behind Joe Cocker in 1969 and Marianne Faithfull in the mid-'70s. This came right in the middle, and the Grease Band's collaborative effort, "Jesse James," could be mistaken for Doug Yule singing Lou Reed's "Train Comin' Round the Bend." It's got that chug-a-lug subdued rock sound. With Henry McCullough's Wings connection, The Grease Band gets a touch of the Beatles' guilt-by-association mystique. As intriguing and wonderful as this album is, had Joe Cocker guested on bassist Alan Spenner's "Down Home Mama" or had Marianne Faithfull taken on the traditional "To the Lord," there would have been that something extra, that intangible that makes records so very special.

After three strong-selling albums in a row, Black Oak Arkansas released Ain't Life Grand to a somewhat cool response. The successes of the past seemed to have afforded the group better recording accommodations, as this 1975 offering sounds vastly superior to anything that preceded it. The material isn't improved, but the performances are tighter, and the mixes are punchy and clear. James "Jim Dandy" Mangrum still dominates the proceedings with his snarling vocals; however, the singer's more annoying ticks are softened a little, making this a very listenable record. Highlights include a decent cover of the Beatles' "Taxman," the uplifting closer "Let Life Be Good to You," and "Keep On," with its pronounced Grateful Dead shading. Outside of their two near-classics, Raunch 'N' Roll Live, and High On the Hog, this just might be the best effort from Mangrum and Black Oak Arkansas.

This platter captures the 1970 incarnation of Canned Heat with Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals), Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/vocals/harmonica), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Aldolfo "Fito" de la Parra (drums), and newest addition Harvey Mandel (guitar), who had replaced Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar) in 1969. They headed across the Atlantic in the spring of 1970 on the heels of "Let's Work Together" – a Wilbert Harrison cover that charted within the Top Five in Europe. That outing yielded the combo's first concert disc, Live in Europe (1971) – which had been issued almost a year earlier in the U.K. as Canned Heat Concert (Recorded Live in Europe) (1970).

One would be hard-pressed to find a band more perfectly symbolic of the good-times politics-be-damned esprit de cannabis that symbolized a good chunk of 70's rock. While the Beach Boys were busy becoming an anachronism, the Doobs effectively took their mantle, fusing an array of musical Americana - be it blues, country, folk, or gospel - into a remarkably popular string of albums and radio hits by simply asking not much more of us than to "Listen to the Music." And if they didn't get much more controversial than to declare "Jesus Is Just Alright," well, that was kind of the point. This Rhino anthology is typically exhaustive. All the familiar radio hits are here, as well as a good sampling of deep catalog from the band's various line-ups, not to mention a few standout Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons solo outings. Hardcore Doobie Bros. fans should be especially pleased by the fourth disc, which contains a wealth of outtakes and demos from the band's early '70s and '80s prime.

Tres Hombres is the record that brought ZZ Top their first Top Ten record, making them stars in the process. It couldn't have happened to a better record. ZZ Top finally got their low-down, cheerfully sleazy blooze-n-boogie right on this, their third album…

It has an atrocious title and an atrocious album cover, but Wet Willie's eponymous debut is a good slice of Southern rock. The band occasionally stretches out a bit, getting into bluesy improvised sections, but their main talent is for laidback Southern grooves. The album is a little uneven, but "Shame, Shame, Shame," "Dirty Leg" and "Have a Good Time" illustrate their potential.

On Tejas, ZZ Top countrified the bluesy posture of their previous albums, resulting in a slight detour between the madcap spirit of Fandango and the psychedelic strut of Deguello. While the album lacks any singles as strong as "Tush" or "La Grange," "Arrested for Driving While Blind" is one of ZZ's classic anthems, capturing the group's wacky humor and jaunty good-time boogie…

With their second album, Rio Grande Mud, ZZ Top uses the sound they sketched out on their debut as a blueprint, yet they tweak it in slight but important ways. The first difference is the heavier, more powerful sound, turning the boogie guitars into a locomotive force…

Formed by three avid blues record collectors, Canned Heat reformatted the sound of those beloved old 78s into ragged electric guitar boogies that fit the gestalt of the Woodstock generation. Guitarist and harmonica player Alan Wilson, singer Bob Hite, and guitarist Henry Vestine took their record collecting seriously, lifting the quill section from Texas songster Henry Thomas' 1920s recording of "Bull Doze Blues" note for note to form the intro to "Going Up the Country," one of Canned Heat's most enduring songs. At its best, Canned Heat translated an enthusiasm for old blues into a bright, radio-friendly history lesson, and at its worst, it collapsed into being just another white blues boogie band.

ZZ Top's First Album may not be perfectly polished, but it does establish their sound, attitude, and quirks. Simply put, it's a dirty little blues-rock record, filled with fuzzy guitars, barrelhouse rhythms, dirty jokes, and Texan slang…