I make a distinction between tiers of excellence and personal favorites. Naturally, these categories often overlap (as with the white album in tier one or Bare Trees in tier two). But I list Then Play On and Blues Jam at Chess in the first tier, whereas I personally enjoy and prefer listening to most of Future Games and much of Penguin to those records.
Excellence and comparative mediocrity, in my opinion, have to be considered independent of my personal taste.
But, damn, Otis Span’s voice and playing is enough to give me goosebumps!
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