This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 1993, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Those little devils at the Dead Goat Saloon and KRCL-FM have done it again.

Since 1987, during the final Monday of each month, the two factions have combined to broadcast the Blue Devils Blues Revue. Nationally known blues and jazz artists have performed monthly at the Dead Goat, 165 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City. The headliners have been backed by Salt Lake's best rhythm-and-blues band, the Tempo Timers. The performances have been broadcast on KRCL (90.9 FM).

A good representation of those broadcasts have been captured on compact disc as ``The Blue Devils Blues Revue -- The Feature Addition,'' an 11-song compilation that delivers 73 minutes of music.

The disc is, in a word, effective. It captures the essence of the broadcast, giving the music its proper environment without a sterile studio tone. ``The Blue Devils Blues Revue'' has the great high-fidelity sound of the blues and jazz records made in the late 1950s and '60s.

``We actually compiled three songs for each artist,'' said Dead Goat owner John Paul Brophy. ``They got to make their choice. If they didn't make a choice, we did.''

Nearly every choice is a winner. Coco Montoya kicks off the disc with Albert King's ``You're So Mean to Me'' and concludes with Denny Freeman's ``Soul Street,'' a 10-minute guitar opus.

The vocals for Terry Hanck's ``The Things That I Used to Do'' are muddy, but Hanck's saxophone and Rick Welter's precise guitar picking are not.

``James Anderson [of Performance Audio] did a great job,'' Brophy said. ``He had all the music displayed on a computer screen. Every note, the highs and lows. It looked like Buck Rogers.''

Filling out the remainder of the disc are Debbie Davies, Rob Rio, Steve Samuels, Earl Brown, Al Blake, Jimmy Beasley, Abu Talib and Freddie Roulette.

Considering that the rehearsal time with the artist and band together is relatively short -- several musicians have shown up minutes before the broadcast -- ``The Blue Devils Blues Revue'' also shows how good a band the Tempo Timers are. Michael Ricks on bass, Fred Marcin on drums and Dan Walker on sax round out the group's current lineup. Keyboardist Wayne Christensen is featured on several tunes, including Earl Brown's ``Hip Hug-Her.''

Informative liner notes describe the broadcast's beginnings, as well as how the show got its name and the musicians on each cut. The lone shortcoming is the lack of individual broadcast dates for each song.

But that is nit-picking in the face of Al Blake's wonderful solo acoustic Delta blues, ``Rock Me, Baby,'' and Abu Talib's excellent instrumental ``Black Fox.''

And more good news is on the way: Volume 2 is expected in the not-so-distant future.