I want to say, publicly, that I have underrated Charlie McAlister's Sardine in Bastard Suit. For a long time, my position on it was a simple "not as good as Mississippi Luau." And obviously that's true. Nothing is ever going to be as good as Mississippi Luau. That sort of thing comes along once in a lifetime. If an artist actually had two of them in him, how would be even be able to walk around? He wouldn't. The force of that stuff inside him would not be sustainable. He would collapse.

But that doesn't really say anything about Sardine in Bastard Suit, which, as it turns out, after long reflection, is totally excellent. Really totally and completely excellent and long underrated by me. Well, not any more. These songs are great. They're less manic and more depressed than the stuff on Mississippi Luau, but so what? Sometimes we're mellow and depressed instead of hopped up on sweet rum drinks.

I feel bad! I have sold Sardine in Bastard Suit short for too long. At the very least, I ought to have alerted you to its incredible title. Do you expect to run across a better album title in your lifetime? I don't. It's free here, anyway, from the people who released it, one of my favorite tape labels ever. The undersung meet the underappreciated in a battle to the death! I hereby promise not to underrate any Chas McAl stuff that is actually top shelf. Vowed this 13th day of March, 2009, etc., by your faithful and penitent parishioner, etc., John D.