AMG Review of Best of Elvin Bishop: Crabshaw Rising

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

In his first manifestation as a band leader (1969-1972), Elvin Bishop lived in Marin County, CA, and performed under the auspices of promoter Bill Graham. Not surprisingly, the three albums he cut in that period, two for Graham's Fillmore label and the third for its parent, Epic, fit into the soul-blues-rock style of post-psychedelic San Francisco, even to the point of featuring an extended instrumental, "Hogbottom," on which Bishop takes Carlos Santana's place fronting the Santana percussion section. This ten-track compilation selects from the albums The Elvin Bishop Group, Feel It!, and Rock My Soul, effectively summarizing this phase in Bishop's career. It was superseded in 1994 by the 18-track CD The Best of Elvin Bishop: Tulsa Shuffle, which contained nine of its selections. Then, oddly enough, it was reissued in 1996!