To put the performance on in a bit of perspective: 's key partner in , guitarist , died in August 1968, just seven months before this set was recorded in February 1969. In addition to that, was nearing the peak of his popularity -- his 1968 live album, , was a smash success -- but he was nearly at his wildest in his personal life, which surely spilled over into his performance. All of this sets the stage for , a nominal sequel to that surpasses its predecessor and captures at his rawest and wildest. Part of this is due to how he feeds off of his captive audience, playing to the prisoners and seeming like one of them, but it's also due to the shifting dynamic within the band. Without , isn't tied to the percolating two-step that defined his music to that point. Sure, it's still there, but it has a different feel coming from a different guitarist, and sounds unhinged as he careens through his jailhouse , old hits, and -styled ravers, and even covers ( ). No other record sounds as wild as this. He sounds like an and renegade here, which is what gives it power -- listen to a composition that could have been too cute by half, but is rescued by the wild-eyed, committed performance by , where it sounds like he really was set on murdering that son of a bitch who named him . He sounds that way throughout the record, and while most of the best moments did make it to the original 1969 album, the 2000 release eclipses it by presenting nine previously unreleased bonus tracks, doubling the album's length, and presenting such insanely wild numbers as as well as sweeter selections like Now, that's the only way to get the record, and that's how it should be, because this extra material makes a legendary album all the greater -- in fact, it helps make a case that this is the best album ever cut. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine