Right Now! is the latest album from The Third Mind, a superlative psychedelic rock quintet that leans heavily on improvisation and looks to the 1960s for the bulk of its material. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Dave Alvin and Camper Van Beethoven bassist Victor Krummenacher co-founded the group. Filling out the lineup are Counting Crows guitarist David Immergluck; drummer Michael Jerome, who has toured with John Cale and Richard Thompson; and singer/songwriter Jesse Sykes.
The band recorded this CD the same way it made its previous albums: quickly, and without preconceptions, discussions or rehearsals. The songs, each the result of only a few takes, include Jesse Colin Young’s “Darkness Darkness” (originally recorded for the Youngbloods’ Elephant Mountain); Richard Fariña’s “Reno, Nevada”; Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree,” in a version that recalls Fred Neil’s cover; Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan”; the traditional “Pretty Polly,” in a reading based on Judy Collins’ rendition; and Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites’s “Reap What You Sow.” You’ll also find one new original, a dreamy Sykes/Alvin co-write called “Before We Said Goodbye.”
Sykes’ quavering, captivating vocals enrich the entire album, as does the instrumentation, which often sounds redolent of the work of outfits such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Like the Third Mind’s two previous studio LPs and a live set that came out earlier this year, Right Now! is a must-hear release.
The album is available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Related: Our review of the Third Mind’s live album
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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