Ten years later she had a hefty enough body of work to release her second compilation. While 2001's Singles Round-Up consisted of—duh—2005's My First Holly Golightly Album put the focus on her standard live set. None of the comp's tracks were live, but all of the numbers were the ones she dug growling for audiences the best. For extra value, she rerecorded several of the songs.
Originally a 17-track CD-only comp, My First Holly Golightly Album is now getting its first vinyl release as a 14-track LP ("Directly from My Heart", "Further on up the Road", and "Can't Stand to See Your Face" are MIA) from Damaged Goods Records. While you wouldn't want to be without at least Painted On, a non-comp Golightly disc that's simply spoiling for a vinyl reissue, My First Holly Golightly Album can certainly fulfill the function its title suggests. It's a crash course in Holly's coarse sneer, her fuzzy riffs, and her fine taste in covers. In the case of a sweltering run through Ike and Tina's "Your Love Is Mine", it also hips the listener to how far she'll go to raise the spirit of ancient blues 78s from the grave. The disc could have used a few more examples of her less specifically blues-centric work, such as personal faves like "Waiting Room" and "Anyway You Like It", but it's still an excellent spot to start, full of tough-ass top-notch tracks, and the cover illustration is a stone gas.
As for the vinyl, it's quiet and perfectly flat with a well-centered spindle hole. The bass is powerful without overwhelming the music and there is nice detail, particularly the acoustic guitar on "Black Night". Since it's a comp, and there's a lo-fi aesthetic to some of this stuff, the sound quality varies deliberately but sounds good throughout, aside from some aberrant sibilance on the last two numbers on Side B. Tracks are in mono and stereo.
