Josefus have continued to remain on the fringes of rock greatness since their late-'60s and early-'70s flash-fire of regional popularity. Highly
Zeppelin derivative, the band did nonetheless have a unique trajectory -- something in that Houston water for sure -- that married the plodding British blues with a healthy dose of Texas swagger. Their chunky, downtempo dirges had a little funk on them and reflected the blues-boogie zeitgeist that was at work on other up and coming Texas bands of the period (
Johnny and
Edgar Winter,
Bubble Puppy,
13th Floor Elevators and the pre-
ZZ Top excursions of
Billy Gibbons,
Frank Beard, and
Dusty Hill). Unlike some of those artists,
Josefus never made the big time in a commercial sense. They straddled the line between hard rock and heavy metal but never firmly established themselves in either category. Perhaps this was their main fallibility at the time but years on, the band gained a considerable amount of respect from enthusiasts and collectors of the obscure end of rock. Hence, another reissue of
Josefus' "recorded-in-one-day" opus, this one titled Dead Man....Plus. Italian reissue label Akarma takes up the mantle once again (having released the
Dead Man Alive and Dead Box collections) and offers up the album anew, with a nice chunk of four bonus tracks, and extensive liner notes and photos. Among the bonus tracks, the ultra-rare "Get Off My Case" (recorded during the band's first studio sessions) is, by far, the most sought after -- though, having any of this stuff available in a legitimate digital format is something of a miracle for fans who have long guarded their cherished Hookah vinyl editions. ~ J. Scott McClintock