by David Brummer
Pantagraph staff

The inherent risk in turning a one-night live performance into a live album is that some songs - perhaps ones you most wanted to record and release - feature flaws too obvious to include in the final product. Tapes are changed in mid-song. Guitars are out of tune. Or the singer simply forgets some of the words.

It can happen to the best of bands, including Hip Pocket, the Bloomington-Normal rhythm and blues powerhouse that recently turned out its third release in a 13-year career.

Lead singer Marc Boon won't say what's missing from "Gotcha Covered", a 12-track boogie-fest of cover songs that spans swing and soul.

On the other hand, it hardly matters.

The band's first album in more than three years is crowded with classics from rock, blues, and swing that illustrate Hip Pocket's unprecedented range. Pulled from a Jan. 7 performance at the Radisson Hotel in Bloomington, the collection deftly answers the musical question: How do you get from "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" to "Honky Tonk Woman"?

By taking "Route 66", of course.