Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s. His debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, saw ...
Buddy Guy's career and discography have been marked by inconsistency. Especially since his high-profile comeback in the early '90s, it seems he's been all too willing to turn over creative control on his albums, both for better and worse. Even just looking at the covers of those albums bears this out. 1991's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues has him ...
The guitarist's first album away from Chess -- and to be truthful, it sounds as though it could have been cut at 2120 S. Michigan, with Guy's deliciously understated guitar work and a tight combo anchored by three saxes and pianist Otis Spann laying down tough grooves on the vicious "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "I Can't Quit the Blues," and an ...
For the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, this two-LP set proved that it all came down to Butterfield himself and his abilities as a leader in the end. For all of the adulation heaped on Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, et al., the group was ultimately an extension of Butterfield's abilities as a leader and player, and this set proved that Butterfield ...
As the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) had done a year earlier, Super Session (1968) initially ushered in several new phases in rock & roll's concurrent transformation. In the space of mere months, the soundscape of rock shifted radically from two- and three-minute danceable pop songs to comparatively longer works with more ...
An Anthology -- The Elektra Years is a double-disc, 33-song set that offers a comprehensive overview of Paul Butterfield's eight years with the label. His first two albums, Paul Butterfield Blues Band and East-West, were seminal, groundbreaking records that blurred the boundaries between blues, jazz and rock, suggesting everything from blues-rock ...
The second Butterfield album had an even greater effect on music history, paving the way for experimentation that is still being explored today. This came in the form of an extended blues-rock solo (some 13 minutes) -- a real fusion of jazz and blues inspired by the Indian raga. This groundbreaking instrumental was the first of its kind and marks ...
The 1968 edition of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band featured a larger ensemble with a horn section, allowing for a jazzier feeling while retaining its Chicago blues core. They also adopted the psychedelic flower power stance of the era, as evidenced by a few selections, the rather oblique title, and the stunning pastiche art work on the cover. ...
Cassandra Wilson's swinging for her own creative fences this time. The sultry, gentle, acoustic guitars on her last five recordings have been largely jettisoned for a more keyboard-and percussion -friendly approach -- which includes lots of programming and loops. To that end, she's enlisted flavor-of-the-year producer T-Bone Burnett and ...
On Buddy Guy's second Silvertone release, he continues the practice of guest appearances begun on Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. In this case, the notables include Paul Rodgers, Travis Tritt, and John Mayall. The finest combination comes when Bonnie Raitt joins Guy on John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain." Raitt's gritty vocals and sweet slide guitar ...
Whereas on 1993's Feels Like Rain Buddy Guy flirted with pop and R&B material, on Slippin' In, released one year later, he firmly reasserts his bluesness. From the very first track on, Guy lets his incomparable guitar loose. Throughout the album, he even experiments with Hendrix-esque effects on his guitar (perhaps at the prodding of producer ...
Co-producer Bruce Iglauer anticipated a future trend by making this a set filled with cameos -- but the presence of Lonnie Brooks, James Cotton, Albert Collins, and Son Seals is entirely warranted and the contributions of each work quite well in the context of the whole. Taylor's gritty "I Cried like a Baby" and a snazzy remake of Ann Peebles' ...
Best of the Vanguard Years collects Junior Wells' material from the Chicago! The Blues! Today! various-artists series, live and studio tracks from the albums It's My Life, Baby! and Comin' at You, and a smattering of rare and/or unreleased cuts. As a Wells retrospective, it's irredeemably incomplete, covering as it does his output for only one ...
Calling this retrospective by Charlie Musselwhite a "deluxe edition" may be a little misleading. Twelve of the album's 14 tracks come from three albums he recorded for Alligator in the early '90s. There are four each from Ace of Harps (1990), Signature (1991), and In My Time (1993). The sequencing is beautifully done and representative. The true ...
Although founders Little Charlie Baty and harpist/singer/songwriter Rick Estrin welcome two new cats on bass and drums, little else has changed on Little Charlie & the Nightcats' eighth studio effort, again on Alligator, the only label they have recorded for. While that could be a problem for some outfits, the music here is so perfectly conceived, ...
Cadillac Records is Hollywood's version of the Chess Records story. Founded by Leonard Chess (played by Adrian Brody), it became the signature home of the Chicago blues, rhythm & blues, and early rock & roll. Its artist roster included Etta James, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and dozens of others. The official ...
This tribute album breaks no new ground but does a superb job of re-creating the Chicago ensemble sound, as well as the songs, of the latter-day Muddy Waters Band. That comes as no surprise, since the core group here literally was Muddy Waters' backup unit from 1974 to 1980: Bob Margolin and Luther "Guitar Jr" Johnson on guitars, Pinetop Perkins ...
Apparently, Buddy Guy subscribes to the theory "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Losing commercial ground to the blonde young guns of Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Guy hired their producer, David Z., and set out to record an album of loud, frenzied blues-rock. Purists will cringe at the unabashed commercial concessions Guy makes on Heavy ...
In early 1966, blues history was made with the issuance of a three-volume set of new recordings produced by blues historian Samuel Charters. This series was known as Chicago/The Blues/Today! and the release sent shock waves through the world of rock & roll. Every artist on the three volumes had recorded before (some, like Otis Rush and Junior ...
Old School is Koko Taylor's first new album in seven years, and after a series of health issues that sidelined her for a while, it could be viewed as a comeback of sorts, but if so, there aren't any signs of rust here. She still belts out her trademark Chicago blues like she always has, sidestepping any 21st century recording tricks for a ...
Son Seals is a very powerful performer. While his vocals are full of passion, it is Seals' explosive guitar solos (egged on by a driving rhythm section along with two fine horn players who have some solo spots) that are most notable. Recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago, Seals' interpretations of these spirited blues would certainly ...
From the "ain't nothin' more authentic" dirge of Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson's "So Mean to Me" to the barrelhouse cluckin' of Marty Grebb's "Hen House," this blatant copy of Joel Dorn's Jazz For- series combines true tales of loss with rather peppy pleas for love, wealth, and the other anti-ingredients of the blues. In true blues, everything gets ...
Beware of the Dog was Hound Dog Taylor's posthumous live album containing performances that are even steamier than his first two studio albums, if such a notion is possible. For lowdown slow blues, it's hard to beat the heartfelt closer "Freddie's Blues," and for surreal moments on wax, it's equally hard to beat the funkhouse-turned-loony bin ...
Royal Blue is the first Alligator release from Koko Taylor since 1993's Grammy nominated Force of Nature. This is a mainly up-tempo set with excellent support from several guest appearances by B.B. King, Johnny Johnson, Ken Saydak, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd who contributes some scorching guitar on the Melissa Ethridge-penned hit "Bring Me Some ...
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