5 comments about I Was Walking Through the Woods.

1. This is a great, great blues album. It is up there with the likes of Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues and it show cases all that is good with Buddy Guy and Chicagor Blues in general.
   
   The album is short (less then 40 minutes), but intense. The supporting band is tight and this album really finds Buddy in the prime of his early career. Buddy's guitar playing and vocal styles are full of emotion and flair and the songs are a lot of fun. If you like the blues and in particular Chicago Blues this is a great album to buy.



2. This is probably one of Buddy Guy's top three albums. It's on the Chess label so it is early Buddy Guy and not the later rock sound of Buddy Guy. This is straight Chicago blues, not rock and roll. A lot of these songs appear on the Chess collection of Buddy Guy's greatest hits but it is really worth owning the album. In my opinion, the album is a lost art today. Many bands make two good songs and fill the rest of the album with filler. There is no concern on how a current album hangs together. This album is a work of art as an album. What I mean is that you have to take the whole album as a work of art. This album is full of great songs and hangs together beautifully. If albums were rated as works of art this album (and the time in which it was made) would be comprable to Picasso's Blue Period. This is Buddy Guy's Blue or as it were Blues period and is an amazing work of art.



3. 
   This is all you need to understand why Buddy Guy was a legend long before his duets with the likes of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. These sides from the early 60s just about break the mold as far as Chicago Blues is concerned. You might not like this, but then you don't like Chicago Blues. Simple as that.
   
   This was the real deal before Blues influenced 60s Rock which, in turn, influenced latter day Blues. A great set of songs here, half of them Buddy Guy originals. If there were ever a song more representative of the genre than "Stone Crazy", I haven't heard it. If there were ever more effective Blues singing than in "I Got A Strange Feeling", I haven't heard it.
   
   The support is excellent throughout, including some great turns on harp from Junior Wells, but the star is Buddy. As good as many of the songs are, the entry of Buddy's guitar is always a defining moment. No wonder so many legends list Guy as their primary influence.
   
   Being from the early 60s, these recordings sound thinner than what you might be used to, but the overall sound quality is very good. All of the instruments are very clear, Buddy's guitar comes across like a bell, and there's no distortion. If you're looking for your very first purchase of a Chicago Blues album, you couldn't find a better choice.



4. To this day, as curious as it might sound given his unquestionable longevity and depth of sustained feeling, there are those, actually, who cling to the faith that Buddy Guy has never truly beaten himself at his own game. This is the album which makes the argument, and it is ... near impossible to argue with it after all these years. Cut between 1960 and 1964 and issued in 1970, as part of the original "Chess Vintage Blues Series" which helped give a lot of blues newcomers their first one-stop taste of the hard classic Chicago blues (after their appetites were whetted by such acolytes as the Rolling Stones and John Mayall and the late-1960s British hotshot blues-rock stars who apprenticed with him - Eric Clapton and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in particular), this was spinal column-decalcifying blues which lived up to Guy's reputation as perhaps the hottest of the hotshots who made the West Side Chicago blues scene of the late 1950s-early 1960s (Junior Wells, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam sprang up from the same scene) the first serious challenge to the empire of Muddy, Sonny Boy and the Wolf.

   There's an urgency to the music which almost suggests most of it was cut on the sneak - Guy, after all, was mostly employed during these years as a Chess sideman - and that urgency amplifies the holler-to-heaven of his vocals and the fluid slice of his guitar playing. It didn't hurt him that some of the crack Chicago studio men (Jack Myers, Fred Below, Lafayette Leake, Willie Dixon, and even future Earth, Wind and Fire mastermind Maurice White, then a drummer and a sharp one) were in on the action; likewise, his future best-buddy Junior Wells on three cuts - they know they've got a young gun here who can probably shoot their tails right out of the saddle, and they're smart enough to just turn on the rhythm machine and let Guy cut loose. A wall of buttery, almost soul-style saxophones punctuates several tracks (most notably, "Watch Yourself" and "My Time After Awhile") with a delicious urgency. Small wonder B.B. King was calling Guy his heir apparent at one point - the man plays here as though the only way you stop him is to break both his arms and his guitar over his head. Which, considering his facility for making two simple notes sound light years beyond anyone else's shredded two hundred, is probably what a lot of players wished they could get away with doing.

   He hasn't lacked for cutting good albums in all the years since, and he remains as singular as his reputation always suggested. But even now listening to this album - and, to his one actual planned Chess album, "Left My Blues In San Francisco" - makes it only too easy to say Buddy Guy's spent his career since trying to get back to so impossible a plateau as the one he set himself here. That is how overwhelming the immediacy of this music remains. And it's no disgrace to believe he has not and will not top this, ever. He's madea... lot of excellent music trying. And he's still in his own league.




5. This was my introductory album to Buddy Guy. It's early Buddy (don't expect the heavy Clapton-like guitar), but a must for any Buddy fan! I still love this disk!

3 comments about The Complete Vanguard Recordings.

1. Big Mama Thornton is without a doubt one of the legends of the blues. What is so upsetting to me is that her wonderful vocals are coupled with an extremely untalented backing band. I haven't done enough research to know the history of the musicians she recorded with but if you listen to the majority of Big Mama's songs, the guitar and piano solos are just horrendous. It's really a shame that someone didn't have the foresight to team her up with some seasoned musicians.



2. I am a "born again" blues listener. This colletion of three CD's could probably be called the rollercoaster of Texas-based blues. Ms Thornton is the connection to past female blues greats, such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. This is the performer that inspired Janis Joplin. The first CD, (a live performance recorded in a jail) includes "Ball and Chain", which she dedicates to Janis. The second CD entitled "Sassy Mama" includes "Rolling Stone", "Mr Cool and "Sassy Mama", the title track rocks as if it were a live recording. The final CD is a previously unreleased collection that, to me is the best of the three. All are good!

   The collection includes a booklet written by Ed Ward, the rock historian for National Public Radio's "Fresh Air". In this booklet one will discover that Ms Thornton was a far more flamboyant personality than Janis, preferring Gin and Milk to Janis' Southern Comfort. Another fact that will surprise you will be her connection to Elvis Presley's fame. Every track rocks, she lifts you by the collar and screams you into the blues. This collection is a must for anyone that enjoys hard drivin female blues vocalists




3. This three disc set is one that I keep finding myself returning to time and time again. It's raw power and energy, like being assualted with rythm. Each track refuses to be ignored. Big Mama Thornton rips into song with a power reminiscent of Koko Taylor and Janice Joplin. Every time I've listened to this I find it incredible that Big Mama Thornton hasn't received more recognition than just "Hound Dog". If you like music as an experiance (versus just background noise) do not miss this!

5 comments about Not the Same Old Blues Crap.

1. WARNING: Listening to this CD will warp your perception of blues music. Anyone within earshot will conclude that you are, indeed, insane. Playing the CD with the windows open will kill your lawn. Do not handle this CD without protective gloves. Sanitize your CD player after each play.
   
   Fat Possum has released three compilations of their stable of artists. This is the first in the series and most potent. This is rough, raw, in your face blues peformed mostly by old men who have lived hard lives. You will either love it or hate it. I love it.
   
   You have been warned.



2. Not everything on here is great, but if you're at all open-minded about the blues, you need to listen to this record.
   
   It's raw, it's unfiltered, it's unproduced, it's authentic, it's brilliant in spots.
   
   It's cheap, buy it now.



3. I bought this CD from Amazon because it was shockingly inexpensive and I wanted to pad out an order. I wasn't expecting great things; I hoped merely that I hadn't wasted the meager amount of money I'd spend. Boy, was I happy when I finally played this. This is great!

   The blues. A genre which can communicate untold pain, depthless heartache and a universe of suffering. Or it can encompass songs like "Crack Whore Blues", which is exactly what you would expect it to be from the title. The tracks on here are vibrant and alive. This is wonderfully thrilling, foot-tapping stuff that can be serious on the few occasions that it wants to be.

   Since this is a sampler compilation containing disparate artists, it's difficult to sum up this album in a few paragraphs. We go all the way from rompy throwaway musical jokes right into genuinely soulful lyrics. But the one constant is quality. What many of the performers lack in technical ability, they more than make up for in enthusiasm. This is a release from a tiny record label with no terribly big names, which goes a long way towards explaining the emotion.

   The liner notes are absolutely hideous -- green text written on a purple background. It makes my eyes water just thinking about it. There's also a funny gag on the back, which I shall not spoil here.

   As a sampler, the idea is to throw as much onto the disc as possible and hope that the customer likes at least one or two selections enough to purchase a full album. They've convinced me; I have some shopping to do. Anyone with even a passing interest in the blues should pick up this one. You can do it without breaking the bank, and, unless you're familiar with the artists already, you'll be hearing the blues like you haven't quite heard them before.




4. I'm a fan of Mr. Burnside, so getting this was easy, and enjoying it easier even. This is not revolutionary music by any means, but it is refreshingly wild and iconoclastic. Get it, it is fun



5. As a long time blues fan and blues musician I have heard lots of blues, but rarely have I heard a steaming pile of unlistenable rubbish like this collection.As if the back cover art of some old fool wearing a nazi hat, smoking a plastic cigar and wearing a dog collar wasn't warning enough- the front cover art of someone wearing a gas mask should have been. Perhaps he got a whiff of the contents of this cd. Even at [price] it is grossly over-priced.

2 comments about Red Hot & Blue: Lee Atwater & Friends.

1. Never heard of Lee Atwater? No matter. More important is the all-star cast on this wonderful album. Isaac Hayes, B.B. King, Carla Thomas, Sam Moore, Billy Prestonm , The Memphis Horns, Chuck Jackson, Arlette Nightingale--a fabulous collection of great R&B roots musicians. The effort was put together by Lee Atwater, a political activist with a history as a musician. He was a competent guitarist and singer, but the album was put together as a charity event with a simply fabulous cast.

   The song selections and arrangements are excellent. Anyone who enjoyed the old Stax records sound, or just enjoyed the music of The Blues Brothers, is virtually guaranteed to love this album. The fact that it's so cheap is just a bonus! Buy it while you still can!




2. Awesome blues mix. Atwater is onfire on this CD which was a 1991 Grammy Award winner. These tunes can be heard at Atwaters BBQ chain after the name sake- Red Hot & Blue. The name was from the 50's radio program hosted by Dewy Phillips in Memphis. This CD is fantastic and features the late Lee Atwater along with such Blues greats as BB King, Isaic Hayes, and Areatha Franklin

5 comments about Do Right Man.

1. YES HE'S MY COUSIN!!!!!!! And I'm not saying it's a good CD because he is, it is some of his best work. Can't wait for the next one.



2. I bought this CD on the rave review of my hometown newspaper's music critic. I recognized some of the songs, like that sort of music and went out immediately and purchased it. I have not been sorry as it has been one of my all-time favorites in the passing years. I never tire of Dan's comforting and earthy voice.



3. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about hearing a c.d. full of tunes written by Dan but made popular by other artists, no easy task when considering the array of heavyweight talent who've branded their own soulified stamp of success on tunes such as "the dark end of the street, "I'm your puppet" & "you left the water running" to name but a few, but I was pleasently suprised with the results! Dan is in good vocal form throughout these set of tracks cut at Muscle Shoals sound studios back in 1993. The backing band comprised mostly of Muscle Shoals vets, have worked with one another for well over thirty years, supporting a virtual who's who of southern soul stars. You can't go wrong with this one! Dan captures the spirit on his old soul classic's making them sound as fresh as if written just yesterday, while the band fit's like a glove into the pocket of tune after timeless tune.



4. All one needs to do is look at the song titles to know how important Dan Penn's contribution to 'soul' music is, but his voice is great, too. I remember an Alex Chilton,(BoxTops' singer), interview where he mentioned his producer showing him how to sing 'The Letter', and that all he did was imitate it,(and not as well, according to Chilton himself). That producer was Penn...After listening to 'Do Right Man', I'm positive that Eric Clapton must have heard some old Dan Penn Demos when forming his own vocal style. I'm not a fan of 'singer-songwriter' recordings in general, but that's not an issue here; this is flat-out a great cd.



5. Best Sou -R&B album I've heard in a long time - I got the type from Jesse Winchester's web site. The man can not only write but he is one hell'va singer

5 comments about At Last!.

1. I'd ordered several of these CDs, which were put into one bubble envelope, but not individually wrapped -- consequently, they arrived with three of the jewel cases cracked.



2. So glad I got this album! It's all here! Won't point out my fav cuts; if you're a blues/Etta lover you'll figure yours out - they're all there. If you're not(yet), this will be your epiphany - this stylist and the selections are astounding. [Note "Sunday Kind Of Love" and "Stormy Weather".]



3. The music quality had been fixed up,(do'nt know the word) to sound really great! I listened to the music when I was a teen, forty-five years ago. It sounded better now, even though I truly thought it was the best & loved the songs then!



4. This is one of the most pleasurable CDs on the market. This collection of Etta's songs showcases her considerable talent as a blues singer. Though the instrumentation is dated on some of the songs (the strings soar a little too high), her voice saves the day, alternately powerful and vulnerable.
   
   Her version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You" rocks harder than the Rolling Stones version, and that is no small feat. 'At Last' is a great song, and her vocal interpretation is the best out of many artists who attempted it. 'Sunday Kind of Love' is another masterpiece, as is her rendition of 'Stormy Weather'. Not a bad song on the record.
   Etta James is a national treasure. Thanks for the beautiful, heart-felt music.
   
   As an aside, does anyone else see a resemblance between Etta's singing and Janis Joplin?



5. I have 2 other Etta James cds and I love them. This cd left me cold...very 'pop' very little blues. I didn't like it at all...very
   disappointed!

2 comments about Atlantic Blues: Vocalists.

1. It's a shame that Atlantic cut several tracks from the vinyl LP to make a one disc CD - ZZ Hill's (Home Just Ain't Home At) Suppertime is NOT on this CD. Check the track list carefully before you buy it as a replacement for your cassette or vinyl.



2. Here's a stellar collection of blues vocalists tapping into Atlantic Records' strength; the distinctive Southern R&B voices who gave the label its first 20 years of hits, here on lesser known and even previously unreleased tracks and singles.

   Starting off with Sippie Wallace's ragtime "You Got to Know How" (featuring Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar), this album walks through remakes of some early blues' hits ("Big Joe" Turner sings all over "St. Louis Blues," LaVerne Baker does likewise to Bessie Smith's "Gimme A Pigfoot.") It also salutes the label's two greatest female vocalists, Ruth Brown (the previously unreleased "Ruth Is A Bringdown") and Aretha Franklin ("Takin' Another Man's Place.")

   It marches on through the genre songwriters like Percy Mayfield (w/Johnny Guitar Watson on "Nothin' Stays The Same Forever") Titus Turner (the overlong, faux-live "Baby Girl") and Rufus Thomas ("Did You Ever Love A Woman," later covered by Derek & The Dominoes). It also includes genre giants Bobby Bland, Johnny Copeland (on the remarkable "It's My Own Tears Being Wasted") and ZZ Hill. Outstanding collection, especially for the price, and recommended.

5 comments about Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues 1959-1968.

1. I read about these concerts in an interview with Bonnie Raitt. I was really surprised with the sound quality on these CDs as well as the broad cross section of artists. I consider this an essential purchase for all blues afficionados as it contains performances by nearly all of the classic bluesmen



2. Just got the CD....a great live recording of some of the foundations of blues...if you want to start collecting the blues, this is a great place to start. A great collection of performers recorded in a live situation. Son House, one of the originators of the delta blues is well represented. This album is grouped into three CDs' that are well stocked with some of the best there is !!! Get this CD....



3. It's almost hard to believe that this CD exists. So many excellent performances by legendary bluesmen like Son House, John Lee Hooker, Skip James, Muddy Waters and a whole host of others, all recorded live at the legendary Newport Folk Festival. And the sound is amazing, crisp and clear.
   
   Disc one opens with a six-song set by "Mississippi" John Hurt which includes "Candy Man" and "Stagolee", and also includes two spooky songs by an ailing but still-powerful Nehemiah "Skip" James, four songs by Son House, and songs by Bukka White and Fred McDowell, as well as two excellent acoustic solo performances by Muddy Waters. House's "Death Letter Blues" and "Empire State Express", Muddy Waters' "I Can't Be Satisfied", and Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman" are among the highlights, but there aren't really any "lowlights".
   
   Disc two features a great little set by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, a wonderful rendition of Sleepy John Estes' "Clean Up At Home", three excellent songs by the underrated Robert Pete Williams, and several other fine performances, including Mance Lipscomb's version of Blind Willie Johnson's scary "God Moves On The Water", and Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues" (which you may have heard Eric Clapton cover on his "Unplugged" album).
   
   On disc three, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins plays an electric guitar (gasp!) on a great, swaggering "Baby Please Don't Go", and is backed by drummer Sam Lay on "Shake That Thing". John Lee Hooker lays down haunting versions of "Tupelo" and "The Great Fire Of Natchez", as well as a gritty "Boom Boom". Muddy Waters is accompanied by pianist Otis Spann on a great, swinging "Blow Wind Blow". And the 6'6" John L. "Memphis Slim" Chatman plays a version of "How Long" to rival that of Leroy Carr himself.
   
   The vast majority of these performances are acoustic, and there is a lot of wonderful acoustic slide guitar here...Muddy Waters, Son House, Fred McDowell, Mance Lipscomb, and Bukka White all play ringing bottleneck phrases. Sonny Terry blows his customary harmonica, and Memphis Slim and Otis Spann both contribute some excellent piano playing. And while many of these songs have been available on various LP and CD releases before, "Best Of The Blues 1959-1968" includes almost a dozen previously unreleased recordings, of which Sonny Terry's & Brownie McGhee's "Drink Muddy Water", "How Long" by Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker's "Let's Make It", are among the greatest.
   
   This collection is a must-have for anyone with an interest in the 60s blues revival, or just acoustic blues music in general, and you won't believe the fidelity. A wonderful two hours and fifty-three minutes of music.



4. If there is a better collection of live blues than this Newport 3 CD set, I haven't heard it. This stunning CD covers 10 years Newport performances during the height of the folk blues revival in the early 60's. Many of the artists were rediscovered by blues enthusiasts like John Fahey, Al "Blind Owl" Wilson and Sam Charters by canvassing remote areas of the south and locating the M.I.A.s of the 1920-30s "race" records. Some of these performers were presumed to be dead, and Newport was their first time in front of an audience in decades. There is not a single throw-away among 16 performers and the 51 (count 'em!)cuts here.

   Vangaurd Records is to be commended for making the right artistic choices in thier production of this CD. Many of these performances had been floating around for years on other Newport collections. Producer Tom Vicker devoted an entire disc to each of these three categories: delta blues, country blues and urban blues. There is a sense of continuity on each disc without any jarring segues. Engineer Jeff Zaraya captures the warm analogic glory of the orginal performances and wisely chooses not to edit out foot stomping, hand clapping and crowd noises. Zaraya's mastering work captures the passion of the living blues and he avoids the mistake of reducing the performances to sterile museum piece curiosities.

   The scope of performers is staggering. Son House, self proclaimed mentor of Robert Johnson, whose piercing slap-time steel guitar was the alter-ego to his gritty emotional baritone. Skip James, ghost of the delta, sings in his haunting falsetto with his mastery of complex right hand poly-rhythymic bassline fingerpicking. Jesse Fuller, San Francisco's one man band, plays his ramshackle ragtime blues. Mississppi John Hurt demonstrates his wry humor and his delicate five finger picking of his brillant orginal music. Polished performers like Muddy Waters and Brownie McGee know how to pace a show and work the crowd. Harlem's Rev. Gary Davis' does "old time religion" gospel shouting and precision ragtime picking. The suprise is an obscure ex-con, Robert Pete Williams with his eerie "stream of consciousness" lyrics and elliptical song structures. Robert Pete Williams, more than any of the performers, is connected to the roots of West African folk music. By my own count, John Lee Hooker was the last performer on these recordings to die(June 21, 2001). These astounding Newport performances are, at once, a historical document, a tribute to the diverse artistry of American blues, and some of the most passionate and riveting music I've ever heard. An essential for anyone collecting blues or roots music.




5. This is a nice cd set done by the folks at Vanguard records. They collected many of the cuts that have been previously released into one collection, with some tasty unreleased tracks.

   Regarding the artists & their material.. well, you really can't go wrong with sets by Mississippi John Hurt, Muddy, Son House, John Lee Hooker, & etc. The artists on disc 1 alone is a "who is who" of the early blues that were only heard on scratchy vinyl before these organized festivals existed. Some might've considered them past their so called "prime", but their performances don't reflect upon it, as they take the listener & the white crowd on a trip down the Delta. Some of the performances on this package are unbelievable.

   Might be me, but John Lee Hooker's set REALLY stands out. He sounds DANGEROUS, & his unreleased tracks alone make this package a well worth buy.

   An interesting note, that in this mostly acoustic set is the inclusion of two Butterfield Blues band cuts. Having these cuts on different sources, it was great to hear them sonically remastered in all its glory.

   Recommended, but more importantly, this is essential listening.

1 comments about Original Source.

1. Amazon's review calls this a budget release, which may be a bit misleading. This is the exact equivalent of any of the JSP blues boxes. The packaging is very cheap, but the music is major-label quality and remastered(just like JSP). This has everything T-Bone recorded from 1951 back. The major downside(if there is one) is that it ends abruptly in 1951 in the middle of his tenure with Imperial. He was with that label from 1950 through 1954, and this collection has the first half(or so) of that output. There is no real reason to end it here when this could have been a 5-CD set including all the Imperial material. His entire Imperial output is available on an excellent 2-CD set, but the first disk, and the first couple of songs on the second disk of that set overlap with the last disk and the end of the third disk of this set. If you don't buy both sets, you will have the blues when you hear what you're missing!!!!!!

2 comments about Crucial Guitar Blues.

1. Calling a CD 'Crucial Guitar Blues' is a good marketing technique rather than just calling it an Alligator Records sampler. Having said that, the good people from Alligator have picked some of the hottest guitar work from their library of artists. The gem is a scintillating version of 'Double Whammy' with Lonnie Mack and Stevie Ray Vaughn. (Essentially Lonnie's classic 'Wham' times two). The only problem is the 3.5 minute tune ends way too quick and leaves you wanting for more. As you listen to the CD, you soon realize that a lot of the great electric blues guitarists that are featured here are no longer with us: besides SRV, Roy Buchanan (who plays a smokin' instrumental on this CD), the great iceman Albert Collins, the Arkansas-raised-Chicago-based bluesman Son Seals who delivers a soulful blues tune here, fellow Chicago bluesman Luther Allison and his raw frenzied style, and Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown who was a master of blending jazz & blues and plays one of his classics here. You also get a biting blues tune by Johnny Winter from his Guitar Slinger days and a cookin' tune from Little Charlie & The Nightcats. Bottom line is the CD is a bargain for the price and includes a broad plethora of electric blues styles along with some incandescent guitar work.



2. Various Artists
   "Crucial Guitar Blues"
   Alligator Records ALCD 114
   
   Contemporary Chicago blues guitar master Luther Allison plays with angst on "All The King's Horses". New messiah, Coco Montoya, proves he is at the top of the blues-rock heap by erupting on "Same Old Thing". The often imitated but never duplicated Albert Collins ferociously delivers "Lights Are On But Nobody's Home". "I Can't Hear Nothing But The Blues" comes from blues guitar deity Son Seal's most under-rated release while "Double Whammy" combines a blues-rock master (Lonnie Mack) and a protégé (Stevie Ray Vaughan).
   
   If you are wondering what blues guitar and/or what Alligator Records is all about, this is the place to start.
   
   -- Tim Holek