No comments about The Gold Collection.

5 comments about Fixin' Your Head.

1. paying homage to texas guitar greats (you can hear it in his style) nick curran pumps out some of the best jump and swing blues you have ever heard. a classic sound, a classic, just right voice, tight band and one of the best guitar players around. get it.



2. I've known Nick from his days playing with Ronnie Dawson and Kim Lenz (both Rockabilly greats) but this CD floored me. If they added a little surface noise the uninitiated would swear it was recorded in the late 40's or early 50's. Nick's guitar playing is flawlessly authentic but not at all mechanical or stale. His voice is incredible - you will find it hard to believe that voice issues from someone so young. If you like jump blues in the style of Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown, Big Joe Turner, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Magic Sam, and the immortal T-Bone Walker do yourself a favor and buy this CD! Catch Nick live too!



3. Word is, here in Dallas, Nick Curran was cryogenically frozen back in 1953,because the world at that time would not have been able to handle this fireball. Now, he's sucessfully thawed and cruising the streets in a bright red 1950's Volvo. All the local guitar players are out to assassinate this guy, because he is just too dam good. He is currently recieving rave reviews literally all over the world and has record companies and promoters hounding him constantly. Formerly,as guitarist for Kim Lenz, he wasnt content to just sit back and be a side guy..now(fortunately for us) here's his debut CD and looks like his band is soon to be cutting another CD in Feb before they embark on yet another tour of California. Buy this CD if you have any sense at all, BUY THIS DISC. It'll be worth more than you paid for it in 5 years.Great stuff!



4. This CD is wonderful. The vocals are quite powerful and this young man's mastery of blues guitar is phenominal. The way that Mr. Curran mixes the blues stylings of the greats like Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker into a Rockabilly beat is not only fascinating, but is also extreemly enjoyable. We all know the expression "music to your ears". Well, this is "music to your body and soul". What I find truely amazing about this young musician is that he is this good at such an age. If he is this good now, imagine how good he will be when he grows up.



5. Nick Curran is very talented for his age.He has got a very excellent voice.I would rate him 5 stars.I hope that he keeps playing for years to come.

1 comments about People Get Ready: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield.

1. He Will Break Your Heart by Delbert McClinton is what love and breaking up is all about in life. If you are a man and have ever been hurt by a woman leaving for another man, you can hear it in Delbert's voice...
   
   Soul. Period.

2 comments about Blues Come Home to Roost.

1. Off beat lyrics sang with conviction and versatile guitar playing make Super Chikan "The only Rooster" in the current "henhouse" Blues scene! His Blues will also bring a smile to your face since they are not as sorrowful as many others, life has many things to feel good about! Play him often on The Crazy Coyote Blues Power Show 1490 KOTY AM (1490koty.com) Yakima Nation Reservation Radio in south central Washington state.



2. "Blues Come Home to Roost," James "Super Chikan" Johnson's Rooster debut, is a worthy reissue for many reasons. First, you will have to listen to A LOT of contemporary blues albums to come across writing this original, heartfelt, and humorous. Through the first five tracks, one will find himself grooving to Chikan's Mississippi-meets-Western Swing guitar style, one of the many hats he wore on this album. Chikan composed many of these songs while in the employ of a trucking company. Once he got home from his runs he would lay down all of the instruments to accompany the songs. As a result, the listener is treated to a work of uncompromising originality and personal history. Unlike many other performers nowadays, Chikan has his own sense of lyricism, avoiding the attractive yet overused AAB verse pattern. The best example of this is "Down in the Delta," a lyrical portrait of country life in the Mississippi that hits home with a combination of despair ("I've got a '71 Chevy & the dealer wants to take it from me") and optimism ("Everyting is fine/ Peachtrees are blooming, clothes hanging out on the line") so native not only to Mississippi, but all of the Deep South. Lyrical inventiveness and musical ability aren't the sole reasons Super Chikan stands out, though. Tracks 7 and 8 are musical humor worthy of Bobby Rush, with a freshness many can't touch. If you're a fan of smooth blues music, intelligent and occasionally whimsical lyrics and Southern culture, this album is not to be missed.

No comments about Ready for Eddie...Plus.

5 comments about From the Heart.

1. This is a real magnificent rock-blues album! One of the best I have ever came across. Many people like to compare Albert Cummings with the great SRV, however I believe that no comparison should be made, Albert is Albert with his own stile and feelings. He has got a very, I believe, personal style that makes him emerge from the crowd and that makes him unique in the rock-blues firmament. "From the heart" is almost the perfect rock-blues album that shouldn't be missed by any rock-blues fan. Fantastic!



2. I had the immense pleasure of seeing Albert's show at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY recently .. he was fabulous and I, of course, immediately purchased the CD. It has yet to leave the CD player in my car and I lost count of how many people have driven with me & then immediately gone out to buy the CD after hearing it - it's that good. Albert's passion for his music is apparent on the CD, even more so live, but either way it is something he shares with his audience/listener. It has been a while since I have been so enthusiastic about an artist, but perhaps even longer that an artist came along such as Albert that is so deserving of the accolades. I can not recommend him highly enough and as soon as I can preorder his next CD, which I hear has Stevie Ray Vaughan's old band, Double Trouble, as back-up, I will be the first in line.... and when he plays at Revolution Hall again for a CD release party, I will being showing up with a huge contingent of friends and family that are all now fans as well.



3. I've seen Albert three times live,bought From the Heart after the first set I saw . I loved it! The second time I saw Albert,8/2/03 (my B'day),he was opening for Buddy Guy in VT.The set was awesome so I bought his first cd, also very good, which Albert signed first.I just saw Albert 8/19/04 in Guilderland,NY. and another Smokin' set was enjoyed by all! He told me I have to wait until 10/2/04 for his next cd. I know I'll be at Troy's Revolution Hall cd release show to pick up my copy. I can't wait!



4. Albert Cummings is fantastic. This CD is solid from start to finish and gives you a glimpse of how great of a performer Albert is in concert. You don't get that captured on a blues studio recording very often but this is one of those times where that greatness shines through.

   Tell everyone to pick up this CD!




5. There's no awe inspiring warp speed guitar playing on this cd but the tone, vocals and band make it a top 10 in my collection.

4 comments about Never Get Out of These Blues Alive.

1. I've been a JLH fan ever since my ears were opened in 1971, by a copy of
   "Hooker 'N Heat". Man I have never been far from that crazy JLH beat
   since. The beat of the metal presses of old Detroit, the musio running
   before the storm, the expectation of something bad about to break, all
   handled with an aplomb that would make our saints look radical. This
   disc-"Never get out of these bluses Alive" the title saya it more
   eloquent than it could have been said by anyone else, pure impact, it says
   to me, "yeah things are mighty askew, and we may not be able to do much
   about it, so let's put on "Never get out of these blues alive" and go
   about our daily lives, the old "move along, nothing to see" I write to
   the beat of John Lee Hooker, and as an added bonus feature, the 7th. and
   last cut of the disc has two old Paul Butterfield Blues Band alums
   playing with the Hook, Elvin Bishop, and Mark Nafalin, there is John Kahn
   from Garcia & Saunders roving band of musician's playing base on cut #6.
   But thats what I always loved about JLH, his ability to gather musicians
   around him, and school them that needs it in the ways of them motor city
   blues.



2. This is a great blues album and one of John Lee's better studio albums. Van Man shows on up the title cut, which is great. TB Sheets is one of the saddest songs very recorded. The rest of the album is pretty jumpy boogie style blues. As John Lee says this is a party album...If you can find it, Buy it.



3. Yes! This is a forgotten gem. Very nice stuff indeed. Whoever wrote TB-sheets (Van Morrison I still believe), this is a crying time song, thrilling. Also the duet with Van The Man Morrison is breathtakin'. And what about Charlie Musselwhite, just great. It's an old record, and you can tell, but it sounds like a real classic and as fresh as ever. Get it!



4. This is a very powerful type of blues, with heavy bass lines and of course, John Lee's throaty voice. Very laid back, not so much down in the dumps, but kind of grinning to yourself about your own situation... what I like to call "ballsy blues." Van Morrison and Elvin Bishop both appear on this one- and Mr. Van makes a great duet voice with Mr. Hooker... definitely my personal favorite blues album...

2 comments about Below the Fold.

1. When I heard Otis Taylor's 2003 "Truth Is Not Fiction" CD, I was knocked out by a startling and totally new take on blues music. Hearing the 2005 "Below The Fold," I am concerned that Taylor has written himself into a prematurely dead end. The production and instrumentation continues to be exceptionally innovative, modern, and the opposite of blues fossilized in either '30's Delta shacks or '50's Chicago blues bars. But it must be said, the songs are melodically sounding too much the same as prior efforts -- no matter how well-disguised by different and unusual (for blues) instrumental backing.
   
   Like John Lee Hooker, Otis Taylor knows how to work a one-chord vamp. But as elemental as Hooker was, even with his one-chord vamps (some of which were upbeat boogies, which does help), his albums did not feel this constricted in what is becoming musically formulaic (albeit, a formula that is Taylor's alone). I am betting that Otis Taylor is creative and talented enough to break free, with his best songs still ahead of him. I really hope he doesn't let the "jam band" circuit imprison his creativity. No complaints at all here about his lyrics (some folks will never tolerate his subject matters), which remain fierce and compelling. But if the music isn't interesting, for me poetry or prose is just not enough.



2. Otis Taylor is an island unto himself. Where does he exactly fit in the contemporary blues scene? Truly an artist who can't be pigeonholed. His "TRANCE BLUES" continues to spark debate. Otis Taylor obviously doesn't suffer fools gladly. Great art makes you think, feel and yes, sometimes squirm. Anyone wishing for singalongs and an occasional chorus are in the wrong place. Thought provoking and powerful. THINK, FEEL AND BUY THIS CD!!

No comments about Blues Slow Dance.

5 comments about White Hot Blues.

1. No problem to keep warm in the winter when you're in the same room as Winter.....



2. I'm not sure whether i'm reviewing this CD or Johnnny Winter himself. It's really impossible to separate the man and his music, as this compilation is truly the guts of Texas Rock-Blues, and Johnny IS Texas Rock-Blues, period. I'm a guitarist, and i've never lost the love for the TONE that Johnny captures from his Strat. Remember that these pieces come from the late '60's, back when this sort of over-the-top playing was new to much of the listening world (although not to the ones hanging out in these genres.) This music is as powerful a listening experience today as it was then .... and that's saying ALOT, considering how many gyrations this brand of music has evolved through, over the years. ANY player today should be absolutely awed with Johnny's style and playing dynamics. The man's One-Of-A-Kind. This CD exhibits his great picking style as well as his extradinary slind-guitar work too. His slide work is absolutely second to NONE, period. Slide-playing is extremely difficult to master ... some have said that it takes a lifetime of playing to achieve mastery. You'll be thrilled listening to these tracks. Personally, i love the first several tracks, as they capture his super, signature Stratocaster tone. Anyway, the CD is definitely worth a purchase. If you want to add to your Winter and/or rock/blues collection, don't hesitate to pick this baby up. If you're a player, particularly a younger player, and want to feed a gap in your repetoire, stick this baby in your CD changer, crank-up your axe, and try to keep up with the master....and HAVE FUN doing it !



3. 
   Johnny Winter occupies a status place at the moment to take a look inside the Rock' s immortals.
   
   The collective memory is fragile, and tend to overlook the particular achievements of this soloist, specially at those times in which the Rock as culture experienced a notable crossover as mass phenomena. The Sixties was the most explosive and creative decade in many senses: sine the Great Festivals the Rock Bands imposed a visible breakthrough.
   
   The Rock itself experimented a crucial crossroad in the middle Sixties: new sounds, new approaches, new expressions but above all a sensible attitude change. Vietnam's disjunctive obligated many ensembles to define themselves, many of them opted by the easiest way and turned his vigorous sound to Pop (Chicago, Grand Funk railroad), but others remained loyal to the basic principle that maintained the Rock should be irreverent and rebel.
   
   Johnny Winter followed his bliss and decided to remain experiencing and playing according his personal code, specially in a choice decision when the Vietnam affair was over and the Rock lost its primary wildness. The Disco Music movement practically constricted the movement of Great Rock Bands in USA. But nevertheless and against all the odds, Winter, Gallagher, Buchanan, Ray Vaughan remained as silent heroes surviving in those ages of evasion and light diversion. Those notable artists knew how to distribute his discography between the Rock and Blues captivating non conformed audiences with handled sounds.
   
   Nowadays Johnny Winter' s profile is extremely low for very known reasons. And iot would be a very good advise to this new Rock generation to take a look around one of the most heralds of the Rock `s essence who, despite his personal attitudes, a bulletproof honesty in which the Rock as culture meant and still (with very counted exceptions) keeps meaning.
   
   Winter: the blues man, the non restricted Rock guitarist, followed his bliss and deserved the coveted pearl.



4. I honestly don't undestand why Johnny doesn't get the credit he does. I stumbled on Johnny Winter a few yeats ago, after never before hearing a song by him. It's good that he is respected as much as he is in the guitar world, but I am surprised how little known he is. It may be over-the-top saying he's as good as Hendrix, but he definetly gets close, and his sound is one of the most Hendrixian I've heard. Now as far as the cd goes, I think this is both an excellent start to Winter as well as a kind entrance into the blues. If anyone were to ask me which blues artist to listen to first, I would say Winter. I can also strongly recommend this cd to any Johnny Winter fan. Enjoy!



5. This is a great intro to Johnny Winter's brand of rocking Texas blues. It's a collection of tunes from his first several albums starting with his 1969 debut. If you like blues guitar, this is a must have. From the very first track, a rowdy cover of B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby", you'll be blown away. Johnny is right up there with Stevie Ray Vaughan among the greatest white blues guitarists.