1 comments about Live at Rum Boogie Cafe.

1. I heard a couple of cuts off this CD on a local radio station and just had to have it. Billy Gibson's hard driving, rich, articulate harmonica playing is amazing. The boundless energy level of Billy and his band is scary. This is a great album all the way through.

3 comments about Live in Japan.

1. This album, along with TEASING YOU and SOUL'S EDGE, feature Snooks at the top of his game. He has one of the baddest rhythm sections around, the George Porter Jr. Trio, backing him up on all three of those records. If you love american R'n'B, Soul and Classic Blues you will love this record. Snooks is ferocious on guitar and the opening cut "Quaker City" features some of the most interesting and deeply felt Blues guitar you will ever hear. But, besides all the amazing guitar work, it is the warmth and joy in this man's heart which comes through strongest. You can't help but feel his passion and joy for life in this CD. Buy it if you want to feel good about life.



2. Excellent live album - makes you feel like you are there! Guitar sounds great in a variety of settings. Very different from most of your average blues albums.



3. One of the most spectacular practicioners of the lost art of rhythm guitar(to say nothing of his lead work), Snooks can literally burn up the fretboard. He is a living repository of 1000's of tunes and a link to a type of traditional singing and playing that died with the advent of modern recording technology. To call this music 'blues' or 'soul' is a disservice, labels cannot contain the music of Snooks Eaglin.

5 comments about The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings.

1. For a Hopkins fan or a music historian this set is fantastic. Sam Hopkins was a master story-teller - period - and there is a lot of spoken material that inter-weaves his personal history, regional blues history, and general reflections from a different time and a predominantly rural black culture. Having grown up in the rural South as a small boy, I sat at the feet of such story tellers for hours transformed by their spell. That said, if one only wants to listen to Sam Hopkins's music, there are better recordings or at least better quality recordings and one can obtain a suitable collection for less dough. This is a must-have set for a special sub-genre of enthusiasts and for them it is a rare treasure, indeed.



2. SON SOLO 7 DISCOS..REUNEN LAS GRABACIONES DE HOPKINS PARA prestige Y bluesville EN UN PERIODO DE 4 AÑOS!! ES NADA MAS QUE ESO...Y ES ABSOLUTAMENTE RECOMENDABLE Y DE ESCUCHA OBLIGATORIA PARA QUIEN AME EL BLUES!!!! 112 TEMAS QUE RETRATAN TODA UNA VIDA...EL CONCIERTO DE SWARTHMORE, PREVIAMENTE INEDITO, ES ESENCIAL PARA COMPRENDER EL REVIVAL DEL BLUES EN LOS '60! REALMENTE, UNA EDICION MARAVILLOSA, DIGNA DE UN ARTISTA UNICO EN SU TIPO!



3. Yes, it is expensive but if you are interested in the blues then it's a really good deal. As has already been explained, the 7th disc is only interviews. But the 6 discs of music are incredible. I had to work up my nerve to make this purchase a few years ago. Luckily, I did get a discount but I still say it's worth the hefty price tag. I'm listening to 'Last Night Blues' right now and it's just as haunting today as it was when I first bought the set.



4. This seven disk, expensive box set is often a difficult pill to swallow, but I am glad that I did. On six disks twelve Lightnin' albums from the 60's are combined. If you are interested in Lightnin', do the math. The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Rocordings is a value. The seventh disk is full of interviews that may seem dull to some, but to a fan willing to spend $ to get the blues they are a welcome addition. A very interesting way to learn about the man is from his own voice in interviews like these. The liner notes are a simple histoy, a few pictures and a discography. Again, I am glad I bought it.



5. This is one fantastic collection of music! However, I was a little disappointed by the apparent lack of effort that went into the finished product. With such a comprehensive assortment of music, I expected to find at least liner notes or a booklet with some biographical material or reviews. Also, it should be noted that the final disk in this set is only spoken word. While the novelty of it is awesome, and you get to here Lightnin's stories first hand, at my first listening I was somewhat off set because I wasn't expecting it. However, those things aside, this set is worth every penny!

4 comments about Big Man Big Guitar: Popa Chubby Live.

1. I just can`t seem to get enuff of this great live cd.Popa chubby is right up there with some of the best blues guitar players out there.Why this guy is not more popular is a mystery to me.I would put him up there with joe bonammasa,and jimmy d lane.This is more rockin blues and you can tell he is hendrix influenced,but who isn`t.Buy this and it will not come out of your player.



2. I bought the cd and the dvd to this concert and popa just kicks ass. I have his other live concert on dvd and i believe this one might be a little better but they are both very good.This music is very raw i didnt know very many of the songs but got into them right away i love chubbys voice and his lyrics are one of a kind if you like straight ahead blues rock with a lot of guitar playing you should enjoy this very much. Thanks for reading.



3. While the songs on this CD are a little more reserved than I've come to expect from Popa, I find the CD to be very good. The one time that I saw him live he played a subdued first set and then proceeded to blow the roof off of the place in his second set. Still, I don't think you can go wrong with a live offering from PC.



4. Having seen Poppa Chubby play live and having bought his other live CD, I bought this CD with high-hopes of listening to a hard-driving rock/blues piece of music. Instead, I found it to be an uninspiring, lacking in energy and intensity, and ho-hum live CD. Poppa doesn't seem to be into it and neither does the audience. If you are looking for a gritty, loud, greasy, boisterous, blues/rock CD, this isn't it.
   
   Try again, Poppa. Next time, turn it up and let it rip.

4 comments about Ray Charles at Newport.

1. I was 12 or so when I first heard this "album". It was my introduction to Ray Charles. I had never heard anyone Wail like he did, and the version of In a little Spanish Town and his incomparable "I got a woman", along with a number of other top flight covers and other original stuff just knocked me out. I lost the album so several years ago I looked for it online and to my chagrin it was out of distribution. I was delighted when Atlantic decided to re-release it as part of their 50th anniversary.My liking of the album has not dimmed at age 61.



2. I absolutely love jazz, and the only non-jazz music I listen to (often) is Ray Charles. I may only have a best of, this, "The Genius of Ray Charles", and "The Great Ray Charles", but this is probably my favourite one of them all. This cd has a lot jazz tracks, and even features Ray Charles playing alto on a couple of tracks! I love this cd for the jazz tracks but most of all for his signature vocals on Right Time, I Got a Woman, Talkin' 'Bout You, and last but not least Fool For You. The tracks are well organized so you get a mix of both, neither jazz nor vocal tracks are concentrated in one area, which means it's a great listen all the way through. In short, I really enjoy this cd, and recommend it to jazz fans and Ray Charles fans alike.



3. This blew my mind in '58 and it does so again now--and maybe more. This disc contains great jazz instrumentals such as Blues Waltz and In a Little Spanish Town, yet its greatest cuts (and all are great) demonstrate Ray's soul. Check out A Fool For You, for instance. The Right Time's "La Do Day" background singing is cool. My favorite since '58 has been "Talking Bout You." Play it over and over and try to sit still. It brings tears to my eyes. In my view, this is Ray's best record.



4. If one is interested in the early Ray Charles jazz years this is a wonderful example. The album abounds with demonstrations of his virtuosity on piano, and that of other musicians in his large band. Check out Blues Waltz!! A good listen! We won't see his like again.

5 comments about Spiders on the Keys.

1. This is a solo club recording of the great New Orleans Pianist James Booker. A word of warning, the recordings were originally never planned for release so the Piano sound (and the sound overall) isn't great. The reason for its release though is clear. Booker was erratic and in the studio might or might not be on form that day. Here with the benefit of hours and hours of tapes they have able to put out two volumes of superb solo Piano with Booker unleashed to do his own thing for as long as he liked!
   
   Highlight on this disc for me is the brilliant version of "On the Sunny Side of Street". Booker wasn't really a Jazz Pianist but listen to this performance and you might want to question that statement. This is a better version (except for the sound quality) than on the excellent studio album album Junco partner (Hannibal HNCD 1359). Checkout the great solo, he may not be Jazz Pianist, but he has all the attributes of a Jazz Pianist.
   
   Elsewhere there are stunning versions of some of Bookers own tunes and great covers of many well known tunes like 'Eleanor Rigby', Tico Tico and 'Over the Rainbow'.
   
   You should have this essential New Orleans Piano recording in your collection together with its sister volume 'Ressurection of the Bayou Maharajah'.



2. The late James Carroll Booker III was a troubled man who lived a chaotic, painful life, and who played some of the most beautiful music ever. This all-instrumental cd of live recordings from the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans showcases Booker's solo piano playing in a wide variety of styles. He plays blues, ballads, funk, jazz, classical and pop tunes - as well as a few styles of his own - and it all fits into a concentrated whole. The music on this cd is really among the all-time best stuff ever to come out of New Orleans, which is saying a lot. Some songs are likely to have you up and jumping, while others may bring tears to your eyes. The passion and the spirit of this music can never be broken. It is
   really the eternal blues. If just a smattering of this spirit survived Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans will sooner or later re-emerge as a center of musical life-force.



3. Goosebumps. Incredable artistry. I only wish I could fly from Oklahoma City to his next gig.



4. This is Booker near the end of his career, playing in a dinky New Orleans bar and usually half out of his head. But the fingers still knew what they were doing, even on a piano that sounds as if it's strung with rubber bands. For an introduction to Booker's playing I'd recommend "New Orleans Piano Wizard," Booker in front of a huge audience playing a superb grand piano. But Booker freaks can't get enough of his playing, and I'm one of them.



5. Listen to "Piano Salad" and tell me how this guy plays this with only two hands? Definitely one of the finest piano players from New Orleans!

2 comments about One Foot in the Groove.

1. This is a solid set from renowned performers who've improved like seasoned timber through the decades. Given their reputation as jocular raconteurs, I'm surprised that a little of their banter with the invited audience didn't make it onto the tapes. After all, it is a live recording, and yet there's something restrained about the air of the night, and even the performances. I hanker still for the elan of,'Music Is Just A Bunch Of Notes', and urge its release as a CD. All the covers are rejuvenated and Fred McDowell's,'You've Got To Move' is inspiring. Koerner's,'I ain't Blue, and Glover's,'Power Tool' demonstrate that their own material is at one with the traditional material. A continuing revelation with KR & G is the density of their playing. What they fit in 2.50 minutes is more potent than many artists achieve in twice the duration. These stories fan out in the mind; deltas of deeply lived feeling.



2. I fell in love with Blues Rags and Hollers as soon as I heard it. It wasn't just the music, but the glimpses of these three men that you catch behind the music. Every time I pop in the cd, the stories start up in my head. This cd picks up thirty-odd years later, and the feeling is still there. The heart behind the music hasn't changed, although the voices have. Tony Glover's harp has gotten better, if anything, and Dave Ray's guitar is still shuffling along in some mystic other space. John Koerner? Why, he's just Spider John, till the day he dies... and after that, I'm sure.

No comments about Live in New York.

2 comments about Kentucky Fried Blues Live.

1. This is from a live radio broadcast and is about 58 minutes long. It features Allsion's brand of electric blues in a live setting with room for guitar solos and room to stretch out. He covers a few of his dad's tunes here, a Buddy Guy song, and others. If you're a fan of modern electric blues done at pretty high volume, this is topnotch stuff.



2. cds contains bernard doing covers from freddie king to luther allison,if you like wailing guitar licks this is for you

5 comments about Live at Ann Arbor & In Chicago.

1. sound quality - not so good. everything else about this disc -excellent. actually the sound makes it sound like getting your hands on a blues album, getting it down to your old turntable, and playing it trying to pick up any thing you can from it. he is definitely magic.



2. Live at Ann Arbor and In Chicago does not have the greatest sound. This fact would be admitted by anyone. Any concert taped by a tape recorder can only be remastered so much, if at all. So understand that the sound on this recording is not the best.
   
   But when you consider that Magic Sam Maghett was one of the great blues guitarists ever, that he has influenced every generation of blues musicians since his arrival on the scene, and when you remember that when he died in 1969 at the age of 32 with only two recorded albums, you should be willing to give a little to get a whole lot back.
   
   And these recording do give a lot. They show the Magic Sam we know and love from West Side Soul and Black Magic, the skilled guitarist, the compelling, pleading voice, and gifted songwriter. But they also show a Sam Maghett we would encounter only a live show - a master showman who knew how to engage his audience, a performer who might show up to a gig without a guitar or a band, but who could dig up a guitar and a band, and sound as if they had rehearsed for days.
   
   This live recording is a valuable document for all blues and Magic Sam lovers. Don't miss out because of understandable imperfections.



3. Currently, I'm goin' through the 'Rough Guide to the Blues' matching my own blues collection w/ the recommendations in the book - hoping to refine and add to my current discs; this 'live' disc is a top recommendation - personally, I do not own this CD, but I have had 'West Side Soul' & 'Black Magic' for many years - great albums; thus, I probably will not buy this 'live' compilation but its reputation and the writings of others certainly warrants a higher rating, despite the poor sound, often a 'victim' of these outings.



4. SO HERE HE IS...MAGIC SAM...LIVE...AS WELL AS NOT LIVING...ANYWAY YOU HAVE HIM HE IS A GREAT MAN OF THE BLUES...SO WHAT IF SOME OF THE TRACKS ARE NOT PRODUCED UP TO THE LEVEL OF OTHER RECORDINGS....THEY ARE THE BLUES....AND THAT IS WHAT IT IS....THE BLUES IS A FEEL...LIKE A BLESSING FROM HEAVEN....BLUES COMING THROUGH MAGIC SAM IS A WONDERFUL THING TO BE AROUND....DIG HIS LIVE TRACKS...IT SAYS IT ALL...RAW ...ROLLICKING...AND REAL...THAT IS WHAT THE BLUES IS ...WAS....AND WILL ALWAYS BE....THANK YOU MAGIC SAM...YOU ARE MUCH MORE THAN MAGIC...YOU ARE A MIRACLE...HOLLYWOOD JOE http://www.hollywoodjoe.com http://www.hollywoodjoe.8m.com hollywoodjoe@usa.com 212-989-6193



5. Magic Sam was magic.One of the greatest blues talents ever.This was one hell of a show,great guitar and great vocals.The setlist was also very good.The only problem is the sound,it's really bad.Save your money and buy one of his studio albums.I suggest either West side soul or Black magic.You won't be sorry.