5 comments about The Final Tour.

1. Took me two listenings to get into this cd that a friend reccomended. Now I can't get it out of my head. Good late nite traveling music.



2. This is a great live album by one of the best voices in blues..uh soul...uh r&b...pop. And there's the rub. This was a man you couldn't put a label to. Which is why he remained a starving artist almost until the day he died. Which was way too soon for this great of a live entertainer. Hawkins could make his voice do just about anything. A very versatile singer who could run through a gamut of emotions in just one song. One of the best examples of this is his wonderful acappella version of John Fogerty's "As Long As I See The Light". This song alone is worth the price of admission here. Although he leaves a few of my faves off here, most notably "Happy Hour" and "Who Got My Natural Comb", he still gives us some of his most memorable like "Watch Your Step", "Revenge Of The Scorpio", and "Biloxi". The sound quality on this cd is excellent. It was recorded in 3 different venues. I especially liked the 3 songs he does in the Wisconsin University Auditorium, where you get the echo affect from his larger than life voice. The man could sing. It didn't matter if he was walking the sands of Venice Beach with his guitar, or playing a big room, Ted Hawkins always sounded like he was giving it all. There isn't anything slick or fancy here. Just a man and his guitar. This is a wonderful last hurrah from one of the most soulful singers ever.



3. This is one of the 3 or 4 best albums of any genre that I've ever heard. If that sounds like hyperbole, I'm sorry, but Ted Hawkins had it all: emotional directness, great taste in covers, perfect pitch, wonderful playing--he had it all in a way very few musicians do. His interpretive efforts are as strong as any by giants like Otis Redding and Patsy Cline. What clinches it for me is his songwriting: besides being emotionally mature and honest, it's incredibly literate and fresh. I mean, "The Good and the Bad" alone has several classic lines; when you hear him sing that "Sugar is noooooo gooood/Once it's cast among the white sands"--wow. His songs stand right up to his covers: when you can write as well as Jesse Winchester and John Fogerty, well that's sayin' something. I've been a fan since 1986 (Happy Hour): this is his best work, although it leaves a few classics off.



4. Finding Ted's final album in a store in Boston on my first US trip, I stood for over an hour, headphones clasped to my head, amazed at the warmth and openness of every track.

   My wife and I had seen Ted only once, in Southport, England nearly 10 years ago, but we had never forgotten his music.

   I hadn't heard the first song he sang in Southport since that night, but when Ted began Missing Mississippi on track 19, the great paddle wheels of the river turned just like they had done all those years before.

   Robeson singing 'the folks I used to know'; Belafonte at Carnegie Hall; surely, Ted's sometimes beautiful, and perhaps more importantly, always honest rendition of his own and others' songs, is a life giving event of equal greatness.

   After an hour or so, the CD came to an end. I wiped away a small tear and bought 2 copies - one for my wife and one for my father - it was the least I could do. As a child, our home was filled with the sound of Johnny Cash, Charley Pride and Creedence Clearwater Revival - all reborn in Ted's inspired interpretations.




5. The vintage busker from Venice, California, sits himself on a milk crate and with the support of his guitar he belts out a few memorial street ballads. From his very own compositions, he sings of love, jealousy and the whole damn thing. But what makes this man unique is his aging raspy voice that entices you to listen to this wise old man who has plenty to say. In LADDER OF SUCCESS he hands out his advice on how to make it to the top of the hills. "No matter what you know, you got to know somebody who knows somebody to lend you a helping hand,"and that is the key to the entertainment industry. He also manages to leave a lump in your throat when he bellows out those words of passion, "Baby!" in STRANGE CONVERSATION.

   Then you find yourself musing over SORRY YOU'RE SICK, "What do you want from the liquor store? Something sour, something sweet? I'll buy you all your belly will hold, you can be sure you won't suffer no more." Ted Hawkins died in 1995 after recording this last album. His career had just kick started and he had places to go. In BIG THINGS, he tells us that he needs to keep on moving on because he has been fooling around for too long and now it's time to write songs with stories to tell that will live on after his death. And yes, they do live on in this classic album.

No comments about Live at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival.

3 comments about Screamin' and Cryin': Live in Warsaw 1976.

1. I collect every Muddy Waters CD I can get my hands on, for being a live
   recording the sound is fantastic! besides it has some songs that are not
   included in any other albums, the value of this album its is uniqueness
   because thinking commercially some companies have sold the same songs
   with different cover, its a collectors item! if somebody thinks that it has mediocre instrumentals just try to play the harmonic the same way.
   Besides the tremendous power that characterized Muddy, versatility was
   another one of his attributes if someone wants to listen to something
   different from him try ¨Unk in the Funk¨ CD.



2. There is a LOT of live Muddy Waters out there, ranging from the magnificent (like "Muddy Waters Live At Newport 1960") to the mediocre, and this one belongs with the latter.
   It's not bad, Muddy never was, but on "Screamin' And Cryin'" Muddy neither screams nor cries...it's a more laid-back Muddy Waters than on earlier recordings, and the set is burdened by too many s-l-o-w numbers and mediocre instrumentals, and not enough firepower.
   
   There are some highlights as well, of course, like "Blow Wind Blow" and "Hoochie Coochie Man", but there is really nothing here which isn't available in equally good or better renditions on other live recordings of the Muddy Waters blues band. This rendition of "Got My Mojo Working" is disappointing, and "Screamin' And Cryin'" lacks the intensity of terrific live albums like "Mojo: The Live Collection", "The Lost Tapes", "Chicago 1979" and of course the Newport album.
   Go for any of those instead; this one is for completists.



3. I have a just about everything i can get my hands on that muddy has done "LIVE". Folks I was a little skeptical about this one but forked over the bucks for it anyway. It inspired me so much I am writing my first review. The sound is excellent the recording is excellent There are some instrumentals that are simply fantastic. The crowd and Muddy are into it. The band is cooking on this one and so is Muddy. The song selection is great. New Muddy fans. Pick this one up to start your "LIVE" collection. You won't regret it.

5 comments about Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind.

1. I have been a fan of Kelly Joe Phelps ever since I first heard the Windows Media Samples of his music here on Amazon, over 5 years ago. I have all but two of his albums and I've seen him live twice. He is definitely my favorite artist. Every album of his is phenomenal but I have to say this is probably his best. I'm no music expert, but I know talent and originality and Kelly Joe is the best!



2. kelly joe phelps is an extraordinaryly talented guitar picker who also happens to possess a wonderful resonant voice. you won't hear many live recordings as moving as this one. all on the long side, the songs range from six and a half minutes to almost ten minutes each; as mr phelps makes effective use of space and silence around his playing to work brilliant song sculputures out from these compositions. quiet and intense, this is blues and folk music that enthralls. if you have yet to discover kelly joe phelps, this is the place and time. don't miss him.



3. I've seen Kelly Joe Phelps many times live, going back to when he first started out in his native Portland. I think he is one of the most original and interesting musicians/guitarists around, and his recordings don't really do his talent justice - until now. He takes a revolutionary approach to traditional fingerstyle country blues, which you really hear in his live shows. His live playing has alot in common with jazz improvisation, albeit within a country blues framework. Indeed, some live songs are almost unrecognizeable from the recorded version - sometimes you have to wait to catch a snippet of lyric just to get your bearings. The fact that he does this using fingerstyle technique and many different alternate tunings make it all the more unbelievable.
   
   I have to say I'm really tired of people yelling 'slide, slide' throughout the show - I can't imagine how annoyed he is with it. His interests and technique have moved on since Lead Me On, which was about 15 years ago. Perhaps he said it best at a live show in 2003: 'You don't need a slide, you need a musician.'



4. I bought this cd to learn the potential of slide guitar, figuring that a live album would best capture it. So you can understand my disappointment when I patiently listened to the first song, assuming that he'd pick up his slide later. But he doesn't.
   
   I'm unfairly writing this after listening to two songs on the album, and I'm sure it'll still be worth the purchase, but make no mistake...
   
   Kelly doesn't play slide on this recording.



5. I had the privilege of taking in a live performance by Mr. Phelps in Fall River MA this past weekend, and all I can say is that it was mesmerizing. This live CD does an excellent job of capturing his utterly unique take on the acoustic blues. It's a must have for any serious blues afficionado. However, you MUST see this man live - I promise you will not regret it.

5 comments about Live From Austin TX.

1. This is a great addition to anyone's music collection. I have seen Delbert many times and he only improves with age. His voice has so much soul and rhythm it is unbelievable. He is Blues to the bone. This is a must have for any Delbert Fan!!!!!!!!!!



2. Now available for the first time Delbert McClinton "Live from Austin, Tx," one of several concert series now available on New West Records, featuring previously unreleased performances from the popular award winning TV program- Austin City Limits. Other available "Live from Austin, Texas" titles include Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, and several others, and they are all available either as a DVD or CD- on either version the tracks are identical. These performances have been re-mixed and re-mastered in stereo 5.1 surround sound which offers the highest quality concert DVDs, and terrific sounding CD's, especially when you consider that they were recorded in the eighties.
   Delbert McClinton may not have originated the genre of "roadhouse blues," but he's the one who gave it new meaning with his distinctive merging of blues, rock, soul, country, and R&B. The Texan bluesman is captured live on this 1982 appearance on PBS's Austin City Limits, which has been expanded from its televised half-hour episode to include all 90 minutes of McClinton's performance. Highlights include classics like "Givin' It Up For Your Love," "I've Got Dreams to Remember," and the set closing and rousing rendition of "Turn on Your Love Light," which I am certain Bobby Blue Bland would approve of.
   
   I think it is safe to say that- no one performs and delivers this style of music better than the multiple Grammy award winner- Delbert McClinton, as whatever genre Delbert explores: Texas R&B, Blues, soul classics, or good old rock and roll, this guy makes everything sound so natural and real. The Dvd is almost twenty-five years old, and was recorded right around the same time Delbert made such a splash on Saturday Night Live, (where he met his wife,) so its pretty cool that the New York Yankees t-shirt he wore for this performance is right on the front cover, (Delbert has always told me loves NYC, and in fact he wrote a tune about the Big Apple-appropriately title "New York City.") The entire performance is dynamic, and captures Delbert with an entirely different band than he currently tours with, but make no doubt about it- they all deliver on all cylinders. This box set is an interesting retrospective flashback on an American classic originator, who like good a good bottle of wine- gets more complex and better with age. Enjoy!
   
   [...]
   
   Bob Putignano
   Radio Host WFDU's "Sounds of Blue"
   President of the NY Blues and Jazz Society



3. What a such pleasure to hear the Texas king of rythm'n blues,rock'n'roll,
   funk,honky-tonk,etc...17 years later after his first awsome so good cd
   "live" in this same TV live show recordind! everything is good:Delbert,
   the musicians,the "repertoire",the hot "ambiance" on stage and for the
   audience,BUT why to have put far-away in the mix this poor drummer?
   while you so exciting to put the cd in your cd player and wait for a
   very great show if you like D.Mac Clinton,what a bad surprise as you're
   hearing a soft and "mashmallow" sound and entertainment just because this
   drumer is almost out of the mix!!!



4. I gave this as a gift to my mother and she just loves it.



5. I was introduced to Delbert McClinton a number of years ago. Being a fan of Austin City Limits, I was watching his TV concert in 1989 and was blown away with his singing and his band's musicianship. A few years ago, I purchased his more recent live album and have given it a few listens, but it did not stick with me. So, when I saw this new live album, I wondered why it was issued. Well, it does add some new cuts from that time frame and Turn On Your Lovelight is just outstanding. So, if you would like to experience a great blues/rock singer in concert, consider this album. But if you don't have his live album recorded on Austin City Limits in 1989, buy that one first....it is an absolute 5 star adventure.

2 comments about Live the Life.

1. There is a lot of good stuff here, but the live portion of "Live The Life" in particular is plagued by some very mediocre fidelity.
   It's not unbearable, not at all, but it does detract from the music, and there are a handful of pretty forgettable numbers here as well.
   
   Still, serious Otis Spann-worshippers (and/or Muddy Waters-fans) will certainly want this disc in their collection. The seven live recordings which feature Otis Spann as part of the Muddy Waters Blues Band are the most interesting...Spann duets with Muddy on a six-minute "I Wanna Go Home", and sings two more numbers, including a soulful "Tin Pan Alley". And Muddy Waters himself performs the only live rendition of "I Live The Life I Love" that I'm aware of, as well as a great "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had".
   Two good solo performances are next, and the final two songs find Spann backing Johnny Young on the acoustic "Mean Old Train" and harpist Slim Willis on a swaggering "My Baby Left Me".
   
   Otis Spann's finest musical legacy remains his work with the Muddy Waters Band, and the LPs "Otis Spann Is The Blues", "Walking The Blues", and "The Blues Never Die", and there is certainly better live Muddy Waters available as well. But serious fans will want this one as well.



2. This is actually a live recording, which makes it rare and unique. The sound quality is a little sketchy at the start of the CD, but something happens around the 3rd or 4th song and it seems fine from there. You have to keep in mind that this was recorded in the 60's. There is a killer version of Tin Pan Alley and Five Long Years on this CD that I think make it worth the purchase. But be aware that Muddy Waters and his band take over the 2nd half of the CD and then Otis ends up in the position of backup piano player. If you want Otis at his best, I would recommend Walkin' The Blues (the sound quality is excellent and has a few piano solo numbers), Bottom Of The Blues, and Best Of Vangaurd Years.

1 comments about The World Don't Owe Me Nothing.

1. Honeyboy's finest work and his honest and touching storytelling make this a Cd any blues fan should own. From beginning to end the music seems to take you back to the '30s. Anyone who enjoys pre war blues or is a Robert Johnson fan will get chills listening to this CD.

5 comments about Blues at Sunset.

1. I've considered Albert King the finest electric blues guitar player ever for thirty-five years now. The Matchbox Blues from Montruex has his finest break ever captured by a recording. This break is worth many multiples times the price of the CD and is a must-study for anyone who plays electric guitar. I cannot create words forceful enough to convey my love of this break.



2. I got into Albert King, by listening to an album he did with Stevie Ray Vaughan. They got me interested in hearing his own music. I downloaded this album, and it is really, really good. Albert King should be better known; he is one of the absolute best.



3. A long time ago a friend whose music taste I trust told me he had just seen an incredible performance at the Fillmore in NY by " a blues guy named Albert King." I bought all the available albums and didn't get it. This live recording captures what I have been hoping for. There is no more powerful performance than Albert's " I'LL Play the Blues For You". "Killing FLoor" does it too.
   I would give it five stars but it is too short.



4. One of the best live recordings of Albert King. Even without the usual horn section on the Wattatax set, it lacks nothing. The rest of the Montreaux set not included on the "Blues At Sunrise" CD are found here and are, again, some of Albert Kings best.



5. This cd is one of the best works of the great bluesman albert king. All the tracks are master pieces........!!!!!!!!!!buy it................and........right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 comments about Live at the Mint.

1. I just bought this cd on amazon.com. It is a classic. I discovered it when XM radio played Well Well Well. I bought it that same day. If you love blues with the guitar being the main force, this cd is for you. I can't believe this is the only cd sold on Amazon by Duwayne Burnside.Hint...go to his website.



2. I happend to catch him live and I must say Duwayne Burnside is one of the best. Why he's still under the radar I'll never know. Pick this one up you wont be sorry.



3. "Live at The Mint" smokes with some great renditions of "Cross Cut Saw" and "Dust My Broom", plus some great originals like the instrumental "Hard Candy" and my favorite song on this disc "Bad Bad Pain", a guest appearance by his father on his song "Well Well Well" is a delight but the 18 min version of "Hoochie Coochie Man" just pulls out all the stops as Duwayne really shines and shows total command of his instrument and of the audience. Now I know why the North Mississippi Allstars keep putting this guy on stage every chance they get. This CD may be hard to find, but if you can get a hold of a copy then you got a real rock n' roll/blues classic on your hands!
   
   Reviewed by The Bandit
   www.banditbluesradio.com

5 comments about Last Call: Live at Boston Tea Party, April 2, 1970.

1. I bought this for the historical value, not expecting it to be great. But it is. Last Call quickly became one of my favorite Otis Spann discs. Spann's piano is extraordinarily moving. His wife Lucille provides some fine vocals.



2. Last Call is the most unique and moving piece of Blues History that this blues fan has ever heard. I saw guitarist & producer Peter Malick accept The WC Handy Award for this disc (Historic Album of the Year, 2001)in Memphis last May. If you love DEEP BLUES, don't go no further...'cause this is the real deal.

   If you're one of the few who have not been moved by this recording... listen again!




3. Otis sounds great as does his wife and Peter Malick. The problem that I had with the performance is that Luther Johnson's guitar is way out of tune for the whole set. I have stop listening after a while. It would have been a great recording otherwise. Just my 2 cents.



4. "Last Call" transports its listeners to a moment of blues history that should not be missed. The time is April 1970. The place is the Boston Tea Party where blues pianist Otis Spann plays one of his last concerts before his untimely death 3 weeks later. He is joined by his wife Lucille who performs most of the vocals since Spann is too ill to sing himself. His piano playing transcends his imminent death. Other talented musicians include guitarist, Luther Johnson, and Peter Malick. Malick produced these tapes as a tribute to his friend and mentor Otis Spann. Kudos to Malick and Mr. Cat Music. The late, great Otis Spann must be listening and watching with pride.



5. "Last Call" transports its listeners to a moment of blues history that should not be missed. The time is April 1970. The place is the Boston Tea Party where blues pianist Otis Spann plays one of his last concerts before his untimely death 3 weeks later. He is joined by his wife Lucille who performs most of the vocals since Spann is too ill to sing himself. His piano playing transcends his imminent death. Other talented musicians include guitarist, Luther Johnson, and Peter Malick. Malick produced these tapes as a tribute to his friend and mentor Otis Spann. Kudos to Malick and Mr. Cat Music. The late, great Otis Spann must be listening and watching with pride.