5 comments about Live at the Apollo.

1. I saw B.B. King in concert last night, in Coto de Caza, CA, as a part of thier "Summer concert in the park" series. At 78 he plays guitar and sings in his prime! As a matter a fact his guitar playing is more on the jazz improvisational side, of the blues. His band was allowed plenty of space to stretch out. Anyhow this cd, is a great example of one of his live shows, and on this cd recorded in 91, he is also in prime form, though the band is strictly used a background prop, BB's highly appealing vocals and guitar solos are highlighted throughout this exellent live session. As jazz critic Scott Yanow has pointed out, King alsways has a way of making his old hits sound fresh everytime he revivrs them, and on this cd is no acception, he does a killer job on Sweet Sixteen and The thrill Is Gone. You can't go wrong with a live BB album, the only thing missing is his jump blues standby song "Caldonia", ah well this is still one of BB finest "recent" cd's. If you can't go see him live, this is the next best thing. I only wish somone had recorded last nights show at Coto. Oh well, pick this cd up!



2. B. B. KING: LIVE AT THE APOLLO combines classic and modern blues tracks with a live performance that is more than up to the legendary B. B. King's standard. It's a pity that there's only ten cuts on this album; the band is playing rather well, and it would have been nice to hear their interpretation of a few more songs. Still, for what it is, this album delivers.

   If you decide to buy this album, then it will probably be the least surprising purchase you will ever make. B. B. King is as professional as they come, and you're guaranteed a great performance no matter what the occasion. The songs that he plays here are, of course, great blues standards mixed with one or two written either by or for him. The only variable in this album would be the backing musicians. But for this performance, King was backed by Gene Harris, on piano, and the rest of the Philip Morris Superband (insert your own social commentary on that name and sponsor here). They do not disappoint.

   One of the highlights on this album is B. B. King's version of the classic, "The Thrill Is Gone". It's a slow and jazzy cover of this great number. The mind boggles at how many times he must have played this particular tune before, yet he manages to make it sound as though this is the first time, and that the words mean as much to him now as they did then. Other standouts include a swinging version of the song U2 wrote for King, "When Love Comes To Town", an upbeat "Paying The Costs To Be The Boss", and a soulful "Ain't Nobody's Bizness".

   In fact, there simply isn't a poor track on this album. The sound recording is excellent, and the musicians are all having a terrific night. Any fan of the blues should have this CD in their collection.




3. the Title tells you all you need to know first time i heard this it was on Wax i have been dragging a copy of it around from then on



4. Yeah, nothing compares to great B.B...

   I LOVE the songs on this CD. Everything is as melodic and hearty as can be.
   For me, the BEST I could get from a live CD (better than the one he recorded on that jail years before, much more pleasant).




5. Great swingin' blues from B. B. King and and eighteen-piece orchestra. Starts off with a swing version of the U2/B.B. King song "When Love Comes To Town." Other good cuts, The Thrill Is Gone, Payin' The Cost..., Ain't Nobody's Business. My only complaint is that it's over too soon! Itruns a standard 45 mintues, but every time I play it, it's like it's over before it should be!

   Good stuff, check it out.

5 comments about Together Again: Live.

1. I'm not sure if this is the same performance my husband and I were fortunate enough to be in the audience for. It was for "Blues In The Schools" at County Hall in Charleston, SC. It has to have been a long time ago, because County Hall no longer exists. It was replaced many years ago by an auditorium and now a Performing Arts Center and a Coliseum. We just don't get the same kinds of performers there that we prefer. So I rely on my CDs. I can't remember the date; one of my children was in the High School band and this performance was designed for introducing youngsters to this genre' of music. I think it was great. I don't remember the profanity, so this probably isn't the one, since there were plenty of school kids in the audience. Hard to believe that Bobby "Blue" could behave that long isn't it? But he did and they were both just outstanding. This CD certainly was similar to what we saw that night. I have always loved blues, along with any number of other genre's of music. So I jumped at those tickets and I've never forgotten that show. It was wonderful. Even though my husband isn't crazy about 'blues' like I am, (he prefers Bluegrass), I caught him patting his foot and nodding his head quite a bit. (I don't think he was nodding off.) Could'a been though. I think it was the first in a long time and possibly the last good Blues show ever performed in Charleston. If there have been more, they got past me. It was about the time of this recording because our daughter was in the Junior Band and HS band until 1981 (from 1975). I will be purchasing the other versions right now. Or as we say in SC, 'rat now.



2. Bobby & BB is a awesome cd.The music takes you back. I recommend this cd to anyone who likes blues. You feel like you're at the concert in person.



3. I went to the concert when this album was made; the reproduction is great. Both this album and "Together For The First Time,Live", will be an asset to any blues lovers collection.



4. though I dig the first one better overall there is something about the musical chemistry that B.B.King&Bobby Bland have that blends there styles together so well. "Let the Good Times Roll" is on Point. B.B. with Lucille&Bobby on Vocals make a strong combination. this is a Good Live set.



5. I have been listening to this record for over 25 years, BB:s tone on this record still strikes me as it did the first time I heard it. One of BB:s outro:s in one of the medleys on this record is a fantastic value for the price paid for this alone. You can hear a young BB play really loud and strong making his amp sing in fantastic overtones on this one, not that nice and sweet studio tone. The two artists, BB and Bobby, works very well together and if their first record together was Bobbys, this is definitely BB:s.

2 comments about Live In Australia [1990].

1. There ain't nothing like Texas blues. The song goes that if you want to play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band. That's not true. If you want to play in Texas, you have to play music that people can dance to. Cowboys, oil workers, Latinos or black folks, people in Texas like to dance and they expect performers to play good music that they can dance to.
   
   Louisiana born grammy winner Johnny Clyde Copeland learned this while growing up in Houston, and like many other Texas bluesmen (Mr. Collins, T-Bone, SRV) his music has this influence. In the old videos of his performances people in the crowd can be seen tapping their toes, swaying to the music, clapping hands or outright dancing.
   
   And like so many blues guitarists, he got better and better as he grew older and matured. This CD is a pretty good representation of Copeland's later work, when he was at his best. There is a lot of foot tapping music and plenty of good guitar work and solos from the talented guitar player Copeland. "Further on Up the Road" and "Look on Yonder Wall" are excellent cuts.
   
   Good CD



2. With his gravely voice, and hard driving bass, this was a wonderful intro to Copeland's Texas blues. Highlights include Cut Off My Right Arm, with a fluid guitar solo rarely heard these days, the upbeat What Goes Around Comes Around, and some gut wrenching blues singing. I love Albert Collins, and the fact that he had Copeland play with him on an album made me curious. I was not disappointed.

1 comments about Live at Antone's, Vol. 1.

1. I just returned from a live performance by the "living legend" of Boogie Woogie. Prior to my trip from San Antonio to Antones blues clup in Austin to See Mr Perkins perform, I gave this CD a listen. This recording truly captures the ambiance of the Austin blues club that has been the "Fort Apache" of the blues south of Chicago. Pinetops personable performance on the recording is exactly the way it is if you were standing next to the piano (as I was). "Big fat Mama" tends to stand out as my favorite boogie woogie tunes done by Mr. P, though his others such as "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" with it's halts in the progression by Pinetop instructing "Stop!, dont you turn a page" This performance was recorded when Pinetop was 86 years old. He is 88 now and still rocks those keys as if he were 20. I couldn't help but tell Mr P "Pinetop, you the Best!"

2 comments about Long Way from Home.

1. Firstly, I'm a huge fan of Eddie Taylor. I love his work with Jimmy Reed and I have his "I Feel So Bad" album. The problem with this disc is not the guitar work, but the lazy vocals, and absence of lyrics. Throughout the entire album, Taylor unsuccessfully improvises lyrics that do not rhyme. Sometimes, when the response (as in the Call & Response lyrical format of the Blues) is supposed to be given, Taylor just mumbles something incoherently. Did he regularly perform like this in a live setting? The "I Feel So Bad" album has some great lyrics, so I'm a bit confused by this release. Though I disagree completely with the other reviewer, I'd like if it he/she could address my questions about the terrible lack of lyrical originality on this album.



2. Singer/guitarist Eddie Taylor played rhythm guitar behind Jimmy Reed on numerous waxings, but as a solo performer he never achieved anything like the commercial succes of Reed, who regularly outsold men like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.
   
   That was not due to any lack of talent, however. Eddie Taylor (1923-1985) was a supremely versatile blues guitarist, equally capable of playing the greasiest, grittiest grooves imaginable, and tearing off into a burning single-string solo. And he was a strong, expressive singer as well...perhaps the only thing missing was the kind of exceptional material that Willie Dixon penned for Waters and Wolf (and which they, along with men like Elmore James and Rice Miller, were perfectly capable of churning out on their own). Eddie Taylor was a great songwriter when his muse was in, but he seemed to have a hard time coming up with enough truly excellent material to compete with the exceptionally prolific Willie Dixon and that force of nature Aleck "Rice" Miller.
   
   On this aptly titled 1977 live recording (it was cut in Japan), Taylor is backed by brothers Louis and David Myers on 2nd guitar and bass guitar respectively, and by veteran drummer Odie Payne, a powerful, versatile percussionist who played with everybody who was anybody on the Chicago blues scene at one time or another.
   The set opens with Eddie Taylor's classic 1955 single "Bad Boy", and other highlights include the fiery "You're Gonna Look For Me", the swaggering groove of "There'll Be A Day", a smouldering "Blow Wind Blow" (not the Muddy Waters-song), and a slow, yet very muscular "My Sometimes Baby" which prominently features Odie Payne.
   Also, Taylor and Louis Myers both get off a couple of great solos on "Going Down Slow" (that's Eddie Taylor in the right speaker), and this rendition of "Crossroads" is one of the finest electric versions of that classic song I have ever heard. Taylor even sounds like Robert Johnson.
   
   There is a lot of sizzling blues guitar playing here, and some wonderful drumming by Odie Payne as well. The sound is fine, and the liner notes are quite good. And "Long Way From Home" is a really enjoyable live album by one of the finest, most talented sidemen on the Chicago blues scene, the great Eddie Taylor.

2 comments about The Butler's Boogie.

1. THE BUTLER BOOGIE
   Live At The Attic
   "Home Of The Blues" BPBP 001

   Clarence & Curtis Butler are shakin' the shack LIVE with this beauty. Raw, dirty, greasy,
   just like a Detroit autoworker workin' a double shift. This is Motown blues at its best.
   From the opening BUTLER BOOGIE, a finger snappin', toe tappin' thang you go right to the
   juke joint, nothin' but dirt floors and Clarence testifying' blues harp. Just not a place
   Momma would want her twins. GOIN' DOWN TO THE JUKE JOINT is just blues church folks.
   WHO TOLD YOU I'VE BEEN FOOLIN' AROUND is the little cat & mouse game between
   the sex's. Boogie piano intros a smokin' I BELIEVE I GOT A BLACK CAT BONE.
   AIN'T GOT NO ONE TO TELL MY TROUBLES TOO starts slow & bubbles into a blues
   stew, harp cryin', piano rollin' and Clarence just tellin' it folks. GOIN' HOME
   sends everybody home with a great big smile. A great night of blues LIVE as you
   can get it. I know I'd sure as hell would have liked to be there.




2. This CD made me think I was down in the delta listening to the real thing! The Butler Twins have done it again and captured the excitment of their live shows, bringing the delta blues to us all. Listen to Butler Boogie and Black cat bone and you will hear some of the best blues going down today.

2 comments about The Cream.

1. I realy dig this album, as it is so smooth and easy to listen to. Very cool, calm and laid back, throw this album on when your looking for something to calm you down. Stand out tracks include "Louise" & "Bar Room Drinking". Not the best place to start out on Hooker, but if your are a hooker fan, or love laid back chilled out blues, then this album is worth its weight in gold.



2. If you like the sound of a wicked electric blues guitar, John Lee Hooker is the man. At least he is for me. Hooker has always been a classic and a lot of fun to listen to. I would recommend this CD to anyone, even if you hadnt heard of the legend before.

1 comments about Live at B.B. King's.

1. Having acquired both "It Ain't Easy" and "Money Road" a while ago, I was pleasantly surprised to come across this rather obscure album, which I scooped-up immediately, in a small CD shop in Mendocino, CA (of all places!). While there are those who feel that the Radio Kings' sound is derivative of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, I would say that their sound is cleaner and purer, i.e. more to the core of this type of Blues. The Blasters and Roomful of Blues are on this continuum, and then farther towards rock would be the Smoking Joe Kubek. Tasty!

2 comments about Blues Harp Meltdown, Vol. 2: East Meets West Live at Moe's Alley.

1. I OWN ALL 3 VOLUMES. This one is the worst. Volume One is 5 stars and my favorite album. Volume 3 is 4 stars and very good with Lazy Lester and Cephas and Wiggins. Unfortunately this one has some incredibly bad tracks, starting with the first one which is truly awful. Combine that with Annie Raines' vocals which are utterly horrendous and you have about one album of decent blues harp but certainly not two. Buy volume 1, it's fantastic.



2. If you love the sound of big, heavy, honking, amplified blues harp, like me, you will appreciate this recording. It's really great to listen to so many good harp players on one set of (two) disks.
   
   I have played harp myself for many years, but only as an amateur. I play along to recordings and try to learn new things. The first person to really turn me on to blues harp was Paul Butterfield, and from him I went back to Little Walter, the amplified originator of most of the riffs that ALL electric players learn to play sooner or later. Little Walter was the true genius and innovator of the instrument; without Walter and his influence, nobody would be playing in quite the same way they do today. He casts his shadow over the entire spectrum of Chicago blues. So, in a sense, everyone after him is somewhat of an imitator. He has hugely important contemporaries, like James Cotton and Big Walter, and to a lesser extent George Smith, but for my money, Little Walter Jacobs with his three-piece band, his endless experimentation with different instruments such chromatics and big bass harps, his virtuoso technical expertise, and his phenomenal creativity, was the greatest blues harp player of all-time.
   
   One other thing that should be said is that, compared to most instruments, the blues harp is a very, very easy instrument to learn to play in a basic manner. Let me clarify: you can practice for a couple days and if by that time you have learned to (1) blow single notes and (2) bend, you can sound decent, especially if you amplify. (That explains why there are so many guys like Dan Ackroyd and Bruce Willis who play and even lead bands. Not to knock them at all; it's just that music is not their main gig; it's a hobby. But they liked the music and picked up the harp and in no time at all they thought they were good enough to play in front of people. Try that with slide guitar!).
   
   But to really master the instrument you have to play for years, and you have to constantly push yourself, like attempting to play ALL the holes, not just the easy ones like #3 and #4. And you can spend years copying guys like Little Walter and never be as good as he was because you are only copying, not creating.
   
   That said, it's nice that there are a lot of real good players, and a few greats, to keep this music vital, and I try to grab a listen to whoever comes along. We are right now in the midst of maybe the third or fourth generation to follow Little Walter. I've enjoyed Charlie Musselwhite's playing for over forty years, since I first heard him on the landmark Chicago: the Blues Today! sets from the mid-sixties. Other great blues/rock harpists I like are Magic Dick (one of the true innovators and creative forces), Rod Piazza (probably the most technically advanced and creative player around today), and James Cotton. Sugar Blue is amazingly fluent; Billy Branch is an outstanding player. There are just so many really good ones that it blows your mind. I'm forgetting a bunch, no doubt.
   
   On this set, the people who stand out to me are Gary Primich, Mark Hummel and Gary Smith. You may not like Primich's singing, but I do. It's rough, it's growly, it definitely ain't pretty. A really big plus is that he sounds like he's not taking himself too seriously. I like what he does with the tune about the gal with the drinking problem (...."the guy who owns the liquor store, over on the avenue, he bought himself a sailboat, named it after you..."), and his playing is really powerful. It sounds like he might blow out a couple dozen harps each night! Gary even does a wonderful Sonny Boy II-style acoustic blues as his last number.
   
   Mark Hummel is a fabulous harp player, a true vet of the scene and is credited with putting the whole show together. His band backs up all the harpists and the group does a really nice job. Mark's playing on this disk is solid, but he seems to modestly take a back seat to the others; I think he didn't want to seem pushy and desired to shine the spotlight on some of the lesser known players. Pick up any one of his own disks and you will hear what he can do.
   
   Gary Smith is a powerful and innovative player and is does some top-notch work here.
   
   RJ Mischo is a pretty good player but does not get much of a chance to shine on his two numbers. He doesn't seem to play anything too challenging or different here, but he may on some of his own disks. Paris Slim plays a competent acoustic harp on his number, but Sonny Terry (R.I.P.) need not worry. The best woman harpist I've ever heard, Annie Raines, does a decent job, but nothing special. The best thing about her set was her sexy line, "...the smaller the cracker jack box, the bigger the surprise...(!!)", which got a few appreciative howls from some of the guys in the crowd. Johnny Dyer is a nice singer and competent harp player who has been around for many years.
   
   All in all, this is a good set of disks at a good price for those interested in hearing basic amplified harp. Not a lot of creativity or innovation, but, hey, that's tough to do. If you want that, get Little Walter's double disk set, which is where the whole thing started.

2 comments about Moment of Truth.

1. If you're a fan of the late John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and Eric Clapton's guitar (before all the Bandwagon fans from MTV jumped on board)--this CD is for you. D.C's own Glen Fortinberry brings it on strong in "Moment of Truth." Its loaded with great songs like "Killing Floor", "Play It Cool" and "Hoy Hoy." Do yourself a favor: add this to your CD rack and turn up the volume. This man can play!



2. If your'e a fan of the late John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and Eric Clapton (before all the Bandwagon fans from MTV came along), this CD from DC's own Glen Fortinberry is for you. Its loaded with some great songs like "Play it Cool", "Killing Floor", "Roll Over Bach" and opens very strong with "Hoy Hoy." Add Fortinberry to your CD rack--you won't be disappointed. The man can play!