No comments about In Europe.

No comments about Live and on Fire.

No comments about The Blues Show! Live at Pit Inn.

4 comments about Downhearted Blues.

1. Was a bit disapointed with the CD. Was hoping it would include the original soundtrack songs from the movie Remember My Name. No such luck. I'll have to continue listening to my LP since this has never been released on CD. But, after getting over that, this is a good set of material. How could one ever go wrong with a Alberta Hunter CD?



2. Alberta Hunter may actually have amazed the world with her return to the stages after 80 years old. I have attempt to buy whatever is available from her late years, including tapes, DVD's, LP's, CD's and the like.
   Would you want to recieve and injection of motivation, happiness, deep sense of wisdom at full age? ... Please acquire all tapes available (there is only one DVD, which cannot be compared to the VHS's - those are much better)
   One of greatest singer of our times, surely joining a handfull of others like Ella, Sarah, etc.
   However, nobody I know could transmit - from 80 to 83 years old, so much kindness, beauty, wonderness and ectasy like Alberta. I am privileged to have seen her live, in Brazil, many years ago. And I will never forget!
   A must have, together with anything recorded from 1980 to 1984.



3. If you like the blues you will love this collection. The live recording from the Cookery in New York is great. Hunter works the songs as well as the listeners with her abilities and sense of humor. This is a must have for the collector. "Two fisted hard working Rough and ready man" should be the anthem of every one looknig for a mate. I bought 3 copies and have given them to friends.



4. I think seeing Alberta Hunter at the Cookery changed my perception of what REAL entertainers do in front of an audience. Not only was she the shimmying blues queen of the 20's, but she was also an international chanteuse and jazz singer without equal. Since Sony / Columbia is being so stingy about releasing on CD her great later recordings, this live performance is truly a Godsend. What a thrill to relive her artistry! During performance, Alberta would yell out to the musicians "Lay it on me!". Lay this one on yourself and relish one of the greatest cabaret performers of the 20th Century! This is hot stuff...

1 comments about Live at the Texas Opry House.

1. I love live music and I have a couple of really good Freddie King CDs, so I took a chance on this one. Forget it. While some of the songs are good, the quality of the recording is so poor it just can't avoid the label of rip-off. It sounds like someone out in the back row of the audience was holding a 1970s-technology mono tape recorder, complete with crowd noise. Save your money and pass on this one.

No comments about Legendary: Live At The Pawnshop.

1 comments about R.L. Boyce Othar Turner Fife and Drum Spam.

1. And quite frankly, makes one of the best rock'n roll records of the late 90's! This album, while only half an hour long is one of the rawest records ever made. 20M frontman Judah Bauer's singing is uneven and, at times a bit off-key, but there is absolutely nothing that would sound better in its place. This is Judah's first effort out of his day job as Jon Spencer's personal Steve Cropper in the JSBX. This album shows that there is true hope for real rock music out there and 20M's two subsequent releases ('I'm A Lucky Guy' and last year's 'Keep It Coming') show Judah progressing even further beyond my expectations. This record, in all its ragged and odd brilliance, is perfect!!!!!!!

5 comments about Fresh Raw & Live.

1. This is about as Bluesy and Funky as you can get without a permit! These Ladies belt out some original music that cannot really be compared to anyone, they have there own style for sure. It's almost impossible to avoid moving your hips and feet when they start playing that Funky Blues that gets any venue they are at jumping! I play them a lot at 1490 KOTY AM Yakima Nation Radio.



2. Seen this band perform in Moscow Id., Edmonton Alta. and at the Widby Island Naval Air Station and they are always great. Very upbeat with excellent vocals and instrumentals second to none. You haven't heard the best till you've heard the Swamp.



3. I saw the girls in Egmont, BC this summer (1999). while on a boating vacation. They are a happening group! Each member of the group is a skilled musician in her own right. The have a wonderful blend of blues, fusion, rock and funk. No one can sit still when they are playing live and the CD is the next best thing. Buy it!



4. I have both of their old albums, but LOVE Swamp Mama live on this CD. They have a bluesy/rock sound that is great to dance to. If you have a chance, check their web site out for their tour schedule- they are a must-see!



5. Swamp Mama Johnson is a wonderful group of women that have a awesome sound. Their songs make you wanna get up and boogie. Best female blues I have heard. Met these chicks also....fine bunch of people if I do say so myself. You wont be disappointed.

2 comments about Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall.

1. This CD was originally issued as a double LP by Vee-Jay in the early '60s, and the title is decidedly odd considering that none of these songs are recorded live, or at Carnegie Hall for that matter.
   The first dozen tracks, which made up the first of the two original vinyl LPs, are some nice middle-period studio tracks, while the following dozen constitutes a "reissue" of sorts of the Vee-Jay label's "Best Of Jimmy Reed album.

   If you're looking for a live document of Jimmy Reed, this ain't it, but stereophiles will love this as the sound is Mobile Fidelity impeccable, even on the mono masters, while stereo masters of such classics as "Baby What You Want Me To Do" and "Big Boss Man" sound almost revelatory.
   The various musicians include Reed's lead guitarist and childhood friend, the great Eddie Taylor, as well as Willie Dixon, Curtis Mayfield and Phil Upchurch on bass, pianist Henry Gray, and guitarists Lee Baker and William "Lefty" Bates (who was indeed lefthanded and played his instrument upside down).

   In addition to the eleven "Carnegie Hall" tracks, which are supposed to recreate the track list from an actual concert at that venue, the second half of the album features most (but not quite all) of Reed's classic blues shuffles, including crisp renditions of "You Got Me Dizzy", "You Don't Have To Go", "Honest I Do", "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", and the wrongly titled "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (Jimmy Reed sings, and always did sing, "baby why you wanna let go?").

   Critics hated Mathis James Reed's nasal, badly articulated vocal delivery, simple, two-string boogie patterns, and virtual inability on the harmonica, but the record buying public loved him, and he frequently crossed over to the pop charts, an amazing feat for a black blues singer in the 1950s. And Reed outsold everybody from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Little Walter and Elmore James in the process.

   The story of Jimmy Reed is a tragic one, really. Illiterate, alcoholic and stricken with undiagnosed epilepsy, Reed was ill equipped to handle fame and fortune, and even though his faithful wife Mary (known to fans as "Mama" Reed) did everything she could to keep him functioning, he ended up slowly falling apart, finally dying at age 50 in 1976. His epilepsy had been diagnosed by then, and he had managed to quit the bottle and was receiving medical treatment, but too late, and he died while trying to make a comeback to the blues circuit.

   Rhino's "Blues Masters: The Very Best Of Jimmy Reed" remains the best introduction to Reed's music, and this is not an ideal starting point for newcomers (even with most of the hits aboard), but if you have to have some classic Jimmy Reed in clean stereo, this is the place to go.




2. Collectable Records recently reissued JIMMMY REED AT CARNEGIE HALL a Vee-Jay album(VJLP 1035) originally released in 1961. The first eleven songs are a recreation of performance Jimmy Reed gave at the "Blues at Carnegie" series(per the liner notes). The liner notes state that the reason the recording could not be done at Carnegie Hall was due to "technical and contractural problems" so the album ended up being recorded at New York City's Bell Sound Studios. Some new tunes, at the time, were written for the Carnegie performance such as "Blue Carnegie"(instrumental) and "Blue, blue, blue." It also includes such Reed classics such as "Ah Shucks,Hush Your Mouth" and "Bright Lights Big City", the first song on the album. The twelve remaining cuts is a best of Jimmy Reed songsfest which are faithful rerecordings of his best known songs. "Take Out Some Insurance" is the only song not written by Jimmy Reed. Although it has the same feel as a Jimmy Reed song the liner notes state that he hated it. Though his singing is sometimes slurred and out of tune, the sound of the blows on his harmonica and his guitar, sometimes accompanied by Eddie Taylor on bass guitar, make his blues songs shine. This cd is a faithul reproduction of the lp including the ever present oval Vee-Jay oval on the front cover along with the original liner notes.

3 comments about In Europe with Clapton, Dixon and Spann.

1. They may try to sell this album by putting Eric Clapton's name in the title, but the fact is that Eric Clapton was an insecure 18-year old when he and the Yardbirds backed Sonny Boy on a few European dates, and this is all Sonny Boy Williamson.

   It's not great Sonny Boy Williamson, though. Too often does he sound unengaged, and the band is nowhere near a match for the all-star combos that accompanied Rice Miller on his Chess recordings in the 50s and early 60s. Also, the production is nothing to write home about (the instruments are pushed too far into the background, making it sound like Miller is singing to a lifeless, pre-recorded track). Most of the songs lack the nerve and groove usually associated with Sonny Boy Williamson, who was one of the very best blues singers when the spirit moved him.

   There are a couple of good moments, but this set doesn't come close to matching Rice Miller's Chicago classics available on "The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson [II]".




2. To bad Sonny Boy didn't live longer to do more of this. He loved it over thar in Europe Because the Blues lovers loved him.Not to many people got along with Sonny Boy,but these tracks show that didn't need to be.I truely injoy these recording.Free wheeling thats how I see it.



3. it is a same americans did not appreciate there original rock and roll stars and did'nt compensate them equally to there white acts so much was lost to early death from the lack of money I have been listen to the blues all my life but colleting only since i was 17 (i'm 35 now) but i lost a lot of music in flood and now i'm trying to replace some of the lost tapes the first blues album i purchased was sonnyboy's down and out and there was a song on that album that never shows up on any greatest hits the title is wakeup explain yourself anyway i guest i'll just have to purchase it again p.s. if you want the most awesome high from music listen to the drum on sad to be lonesome by sonnyboy
   thanks jesse d. dj priest