5 comments about All Your Love I Miss Loving: Live at The Wise Fools Pub Chicago [Live].

1. Has become one of my all time favorite live performances. The guitar work is amazing, his vocals are very strong. From reading the liner notes, this concert used new recording techniques to capture the quality and the energy of the performance. And In my opinion they achieved it well beyond expectations. The sonic qualities rival many of my studio recordings. A must for any true chicago blues fan.



2. get this disc, listen to this disc, and your thoughts will be "wow!" "man!" and you will be telling people, "you have got to listen to this". otis is a guitar playing wizard. this recording leaves you wanting more, much more. and in track 10, the word is not bah-gum, but it is ball game. get it and don't question that decision.



3. I grew up in the 60's and most of my exposure to the blues was the kind you got from John Mayall and Johnny Winter. Listen to Otis Rush and you hear the sound they were trying to copy but never did. In my opinion this is Otis's best live recording. This is his Cold Day in Hell backup band and they let Otis play while complementing his sound. I would pay anything to see a show like this live. Unlike the statement of another reviewer the sound is excellent. Peter Green and Eric Clapton have covered some of the songs Otis plays in this set and you can see why they admired his style. Otis is a lefty who doesn't restring his guitar that gets a unique sound out of basically playing upside down. He had a stroke a few years ago and regretfully will probably never play a guitar again. This CD is a worthwhile investment and I would say buy it before it goes out of print.



4. "You're Breaking My Heart".
   If you want a single cut to add to your collection of must-have, 5-star Chicago blues music this is one of them.
   
   This is 8 minutes of live Chicago blues at a near psychotic nuclear meltdown intensity of lead guitar licks. The passion in the vocals must be witnessed to be believed.
   
   Guitar players: You can hear so much Clapton in the lead solos it's not funny. Kinda like SR Vaughn vs. Albert King.
   
   Awesome track. Up there with James Cotton's 'Sweet Sixteen' with Luther Tucker on guitar.
   
   Wouldn't mind a vinyl release either...



5. For almost fifty years Otis Rush has been one of the most powerful singers and innovative guitarists we have ever had. But what is truly mystifying is that for most of this time--and this continues to this day--Otis has been an unsung hero of the blues. He is taken for granted.
   
   At the beginning of HIS career, John Mayall did everything he could to spread the word about the greatness of Otis Rush. He recorded one of Otis' masterpieces, All Your Loving (I Miss Loving), on his legendary Clapton/Bluesbreakers LP. And Mayall is now called the "Grandfather of British Blues." So that gives you an idea of the stature and longevity of Otis Rush. Clapton and Vaughn and Cray and Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne and hundreds of others have gone on to great fame and success and riches, singing the music of Otis Rush and others. Ironic that the young followers got most of the props and recognition. But they are all very good musicians and it is not my intention to denigrate them; more power to them for keeping the blues alive! As technically proficient and talented as these guys are, at best they are only interpreters; at worst, imitators or even plagiarists.
   
   Please, don't bother listening to them unless you have listened to the real thing first. This is the real thing: live electric blues wonderfully recorded at a small blues club, by one of the all-time greats, one of the innovators, one of the originals. Otis Rush is to Chicago blues as Robert Johnson and Son House were to country blues. Incredibly and fortunately, he is still with us, still vital, still performing.
   
   There are only a handful of truly great original Chicago blues performers still around, and Otis, with Buddy Guy, is at the top of the list. I would not hesitate to call Otis THE greatest combination blues singer/guitarist ever.
   
   How can someone this fabulous so be relatively unknown?

No comments about Bocce Boogie: Live 1978.

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!

2 comments about Live.

1. the king is old and tired. when i saw b.b.king live in concert a couple of years ago for the last time (i had seen him several times since the early nineties) in my hometown mantova (italy), i went home very disappointed, because i witnessed more at a conversation with the audience, instead of a blues concert. b.b. apologied for being more than eighty, but really the concert was a very sad one. well, this cd is more or less like that concert. the songs are the same, played mostly by the band. the king plays a little, sings a little more and talks most of all. unfortunately, i bought the dvd, too. if you want to understand what b.b.king has been, buy the records published before the year 2000. much better is, for example, the live at BBC cd.



2. This CD is B.B. Kings most recent live recorded performance. It was recorded at B.B's Memphis and Nashville clubs. At eighty-one years old Mr. King is a musical marvel. He doesn't miss a beat and seamlessly integrates his music, his band, and his amazing voice. And by virtue of this stalwart fusion, he literally holds the enthusiastic live crowd in the palm of his hand. The selections on this CD combine songs from both sides of B.B.'s menu of blues. The tunes range from soothing mellow blues to rocking blues. Just when you think B.B. can only relax you, a rumbling blue thunder that starts deep inside his chest culminates in a growling rocking blues eruption. There are also some nice horn solos by his band and B.B. shows he can still bend those strings the way electric blues strings were meant to be bent. I saw B.B. interviewed on CNN last night (2/18/08) and the reporter asked him; out of all his songs in his long career which song did he feel he was most identified with? B.B. said: "I'll tell you a secret, just between you and me, if you don't tell anyone. (Remember this is on national TV.) It's "THE THRILL IS GONE". But the secret is that I play it different every time I play it!"
   
   Included on this release along with "THE THRILL IS GONE" are other old favorites such as "WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN" with B.B. sharing with the audience some inside info about the creation of that song. He also records "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE" and "WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN" for the first time ever. I recommend this CD to people of all age groups and all types of music lovers. B.B.'s talent and performance on this CD bridges all generations and genres. I truly believe Mr. King has found the "BLUES-FOUNTAIN-OF-YOUTH" and when the last song on the CD "WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN" plays you're ready to jump in line and follow his parade wherever it may lead!

4 comments about Anything Can Happen.

1. In the tradition of great bluesmen such as Freddy King and Albert Collins, Morris "Magic Slim" Holt plays a music that ties together two worlds, with a physical style of playing that technically resembles acoustic soloists, but an electric sound that rocks as hard as anyone ever has. Don't let a chance go by to see Magic Slim.



2. I was just listening to Buddy Guy's new Cd but halfway through I had to switch over and put this one on again. Magic Slim seems to keep getting better. This is easily one of the most energized live CD's I've heard in recent memory. The band is clearly up to the task supporting the superb guitar and trademark powerhouse vocals of Magic Slim. You positively won't be able to sit still listening to this. I had to immediately order up the DVD of this performance. I've been to one of Magic Slim's shows at B.L.U.E.S. in Chicago and his perfroming is just totally captivating. With this recording he's never sounded so good and inspired vocally and playing the Jazzmaster. This, folks, is Chicago Blues at it's absolute best.



3. If Magic Slim & The Teardrops AREN'T the best pure Chicago Blues band around somebody's going to have to prove it to me. Though a live album will never match what Slim & his band can do on stage, this album proves to be a great way to get pumped for one of his shows or a way to cure your jonesing between shows. Played loud enough, you can nearly feel the presence of the man coming through the speakers along with his guitar. After listening to this album a couple hundred times, I highly recommend taking it to your local blues club and forcing the owner to book Slim to come to your town. Get some copies of Black Tornado, Grand Slam & Snakebite if the owner needs some extra convincing. I've seen Slim and various versions of the Teardrops going back to 1991 in Chicago and most recently in 2004 in Tennessee and have always been absolutely blown away by what this band can do on stage. If you've never seen Slim & The Teardrops live, you can start buy picking up a copy of this album to prepare you for the experience of seeing them either in your town, on the road, or maybe it's time to start considering a trip to Chicago.



4. I've been waiting 3 years for a new release from Magic Slim and the Teardrops and was delighted when I saw this one newly listed on Amazon.com. It is a live concert performance of Slim and the Teardrops earlier this year and Slim's still got it! I personally have always loved the way he plays his Fender Jazz Master Guitar! Slim and his band have been awesome for many years even with the line-up changes over the years!

5 comments about Live at Pachyderm Studios.

1. Forget all of this band's studio albums, this is the real deal. Like many blues bands Indigenous home is on the stage and their studio albums don't seem to capture just what they are capable of in a live setting. I've had the pleasure of seeing Indigenous live twice and they are well worth the price of admission if they ever come to your town. This album was recorded live in the studio in front of a small audience and does a very good job of capturing the band's live sound. Guitarist Mato Manji is the star here and comes off like a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix. Some of the studio songs on the band's debut album are lengthened out here into all out jams which really give Mato and the band a chance to spread their wings. This is especially true of "Blues From The Sky" and "I Wonder Why" both of which clock in around the 10 minute range. An absolutely incredible cover of Hendrix "Red House" is also included where Mato gives the original a good run for it's money. I have most of the band's studio output and although they are all good, they do not compare to this. If you love great blues guitar and especially if you were a fan of Stevie Ray Vaughn style blues, this album is an essential purchase. Mato is one of the best young blue guitarist to emerge in the last 10 years and this is the album that best demonstrates his remarkable ability.



2. I didn't know about Indigenous before I heard them on Amazon.
   I just board 3 albums with them ("Live at Pachyderm Studios" is one of them.),
   The music gets better for every time I hear it. The albums are all SUPERB.
   It can't take long before I'll buy the album "Circle".



3. I have tried several times to like this band. I have seen their live DVD and it is very similar to this CD. The vocals are weak and hardly understandable, every song sounds like the last one. There are absolutely NO dynamics in their music and anyone who thinks this guitarist is something special is either NOT a guitarist, or a beginner at best. They also have no stage presence, just looking like they're going thru the motions. There's too much great blues out there to be wasting your time with this.



4. I listen to the mp3 here, and believed the words of praise by other reviews and bought this CD.
   The production is bad. The music and vocal tracks are flatten together. Its sounds like a gray mush. The guy sounds like SRV and sings like him too. They just don't play with the same heart and soul.

   This CD mimics a great guitarist. .
   I was sadly disappointed.




5. This is a tour de force for INDIGENOUS and specifically MATO NANJI. Great playing, good songs, great recording. I bought THINGS WE DO a while back and was debating whether the 4 new tracks alone would make buying this CD worthwhile. Don't hesitate as even the make over the other songs receive in a live
   environment make them a new experience and RED HOUSE alone is worth the price. Not since HENDRIX and SRV has a guitarist sounded like this in a live gig. For my liking he sounds a little to close to his heros and needs to develope further into a style that will be recognisable as his. He has the talent and a lot of time on his side. This would be 5 stars were it not for the similar tone and style of SRV and HENDRIX.

4 comments about Moments from This Theater.

1. Great soul music reduced to its simplest form. Penn and Oldham make personal statements of some of their best known compositions, and there isn't a false note in the performances. Honest, heartfelt, and dramatic.



2. I was fortunate enough to see Dan Penn perform solo (opening act for the brilliant Hacienda Brothers) in a small club in Philadelphia last night, and he held the audience completely spellbound for his entire set. Penn has written several heartfelt and soulful songs over the years (many are hidden gems), and his guitar talent and vocal abilities are very touching and bring out the best in each song. Several of the songs on this CD with Spooner Oldham were played by Penn last night, and they were all terrific ... some touching and some funny ... and all played with his total heart and soul with such natural ease. My favorites from this CD with Spooner Oldham that Penn played solo last night were the tender and romantic "I'm Your Puppet", the upbeat "I Met Her In Church", the heartaching song "It Tears Me Up", the sensitive and touching tribute to seniors "Ol' Folks", and the downright funny "Memphis Women & Chicken" which contains clever and comical lyrics. I was deeply impressed by Dan Penn, and consider him to be a brilliant songwriter and underrated and naturally gifted performer. Needless to say, I am buying this CD now!



3. Soul music knows no greater friends than Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham. The wrenching vocal on 'It Tears Me Up' does exactly that, while the spare arrangements lend a poignancy to these songs that is missing from the more famous versions. This is music to break up/make up/make love by. I toyed with the idea of buying this CD for a long time before buying it. Shame on me! I won't be dithering about buying anything else these two have done, I got the plastic out and ready!



4. Some of the greatest songs ever written. I mean, "Memphis women and chicken" - doesn't that say it all? And, "Dark End of the Street" - if that song cut any deeper, you'd have to have a transfusion to listen to it...
   
   Beautiful, spare versions by the songwriters - it doesn't get any more heartfelt and direct.
   
   And, if "Old Folks" doesn't make you a little misty, you should check your ticker - it might be missing.

5 comments about Live! Down the Road.

1. This is one fun CD! Great music, great fun. You'll be smiling, singing along and tapping your feet.



2. Marcia Ball is nothing short of fantastic...this CD simply puts a smile on your face!



3. An excellent Marcia Ball CD - full of her personality, playing and gave me some new favorites.



4. We have heard Marcia Ball in person twice and were blown away by her performances both times. This live CD helps us relive those great evenings. She is such a talent, unlike some performers we have loved in person and not liked as well on CD. This CD proves that listening to her is about as good as the live show. Her diversity, from La-ti-da, to Louisiana 1927, makes for a great combination of songs. We discovered, also, on a long trip home from the airport in the middle of the night, that this CD is great for keeping a very sleepy driver awake! We highly recommend it.



5. It is hard to say this is the best she has done because Marcia rocks the house down on everything she does. "Down the Road" is full of down home music with hits such as: Down the Road - Louisiana 1927 - Crawfishin.
   Its safe to say, buy it, listen to it and relish it. This will truly liven up a party when you plug this one in!

3 comments about Show Time.

1. To be honest, I only like one song on this CD. The rest is pretty bad, in my opinion, with a chorus of black singers and Ry mostly in the background. HOWEVER, the track "Jesus on the Mainline" contains an UNBELIEVABLE and epic slide solo by Ry. This solo (greatest slide playing ever recorded?) makes this an essential disc. Definitely the best guitar playing by Ry this side of A Meeting by the River. Its soo good that this is a must have, even though [I personally think] the rest of the CD pretty much sucks. BUY IT ANYWAYS!!!!



2. "There is so little live Ry available, it's great to find a live CD from a great era of Ry's work. This CD comes from the era of transition from Chicken Skin Music to Bop Till You Drop, with most from the former (along with similar stylings).



3. Ry Cooder put this incredible band together in the late '70's, combining the soul stylings of vocalists Bobby King and Terry Evans with conjunto king accordianist Flaco Jimenez, and Ry's own amazing slide guitar work. This is a band in the truest sense, traversing American music and bringing fresh, creative interpretations of songs like Woody Guthrie's "Do-Re-Mi", r&b classic "Smack Dab In The Middle", and the Mexican torch standard, "Volver, Volver". This album introduced me to Flaco, and led to a series of trips to furniture stores in Denver's Mexican neighborhoods--the only places you could find his albums,at that time. Leave it to a master musician and musicologist like Ry Cooder to find these talented people, and create something so unique. This is a live album in every way.

5 comments about Live.

1. Amazon had both CD's I was looking for. I was looking for them new or used and found both of them in excellent condition used!
   
   They play perfectly-no skips or scratches.



2. One of the reviewers described Delbert's music as country/r&b/blues or something to that effect. True, but when I describe him to someone who is not familiar with him I call it "roadhouse blues" and that seems to connect. I first saw Delbert in a bar in Fort Worth, TX in about 1980. One of the other reviewers complains that he is re-covering a lot of the same material. That is true-having said that, this is the best band I have ever heard him play with and the best recording and the best live performance. The entire band is great and Rob McNelly, the guitarist, is a stellar player. I asked Rob how he got the great sound on this album and he told me that he played a custom made Strat through a Vox AC-30 that was provided to him since they couldn't take all their equipment on the European tour. During the sound check he walked around the amp until he found the spot that coupled to the amp and made sure he stood there for the solos. Rob's solo CD's are worth checking out as well. This CD is fun, has tons of soul and is one I keep coming back to. Delbert's getting old (me, too) and I am glad he got this one in the can.



3. 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!!!!!!!!!!



4. If you only want to buy two Delbert CDs; then this has to be one and Room To Breathe should be the other one. If you are disappointed in either of these offerings then you have no soul!



5. For some, the claim to fame of venerable Texas rocker Delbert McClinton is that he gave harmonica tips to a young John Lennon - who put the advice to good use on early Beatles' hits such as Love Me Do and I Should Have Known Better. To others, that is a mere footnote in a recording career that stretches back to 1960 and, on the strength of his vigorous performance here, shows no sign of fatigue. McClinton, who just turned 63, is one of those Texas musicians whose brew of country, blues, rock and soul defies categorisation (Doug Sahm and Roy Head are others, consider too Barbara Lynn, and the Vaughan brothers deserve mention). This double album documents a single 2003 performance at Norway's Bergen Blues Festival. Originally intended only as a radio broadcast, it is a high-energy career review. McClinton and his six-piece band (rhythm section and two horns) mix newer songs with long-in-repertoire nuggets such as B-Movie Boxcar Blues, Giving It Up for Your Love and Otis Redding's I've Got Dreams to Remember (19 songs in all). This set drips honky tonk sweat. (This review appeared in The Age newspaper, Melbounre, Australia.)