I went on quite a blues kick in 2018 - searched out quite a lot of blues from around the world on my travels. This represents a good mix of the the second hand ones I picked up on my travels in 2018.
Luther Allison - Luther's Blues and Bad News is Coming. While I had heard of Luther Allison I had
never heard him. I stumbled across a lovely copy of Bad News is Coming in Christchurch. The photo on the cover of Luther smoking a huge bong made buying it irresistible. I was certainly pleased I did as it has some really nice aggressive and funky electric blues and it is now amongst my favourite blues albums. Love the big reefer he is smoking on the cover as well. Really like Evil is Going On and Ragged and Dirty. So much so that I identified two other Allison records to hunt down and was lucky to find Luther's Blues recently in near mint condition plus a live CD/DVD from the 70s.
Junior Wells - On Tap - I had not heard of this album by Junior Wells but when I spotted in a store in West Hollywood in almost perfect condition I thought it would be worth checking out. An original pressing on the Chicago Delmark Label. Junior Wells did not put out many bad albums. I was pleased I did as it is certainly up there with his best. I particularly enjoy his take on Keys to the Highway and Mystery Train which he calls Train I Ride
A few years ago I read an article on the Rolling Stone Website about the Ten albums Rolling Stone liked in the 70's that we had never heard of. After reading it - it became a bit of a mission to track them down and at least listen to them. Johnny Shines' - Too Wet to Plow was one of those. Shines actually played with Robert Johnson and there are a few interviews with him on line about that. I had first heard Johnny on one of the excellent Chicago!The Blues!Today albums where he was decidedly electric in his approach. This is more in the acoustic country blues mold but really loses nothing for that.
Bobby Rush - Rush Hour - Another of Rolling Stones recommended forgotten 70's Blues Albums and the second of my three finds from the list this year. This is a bit funkier than the others (in fact it is really only his tasty blues guitar licks that really make it a blues album in any way. It also has generous doses of Bobby's famous sense of show and humour - maybe best shown in I Can't Find My Keys and No Axe Ta Grind.
Memphis Slim - Blue Memphis - The final and favourite of Rolling Stones' recommended 70's Blues Albums. I found a copy in a shop in West Hollywood but they wanted $75 for it. When I said it was too much the owner got all shitty with me and I left the shop with out it. A week later I found a copy in Seattle for $22.50.
Apparently this was Memphis Slim's favourite of his 40+ albums and part of the reason was he felt the band was the best he had recorded with. Not surprising really with John Paul Jones on Bass and Peter Green on guitar.
Otis Spann - The Biggest Thing Since Colossus. I am an habitual browser of second hand blues bins at record stores. I have a few that I am on the lookout for but I also just pick up interesting ones like this one. It is a collaboration between the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac and Chicago blues pianist Spann. Like me Spann was a fan of Peter Green's lyrical guitar playing and that is what prompted the record. At the time Fleetwood Mac recorded with a few other artists (like Memphis Slim above) but Spann's fans apparently did not really take to this noisy version of their master.
I love it - sloppy and noisy.
Harvey Mandel, Barry Goldberg and Charlie Musselwhite - Blues From Chicago - What a great trio. Harvey Mandel played with Canned Heat, tried out to replace Mick Taylor in The Stones (he is on a couple of tracks on Black and Blue) and produced a number weird and wonderful solo records. Goldberg played with so many but had regular gigs and albums with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield (Check out KGB and Two Jews Blues) and is my favourite blues organist. Musselwhite is of course Musselwhite. This had been on my list for a year or so and almost skipped over it when I came across it in an antique and curio store in Hebden Bridge.
Guitar Star : Various Artists I nearly missed this in the bins in a record store in Vancouver on a cold wet Sunday. The store was right beside what was called The Amsterdam Cafe so it had a nice aroma. Since falling in love with Boz Scaggs' Somebody Loan Me A Dime I have been on the lookout for the original - not that Boz credited it to Fenton Robinson (just like Page and Plant I suppose). Originally recorded in 1967 it was only ever released on a single (or so I thought) and Robinson himself had to re-record it in 1974. So when I saw that this album claimed to have the 67 recording and was only $10 it was an easy decision (although by that stage in the trip I was getting worried about baggage weight). So despite the cheesy album title and cover I had to have it. What does the rest of the album sound like - I still do not know as I have only played that track - I will get around to it.
Chicago Smoke Shop - Chicago Smoke Shop One of the pleasures of being back in Wellington has been able to catch some of the excellent local blues. Darren Watson is kind of the Godfather of the local blues scene and always puts on a good show. This year he reconvened his first band Chicago Smokeshop after a 25 year absence. It was nice to catch them at both of their reunion gigs, first in Nelson and then again in the Botanics later in January. So I was very pleased when I managed to find this. For Wellington Blues fans you may remember Mind on My Sleeve or Sugar Coated Love.
Rounding off the Blues/Funk/Soul addition is Taj Mahal's - Like Never Before - This was a favourite album when we lived in Taupo. That was when Taj Mahal was spending a lot of time in NZ and Fiji (recording Just Juice ads) among other things. We even met his daughter one night at the Suva Yacht club when we lived in Suva. It has some interesting reworkings of earlier songs he recorded and a great mix of funk, soul and blues.
Luther Allison - Luther's Blues and Bad News is Coming. While I had heard of Luther Allison I hadnever heard him. I stumbled across a lovely copy of Bad News is Coming in Christchurch. The photo on the cover of Luther smoking a huge bong made buying it irresistible. I was certainly pleased I did as it has some really nice aggressive and funky electric blues and it is now amongst my favourite blues albums. Love the big reefer he is smoking on the cover as well. Really like Evil is Going On and Ragged and Dirty. So much so that I identified two other Allison records to hunt down and was lucky to find Luther's Blues recently in near mint condition plus a live CD/DVD from the 70s.
Junior Wells - On Tap - I had not heard of this album by Junior Wells but when I spotted in a store in West Hollywood in almost perfect condition I thought it would be worth checking out. An original pressing on the Chicago Delmark Label. Junior Wells did not put out many bad albums. I was pleased I did as it is certainly up there with his best. I particularly enjoy his take on Keys to the Highway and Mystery Train which he calls Train I Ride
Bobby Rush - Rush Hour - Another of Rolling Stones recommended forgotten 70's Blues Albums and the second of my three finds from the list this year. This is a bit funkier than the others (in fact it is really only his tasty blues guitar licks that really make it a blues album in any way. It also has generous doses of Bobby's famous sense of show and humour - maybe best shown in I Can't Find My Keys and No Axe Ta Grind.
Memphis Slim - Blue Memphis - The final and favourite of Rolling Stones' recommended 70's Blues Albums. I found a copy in a shop in West Hollywood but they wanted $75 for it. When I said it was too much the owner got all shitty with me and I left the shop with out it. A week later I found a copy in Seattle for $22.50.Apparently this was Memphis Slim's favourite of his 40+ albums and part of the reason was he felt the band was the best he had recorded with. Not surprising really with John Paul Jones on Bass and Peter Green on guitar.
I love it - sloppy and noisy.
Rounding off the Blues/Funk/Soul addition is Taj Mahal's - Like Never Before - This was a favourite album when we lived in Taupo. That was when Taj Mahal was spending a lot of time in NZ and Fiji (recording Just Juice ads) among other things. We even met his daughter one night at the Suva Yacht club when we lived in Suva. It has some interesting reworkings of earlier songs he recorded and a great mix of funk, soul and blues.
No comments:
Post a Comment