Uh, er, ah, – How far can this reissue thing go? I guess as long as someone pays for them… Bob http://www.myplaydirect.com/robert-johnson/details/5747793?cid=nl:112975626 – Bob Presthus ******************************************************* Talk about yer conspicuous consumption! On the other hand, RJ’s an artist certainly worth fetishizing. This will sit nicely on the shelves of those who sprang for the mega-deluxe …
Two versions of the same song, recorded in the same city- Chicago- many years apart. Muddy’s 1947 recording, with Ernest “Big” Crawford on stand-up bass, established him as a blues star and altered forever Leonard Chess’ ideas about music. The Stones’ 1964 version, recorded at Chess Studio, went nowhere commercially, but reworked and re-imagined the …
Visual artist and avant-garde musician, Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, has died in a Northern California hospital at the age of 69 from complications arising from multiple sclerosis. The Village Voice gives their brief take here. Entertainment Weekly describes Beefheart’s five best albums here. Rolling Stone’s 1970 cover story on Beefheart can be quite …
. This is a nice clip. Aaron Tibeaux Walker. What can I say? Once almost as big as his contemporary, Louis Jordan, and now just as forgotten. A long, long string of r&b chart hits from the mid 40’s through the 50’s. A suave, seemingly effortless vocalist and guitarist, who penned most of his own …
If you love the Chicago Blues, you’ll count yourself lucky that Hubert Sumlin is still alive and playing guitar. His stunningly original and powerful technique, structured unlike any other in recorded blues, has many admirers but no successful imitators. As the lead guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf, he helped create a body of work that formed …
Not a bad clip at all. I wish that I had something enlightening to say but I don’t. I’ve got nothing against blues/rock encounters except that in my experience, rock always wins out. Not surprising when you consider the economics. The intermingling of the blues with rock is such a complex theme, with so many …
Although this clip looks as if it had been filmed at a Chicago Blues club, it actually took place at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. The folklorist Alan Lomax had set up a faux juke joint where he could film blues players in a “realistic” club setting. Performers included Skip James, Bukka White, and …
I have a soft spot in my heart for John Lee Hooker, though I never saw him play. I liked him best when he was young(er). Early Hooker is scarce, and even though we’ve mined the AFB vein enough– he was great here in ’65 performing Hobo Blues. Despite an ocean of booze, he lived …
Here’s a gem of an understated “Mojo” from 1963. Any videos of Sonny Boy Williamson II are scarce indeed, since he died in the summer of 1965. That’s the American Folk Blues Tour again, with Otis Spann, Matt Murphy, Willie Dixon, and Bill Stepney (very rare to see him) on the drums. Locale? Britain or …
Hound Dog has a bit of a history. First recorded by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in 1952, it became a huge hit for Elvis Presley three years later. Presley has often been criticized for stealing Thornton’s thunder, but his version was based on another cover of the original, by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, …
This promotional video for their last album was the end of the road for Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. Shortly afterward the Captain turned his back on music to become the painter Don Van Vliet. That is his artwork featured on the video. It’s impossible to define or categorize the music of Captain Beefheart, …
This just in from Elaine Bonow: “I think it is so weird that she is a cousin of Etta James and after all this time I never really heard of her. I loved this video because she is so cute and hip with that shirtwaist dress on and all.” This from Chicago Blues historian, John …
It was the Spring of 1967. I was having lunch with Buddy Guy and his band at Stanford. Buddy was on his first West Coast tour, picking up gigs on an ad hoc basis. At that time, Buddy was almost unknown outside the blues scene, but he was determined to change that. He had left …
This just in from the great John Siscoe: “The two guys dancing offstage, and Muddy’s ballroom duet with James Cotton during the encore are highlights, but the whole thing is a wonder and a joy.” ********************************************************************** East Portland Blog confesses to the following: “I had heard Muddy’s version of “Got My Mojo Working” and countless …
Muddy wasn’t a big man, but he had a natural stage presence and an unforgettable voice. he also had the knack of conveying the impression that however much he was giving you he always had something in reserve. This 1971 clip of Mannish Boy shows a Muddy no longer young and still recovering for a …
This Rollin’ Stone clip is extraordinary for several reasons. It gives us a Muddy Waters on film that’s as young as he’ll ever be, dressed to the nines, performing one of his signature tunes before a completely new audience, mostly young and largely white. It’s a warm summer afternoon fifty years ago. As yet there …
Here’s is John Siscoe‘s take on Koko Taylor and “Wang Dang Doodle“: “Despite the antiseptic setting and lackluster backing, this is a valuable clip. Any blues performance from the ’60s is a relative rarity, and this gives us a look at Koko Taylor when she was young and in her prime, plus a fleeting glimpse …
From “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” filmed at Newport Jazz Festival, 1958. Lovely clip. It’s the hat and the crowd that make it special. Here’s her version of “My Funny Valentine” from around the same time. According to John Siscoe, “Ah, the forever lovely Anita O’Day. The hat, the dress, the heels, and holy mackerel, …
This little Youtube clip is a national treasure. Click on the photo above or view here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1__zadGXR3A