Little Milton - Think Of Me (w/ Jon Tiven)

I had forgotten about this one...a repost!

I'm noticing a disturbing trend in these collaborations with Tiven and Company  - each of them ends up being the final album in the artists' career -- Arthur Alexander, Wilson Pickett, Howard Tate and now Little Milton! 

"For his debut Telarc Blues release, Little Milton continues in the soul-blues vein he helped to popularize starting with his work for the Chess label in the mid-'60s. His impassioned vocals are as strong as ever with guitar chops to match. The 12 tracks that make up Think of Me could be likened to a classic Stax production sans the driving horn section. The first-rate work of organist Bruce Katz keeps the proceedings percolating through Little Milton's soul-blues base liberally mixed with flourishes of country music, swamp pop, R&B, and urban funk. Any fan of Little Milton's Malaco releases of the '80s and '90s will definitely want to add this to his collection." AMG

Little Milton - 3 Malaco albums

 Little Milton did 14 albums in his 20 years with Malaco. I only had 1, but Dr Hepcat came up with 2 more so for what will likely be the last of my LM posts, I thought I'd offer up these 3.

Little Milton - 3 Stax LP's

 These 3 LP's contain some material not included in the Singles collection. The Live album seems to be all unique and some of the album versions of songs in the singles are different versions.

Little Milton - Sings Big Soul (Malaco Comp 2014)

The title of Ace's 2014 compilation emphasizes Little Milton's singing, which is appropriate as that was the featured instrument on his albums for Malaco. Little Milton was with the Southern soul label for nearly 20 years, debuting in 1984 with Playing for Keeps and leaving after 2002's Guitar Man. Little Milton Sings Big Soul culls 18 highlights from these records, slightly emphasizing his ballad side but finding space for some deep soul and funky grooves. This doesn't proceed in chronological order -- it opens in 1984, then hopscotches through the decades -- but that winds up emphasizing how Milton's records were consistent, always working from the same formula and containing the same punchy, slightly too clean production. Record by record, this could get a little wearying, but a cherry-picked compilation such as this is a testament to a giant in winter: it shows he had a mastery of the form, that he never lost his powerful skills and could always be counted on to entertain. As a portrait of the last third of his career, this compilation could hardly be better. (AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Little Milton - Friend of Mine

"Recorded in the wake of the collapse of Stax Records in 1976, Friend of Mine brushed up against a long fallow period in Little Milton's recorded output, and was also unavailable for many years, thus making it one of his least-known albums. Produced by Milton for Henry Stone's TK Records and issued on the Glades Records imprint, this is a soulful blues workout drenched in sweaty vocals and long, sustained performances, of which perhaps the best is the five-and-a-half-minute "You're Gonna Make Me Cry," which also includes some impressive guitar. The record's strongest body of songs are the smooth soul ballads such as "Baby It Ain't No Way," the rousing "Don't Turn Away" (a song that one wishes Elvis Presley could have discovered and considered covering), "I'm in Love With My Best Friend's Wife," and "Bring It on Back," but it also includes one really hot lament, "Sundown," that crosses into soul territory without compromising its solid blues credentials. There's a lot of solid playing here, by bassist Bernard Reed and guitarists Danny Raye and John Bishop (and Milton), among others, and the Haywood Singers give excellent singing support. This album and its immediate follow-up, Me for You, You for Me, represent the bridge between Little Milton's Stax and Malaco recordings, both chronologically and stylistically."

Little Milton - 3 Checker LP's

Each of these Checker LP's includes tracks that did not make it into the previous Chess compilation, so rather than dissect them, I'll post them whole with thanks to whomever I got them from originally.

Little Milton - Live at Westville Prison

"You're gonna wish you had been there after listening to this scorching live set from the '80s. It features the blues singing of Little Milton superbly accompanied by Lucky Peterson, who distinguishes himself on the organ, and the Tony Brown Band. This CD is a combination of two concerts recorded separately in a single day -- one for men, one for women, in 1983. Milton does none of his big hits, which doesn't seem to bother the captive crowd, most of whom probably didn't know them anyway. Highlights include an emotional reworking of O. V. Wright's "Eight Men, Four Women," a 16-minute medley of soul and blues songs, and the deep soul classic "That's How Strong My Love Is." Milton really gets into it for the women. He coughs up two smoldering original compositions "Friend of Mine," and "Loving You Is the Best Thing That Happened to Me." The most surprising thing about Live at Westville Prison is why it took so long to surface on CD." AllMusicGuide

Little Milton - Chicago Blues & Soul...(1953 - 1962)

This disc has a large overlap with the previously posted Anthology disc, but about 20% of that disc is not here and about 40% of this disc is not there. Someday I may resolve the 2, but that day is not today. There  are a couple Sun alternates not included on the 2 discs and some of the Bobbin stuff is missing as well (not much). A couple alternates appear in the Charley Sun Blues Box and I'll go through the Bear Family version of the Sun Blues Box later today because Cliff thinks that it may have other alternates. He also believe he has the rest of the Bobbin tracks on a comp, but he can't recall the name of that comp. Isn't old age marvelous?

Little Milton - The Essential Chess Recordings

I'm thinkin' that Little Milton has been sadly under served here and it is time we remedied that situation!

Various Artists - The Birth Of Modern Blues

This surprisingly cohesive set collects the complete 1950s recordings of Fenton Robinson, LittleMilton, Little Junior Parker, Earl Forest, Johnny Ace, and Bobby "Blue" Bland for the various Bihari Brothers labels (Meteor, Flair, and Modern) and adds four cuts from B.B. King's 1950 session for RPM Records. The result is a nice anthology of mostly uptown blues tracks highlighted by Robinson's impressive and soulful "Tennessee Woman," Forest's deliciously loose "Rumpus Romp," Bland's early signature tune "Drifting from Town to Town," and King's "B.B.'s Boogie," which finds the guitarist honking along joyously on a semi-improvised vamp. A young Matt Murphy is featured on guitar on Junior Parker's two sides.
(AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett)

Some years ago I was looking for a copy of Little Milton's 'Love At First Sight' and couldn't find it anywhere. I eventually found and purchased an obscure Japanese CD that did have this rarity. And here it is with some other rare recordings. Some, like the B B King sides, are easy to locate but this disc is a pretty expensive buy ...if you can find a copy. 
It sounds like they lifted these sides direct from the vinyl originals but it's very listenable if you are into historic recordings. Anyway...it is what it is...and now available at 'Chitlins' for those that cherish this stuff. Musician details are in the scans - Gus

Little Milton - Anthology 1953-61 & The Complete Stax Singles (1971-75)

It's Little Milton Time ! Well we all have (or should ) the hits on Chess/Checker, they're all over the net . But his earlier material on Sun and Bobbin are less seen or known. Also his time with Stax is  less familiar...These 2 albums will put this right ...LM lasted the changes in music history, Blues, Soul, Funk...as these recordings will prove...A soulful distinctive voice, guitar chops and original songwriting with bags of passion.  'That Will Never Do' (covered by Freddie King and many others) 'That's What Love Will Make You Do' confirms him as a legend...His similarity to the B B King style may have put him in the background to many but he is a lasting hero of the music we call the Blues...Check these albums out as proof - Gus 

Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries (Stax)

Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician. By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries. In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955.

After trying several labels without notable success, including Trumpet Records, Milton set up the St. Louis based Bobbin Records label, which ultimately scored a distribution deal with Leonard Chess' Chess Records. As a record producer, Milton helped bring artists such as Albert King and Fontella Bass to fame, while experiencing his own success for the first time. After a number of small format and regional hits, his 1962 single, "So Mean to Me," broke onto the Billboard R&B chart, eventually peaking at #14.

Following a short break to tour, managing other acts, and spending time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received "Blind Man" (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, "We're Gonna Make It," a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B chart and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit "Who's Cheating Who?" All three songs were featured on his album, We're Gonna Make It, released that summer.

Throughout the late 1960s Milton released a number of moderately successful singles, but did not issue a further album until 1969, with Grits Ain't Groceries featuring his hit of the same name, as well as "Just a Little Bit" and "Baby, I Love You". With the death of Leonard Chess the same year, Milton's distributor, Checker Records fell into disarray, and Milton joined the Stax label two years later. Adding complex orchestration to his works, Milton scored hits with "That's What Love Will Make You Do" and "What It Is" from his live album, What It Is: Live at Montreux. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973. Stax, however, had been losing money since late in the previous decade and was forced into bankruptcy in 1975.

After leaving Stax, Milton struggled to maintain a career, moving first to Evidence, then the MCA imprint Mobile Fidelity Records, before finding a home at the independent record label, Malaco Records, where he remained for much of the remainder of his career. His last hit single, "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number," was released in 1983 from the album of the same name. In 1988, Little Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award. His most final album, Think of Me, was released in May 2005 on the Telarc imprint, and included writing and guitar on three songs by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock trio Winterville.

The name 'Little Milton' was reused for Gerald Bostock, the fictional boy poet central to Jethro Tull's 1972 record Thick as a Brick. Milton died on August 4, 2005 from complications following a stroke.








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Hey gang!  I must admit that I had some reservations about posting this.  Why?  Well it's more about timing than anything.  You see, this is our introductory Little Milton post, and I wasn't sure if this album was the right choice.  I realise that most of you are ultra familiar with Milton and probably have this side in your stacks already.  But we must approach this with the interests of the newbies in mind as well.

So I decided to give it a real hard listen, and pit it against some of his classic albums.  Admittedly I only have a couple on the Chess imprint, but this live album takes the cake.  If there is a better, more definitive sampling of Little Milton on wax... please tell me what it is.  This album cooks on all levels!!

As with all of my rips, I have included the back cover which reveals the details around this historic gig.  I will leave that portion out of the post, but musically speaking?  OOOOOOOoooooooooweeee!!!  As I already mentioned, I can't profess to be an expert when it comes to the entirety of his career, but I just can't see how this LP wasn't recorded during its peak.  Aside from his big hit Grits Ain't Groceries, the band expand on each song with wonderful musicianship.  Incredibly deep and stirring breakdowns eventually rise up and explode into wild and tormented passion - in a way which only this brand of  music can deliver.  I found myself in great envy of the audience at a couple of points.  It must have been a real treat to have been in the presence of this group on that fateful night.

The other great news is that my LP is an ultra minty dream come true.  Dynamically it certainly profiles the better aspects of vinyl - we have, in part, to thank the engineers for an excellent recording both at the source and at the mixing table.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC, this is sure to please... enjoy!!!

After his career-defining tenure at Chess Records in the 1960s, Little Milton moved to Stax Records in the '70s. Interestingly, one of the first recordings Milton made for Stax was part of the 1972 Watts Summer Festival in Los Angeles. While top names on the Stax roster (Isaac Hayes, etc.) played at the L.A. Coliseum, the label set several of their stars up at the nearby Summit Club. GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES is taken from Milton's performance at the Summit, and finds the artist's searing guitar and impassioned, bluesy singing in top form.
Milton is backed here by horns and a hard-driving rhythm section that add brassy punctuation in classic Stax style. Milton's signature sound, established at Chess, was a fusion of blues and soul that owed a debt to B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland, though Milton plays with more edge than either of those artists. That edge is on perfect display on this date. Milton's gutsy vocal performances are highlighted on the burning title track and on "Blind Man," while his guitar is as raw and in-your-face as on his early Sun singles. The energy--from both the band and the audience--is palpable on this live date.

- taken from CDUniverse