George Jackson - The Fame Recordings Vol. 1-3

A repost by request:

George Henry Jackson (March 12, 1945 – April 14, 2013) was an American rhythm & blues, rock and soul songwriter and singer. His prominence was as a prolific and skilled songwriter; he wrote or co-wrote many hit songs for other musicians, including "One Bad Apple", "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "The Only Way Is Up". As a southern soul singer he recorded a mere 15 singles between 1963 and 1985, with some success.

Jackson was born in Indianola, Mississippi, and moved with his family to Greenville at the age of five.  He started writing songs while in his teens, and in 1963 introduced himself to Ike Turner. Turner took him to Cosimo Matassa's studios in New Orleans to record "Nobody Wants to Cha Cha With Me" for his Prann label, but it was not successful. Jackson then traveled to Memphis to promote his songs, but was rejected by Stax before helping to form vocal group The Ovations with Louis Williams at Goldwax Records. Jackson wrote and sang on their 1965 hit "It's Wonderful To Be In Love", which reached no.61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no.22 on the R&B chart. He also wrote for other artists at Goldwax, including Spencer Wiggins and James Carr, and recorded with Dan Greer as the duo George and Greer. After the Ovations split up in 1968, he recorded briefly for Hi Records, and also for Decca using the pseudonym Bart Jackson. As a singer, he had a versatile tenor that was influenced by Sam Cooke, and released many records over the years, for a host of different labels, but his recordings never made him a star.

At the suggestion of record producer Billy Sherrill, Jackson moved to Rick Hall's FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals in the late 1960s, Alabama, where he wrote for leading singers including Clarence Carter - whose "Too Weak To Fight" reached no.13 on the pop chart and no.3 on the R&B chart in 1968 - Wilson Pickett, and Candi Staton. Some of Jackson's songs for Staton, including her first hit in 1969, "I'd Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than A Young Man’s Fool)", are "widely regarded as examples of some of the finest southern soul ever recorded by a female artist, with lyrics that were full of meaning and innuendo, a hallmark of Jackson’s best work." Jackson also recorded for Fame Records, and had his first chart success as a singer in 1970 with "That's How Much You Mean To Me", which reached no. 48 on the R&B chart. The Osmonds visited the FAME studio in 1970, and heard and liked Jackson's song "One Bad Apple", which he had originally written with The Jackson 5 in mind. The Osmonds recorded the song, and it became the group's first hit, rising to the top of the Hot 100 in February 1971; it also reached no.6 on the R&B chart.

In 1972 he briefly rejoined the Hi label, and had his second and last solo recording success with "Aretha, Sing One For Me", an answer song to Aretha Franklin's "Don't Play That Song"; Jackson's song reached no.38 on the R&B chart. He then released several singles for MGM Records, while continuing to write for other artists. In the early 1970s he began working as a songwriter for the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and, with Thomas Jones III, wrote "Old Time Rock and Roll" which Bob Seger recorded in 1978; Seger's version reached no.28 on the pop chart. While with Muscle Shoals Sound, he also wrote "Down Home Blues", recorded by Z. Z. Hill, which became a theme tune for Malaco Records in the 1980s; "Unlock Your Mind", recorded by the Staple Singers and a no.16 R&B hit in 1978; and "The Only Way Is Up", originally recorded by Otis Clay in 1980. A version of "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz & The Plastic Population reached no.1 on the UK singles chart, and no.2 on the Billboard dance chart, in 1988.

In 1983, Jackson formed his own publishing company, Happy Hooker Music, before joining Malaco Records as a staff songwriter. There he wrote hits for Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Latimore, Denise LaSalle, and Z.Z. Hill. He recorded an album of his own songs, Heart To Heart Collect, in 1991 for Hep' Me Records. In 2011, a compilation CD of his FAME recordings, Don't Count Me Out, was released.

Jackson died on April 14, 2013, at his home in Ridgeland, Mississippi, from cancer at the age of 68. He left a son and two grandchildren.

Otis Clay & Johnny Rawls - Soul Brothers

"Given their styles and similar backgrounds, one might assume that Clay and Rawls might have been friends from ages past. As it goes, nothing could be further from the truth. While they travelled in the same circles for some 40 years or so, it was only about 10 years ago that they really got to know each other. Hot on the heels of Johnny Rawls’ recent tribute to O.V. Wright, “Remembering O.V.” on which Clay contributed in honoring the soul icon and Johnny Rawls mentor and friend. That album met with rave reviews and helped to form a bond between the two giants of soul and blues who had so very much in common. Soul Brothers, their latest collaboration features primarily original tunes contributed by the band as a whole with some classic covers, familiar to most of us, thrown in for good measure. The result is a delightful album which blends blues, classic soul, and gospel for what should certainly be yet another award winning album for the duo that shows us that old school soul still has great appeal and that you can teach a couple old dogs new tricks. Soul Brothers is one or those albums with a timeless sound and feel that will appeal to music fans across the board, whether their preference is blues, soul, gospel or just good music whenever and wherever they find it. Soul Brothers certainly fills the bill. This is a beautiful collaboration that this old man hopes will result in further collaborations between the two giants of soul. Between the obvious vocal talents of the two men who could easily have been brothers separated at birth there is a band that is tight, well schooled in the genre and love what they do so well…the Rays. The band consists of Richey Puga on drums, Bob Trenchard on bass, Johnny McGhee on guitar, Dan Ferguson on keyboards, Andy Roman on sax, Mike Middleton on trumpet, Robert Claiborne on trombone, nick Flood on sax and the Iveys- Arlen, Jessica and Jillian on background vocals. Also adding his talents to the effort was percussionist, Jon Olazabal. What might well be considered the ultimate band fronted by two of the best vocalists in the business make for an album that you will most assuredly want to add to your collection. This is as good as it gets." September 2014 – by Bill Wilson

Chick Willis - From The Heart And Soul

"Cousin to the late blues ballad singer Chuck Willis, Robert "Chick" Willis is primarily beloved for his ribald, dozens-based rocker "Stoop Down Baby." The guitarist cut his original version in 1972 for tiny La Val Records of Kalamazoo, MI, selling a ton of 45s for the jukebox market only (the tune's lyrics were way too raunchy for airplay).

Willis left the military in 1954, hiring on as valet and chauffeur to cousin Chuck, then riding high with his many R&B hits for OKeh Records. At that point, Chick's primary role on the show was as a singer (he made his own vinyl debut in 1956 with a single, "You're Mine," for Lee Rupe's Ebb Records after winning a talent contest at Atlanta's Magnolia Ballroom), but he picked up the guitar while on the road with his cousin (Chick cites Guitar Slim as his main man in that department).

When Chuck died of stomach problems in 1958, Willis soldiered on, pausing in Chicago to work as a sideman with slide guitar great Elmore James. A few obscure 45s ("Twistin' in the Hospital Ward," cut for Alto in 1962, sounds promising) preceded the advent of "Stoop Down Baby," which Willis has freshened up for countless sequels ever since (he developed the song by teasing passersby with his ribald rhymes while working in a carnival variety show).

Risqué material remained a staple of Willis's output in recent years. He cut several albums for Ichiban, notably 1988's Now!, Footprints in My Bed in 1990, and Back to the Blues in 1991." Bill Dahl

William D. Smith - A Good Feelin'

This is an mp3 dl of my 24/48 lp rip.

"An overlooked chapter in the mainstream rise of New Orleans soul in the 70s – and a great little set arranged and produced by Allen Toussaint during his years on Warner Brothers! The album's got a similar feel to Toussaint's own albums for Warner, although perhaps a bit mellower and more personal overall – with a style that shifts between some sweet mid-tempo funky numbers and even better ballads and love songs – all sung by Smith with a sweetly crackling voice that we really like, and served up in that "New Orleans via LA" style of Toussaint's later 70s productions. Smith plays piano and sings, and the band includes Toussaint, James Booker, and Leo Nocentelli. Titles include "I'll Be Rolling (With The Punches)", "Take Your Pick", "We Flew Away", "Fooled Ya", and "What Am I To Do"."  © 1996-2015, Dusty Groove, Inc.

Lattimore Brown - Nobody Has to Tell Me

"A singer, songwriter and band leader active on the "chitlin' circuit" of the eastern and southern United States between the 1950s and 1970s, Brown shared a stage with the likes of Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Muddy Waters and Otis Redding.
His 17 singles on seven labels, made between 1960 and 1975, were minor hits. But wider recognition was not encouraged by the online All Music Guide's declaration that he had "retired from music in 1980 and passed away in Arkansas in the subsequent decade".
Certainly fortune did not smile on Brown. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 he was badly injured and his home in Biloxi was destroyed; shortly afterwards his wife died of a heart attack, news of which took five months to reach him. Reduced to living in a trailer home, in 2007 he was stabbed, robbed of his Veterans' Association benefit and left for dead. But these were merely the latest in a series of disasters to which he was prone throughout his life.

He was born LV Brown at Mound Bayou, Mississippi, on August 20 1931, and brought up in cotton fields by his sharecropping grandfather, having never known his parents. While attending a local church he formed a vocal group, The Shady Grove Specials. But after one too many beatings from his aunt, he left aged 12, beginning an itinerant life. By 15 he had married and at 17 he enlisted (illegally) in the Army. The registration process obliged him to invent a full name, and he chose "Lattimore Vernon Brown".
After three years in Korea and Vietnam (before the latter war had officially started), he returned to Mississippi to find his wife pregnant with another man's child. In disgust, Brown again went on the road, in 1953 ending up in Memphis, where the music scene was beginning to boom.
He joined a traveling minstrel show touring the South, and in 1957 met Jimmy "Buzzard" Stewart, through whom he signed with Zil Records, which in 1960 released his first single, Somebody's Gonna Miss Me. After two more, unsuccessful, singles he moved to Dallas, where he set up a club called the Atmosphere Lounge and put together a band. Renowned for their rare ability to read music, they were frequently booked on chitlin' circuit tours.

Brown's extensive contacts helped to keep his club busy until disaster struck in 1963, when his "sleeping" business partner, Jack Ruby, shot President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, live on television. Eventually resettling in Nashville, Brown secured a deal with the label Sound Stage 7, and recorded with the producer Willie Mitchell in Memphis.
In 1966 he added "Sir" to his name and the next year signed to Otis Redding's touring agency RedWal, only for the star to die in a plane crash shortly afterwards. Brown's tribute Otis Is Gone (1968) was his most successful recording, but if he thought his fortune had changed, he was wrong.
In the early 1970s he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and remarried, setting up The Silver Slipper club with his new wife. It was a successful business, but once again bad luck intervened when she died after unsuccessful heart surgery. Brown drifted back to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he married again. But his new wife died of lung cancer, so he returned to touring the South.
In 1974 an up-and-coming pianist called Benny Latimore shortened his name to "Latimore", and when his fans mistakenly bought tickets to Brown's gigs, there were riots. Work began to dry up for Brown and he was forced to stop performing when he heard that the southern mafia (who owned most of the venues he played in) were furious about the costs of the concert mix-ups, and had put out a contract on his life.

Unsurprisingly, Brown thereafter kept a low profile. A compilation appeared of his work, This Is Lattimore's World (1977), but he never received any royalties.
In the early 1980s he opened Owl's Club in Little Rock, which became a popular after-hours hang-out for local musicians, including one Bill Clinton, who played sax there in his brother Roger's band. But by the end of the decade business had declined and Lattimore once again hit the road.
It was during his convalescence from the mugging in Biloxi in 2007 that a nurse put him in touch with the vintage soul enthusiast and blogger Red Kelly, leading to Brown's first recording in 33 years, Pain In My Heart. The next year he returned to performing, and in 2009 Nobody Has To Tell Me – a remastered collection of his recordings – was released, with liner notes by John Ridley and Red Kelly.
In 2010 Kelly helped to reunite Brown with his children, grandchildren and first wife – all of whom survive him. A deeply religious man, Brown reflected on his misfortunes: "God has blessed me. I've been through many trials and tribulations in life, but so many of us have. The greatest thing in life is to let your heart be kind and respect others as you would have them to do unto you."
Lattimore Brown died on March 25. He had found a new home at Pensacola, Florida, only to be struck by a car

Sam Baker - I Believe In You

Another smoking singer from the vaults of John Richbourg's Sound Stage Seven label. JR clearly had some superior taste in singers!

"He was born in Jackson, MS on 14 June 1941, and unlike many of his contemporaries in the music business went straight to professional secular singing rather than graduating from a gospel group. His influences were bluesmen as well as gospel singers, and he did early gigs with people like Jimmy Reed and Clyde McPhatter which must have been an education in itself.

Apart from Joe Simon, Baker had more 45s issued by John Richbourg on his SS7 label than any other artist – a tribute to both to his talent and Richbourg’s enduring good taste. His second 45, the outstanding Sometimes You Have To Cry, may just be his best ever release. Cut at Stax with the house band in superlative form, Baker is simply unstoppable on his first pure soul effort. The Nashville recorded beat ballad “You Can’t See The Blood” was a good follow-up, but the deep “Let Me Come On Home” and the excellent “Just A Glance Away” were superior. Even better still was the Memphis session that produced That’s All I Want From You and “I Believe In You” with the AGP band doing their usual high quality job in the background.

After a artistic dip, Baker returned to scratch with the lovely, well crafted slowie “I Love You” in 1969, and his best uptempo song for Richbourg “It’s All Over” later the same year. Throughout his stay with SS7 Baker reportedly had many personal problems and Richbourg and he parted company before the last 45 was issued." From Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven

Nolan Struck - I Got Bills To Pay +

"Nolan Struck was born in the heart of Creole Country near Lafayette, Louisiana. At a young age, Nolan left home and was drawn to the exciting music and dance clubs in Port Arthur, Texas. One night Nolan's performance caught the attention of the talented guitarist/vocalist, Lonnie Brooks. A few weeks later, Lonnie called Nolan to Chicago to join his band.

In 1967, Nolan formed his own band called "The Soul Brothers" where he played bass and sang along with his guitarist/vocalist brother King Edward. Reflecting the influences of B.B. King and Little Walter, (and maybe Joe Tex?) Noland released his first original recording titled, "The Fire Don't Burn All The Time," which received a great deal of attention both Overseas and in the United States.

Nolan had several successful releases in the 70's and 80's on Retta Records including the single, "My Nerves Gone Bad", "I'm Falling In Love", and the album "I Got Bills To Pay". He and his American blues legends toured extensively in France, England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and throughout the Southern and Midwestern United States. During his tours, Nolan Struck has appeared with artists such as John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Koko Taylor, Tyrone Davis, Artie "Blues Boy" White, and the late Johnny Taylor."

The links contain the album and the mentioned singles in a separate package.

Eddie Hinton - A Tragic Deep Soul Genius, part 1

 Peter B. Olson, University of Memphis and Mississippi State University

"Edward C. "Eddie" Hinton (1944-1995) was a guitarist and singer-songwriter whose career spanned the most vital part of the soul music era in Muscle Shoals. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hinton, who was white, participated in many recordings with black soul artists from Aretha Franklin to the Staple Singers to Percy Sledge. As a singer, Hinton is regarded among blues and soul aficionados as one of the great "blue-eyed soul" singers. As a guitarist, Hinton's playing reflects an authentic Delta blues style. Hinton often wrote in collaboration with Muscle Shoals composers such as Donnie Fritts, Marlin Greene, and Dan Penn. A Muscle Shoals session musician from 1967 until his death in 1995, Hinton also was the lead guitarist with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section in the early-to-mid 1970s.
Eddie Hinton was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 15, 1944, to Laura Deanie and Horton C. Hinton. Hinton's parents divorced in 1949, and he and his mother moved to Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, where his mother married Paul Perkins some years later. Eddie had a close bond with grandfather Pryde Edward Hinton, a Church of Christ preacher, and later incorporated religiously inspired oratory into his music, notably in his song "Dear Y'All."

Eddie showed a musical aptitude as a child and learned to play guitar and sing, being inspired by teen singing idol Ricky Nelson. Eddie played basketball in high school and became a fan of the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide football team. He attended the University of Alabama for three years but withdrew when his musical pursuits beckoned. He had a natural gift for music and played drums and guitar equally well. He played in the Tuscaloosa area in the 1960s with a number of bands, including The Spooks and The Five Minutes. Among the players in the latter group were Johnny Sandlin (drums), Paul Hornsby (keyboard), and Paul Ballenger (guitar), who would later form a publishing partnership with Hinton. Hinton replaced Ballenger and guitarist Charlie Campbell in the newly reformed Five Minutes in 1965, and the band subsequently reformed again as Hour Glass, absorbing Duane and Gregg Allman into the line-up. When Hour Glass signed with Liberty Records and spent a year in Los Angeles, Hinton decided to remain behind to work in the recording scene in Muscle Shoals. Hinton began to record and produce for several recording studios in the Shoals, particularly Quin Ivy's Quinvy Studio in Sheffield, where Hinton and Marlin Greene wrote and produced songs for soul artists Don Varner and Bill Brandon on Quinvy's Southcamp imprint. When Duane Allman returned to the Shoals from Los Angeles in 1968, he and Eddie shared an apartment. Hinton's production work at Quinvy Records drew upon a blend of soul and blues styles that became quintessentially part of the so-called Muscle Shoals "sound," exemplified in Hinton's work with the Staple Singers and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (MSRS).
In 1969, Hinton collaborated with Johnny Sandlin on a project that included Duane Allman, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and the Memphis Horns. The record was released under the title The Duck and the Bear and has come to be considered a seminal recording in the southern rock genre. Hinton also was closely associated with the burgeoning southern rock scene centered around the Allman Brothers Band, formed by the brothers that same year. He was asked by guitarist Duane Allman to join the band but declined the offer and remained a session musician in Muscle Shoals. During Hinton's career in Muscle Shoals, he worked on recordings by Percy Sledge at Quinvy and with Otis Redding and Arthur Conley at FAME Studios. As a solo artist, Hinton released a single on Pacemaker Records (1969) featuring an original titled "Dreamer," and after April 1969 became a mainstay at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield. There, Hinton contributed to sessions with the Staple Singers, Cher, Lulu, Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Womack, Ronnie Hawkins, R. B. Greaves, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Johnny Jenkins, Herbie Mann, Arif Mardin, Don Covay, Solomon Burke, and Boz Scaggs.
Hinton recorded as part of the MSRS at Atlantic Records in New York, playing on Aretha Franklin's 1970 album This Girl's In Love With You. That same year, Hinton played with the MSRS on Laura Nyro's album Christmas and the Beads of Sweat (1970). Beyond his exemplary work with the Staple Singers, Hinton played on William Bell's Wow (1970), Elvis Presley's Elvis Country (1971), and Johnnie Taylor's Tailored in Silk (recorded between 1971 and 1973), Hinton fronted the MSRS on the Chuck Berry classic "Too Much Monkey Business" recorded in 1971 for a never-released MSRS project on Island Records.

An important songwriter and musical collaborator, Hinton co-wrote, with Marlin Greene, the southern soul classics "Cover Me" (1967) and "It's All Wrong But It's Alright" (1968) for Percy Sledge, and "Down In Texas" for Don Varner (1967). Eddie and Paul Ballenger produced Don Varner's cover of the Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham song "Power of Love," which became a hit for Hour Glass in 1968. With Donnie Fritts, Hinton composed "Breakfast in Bed" for Dusty Springfield (1969), "Choo Choo Train" for the Box Tops (produced by Dan Penn in 1968). Hinton contributed his song "Three Hundred Pounds of Hongry" to Tony Joe White's The Train I'm On (produced at Muscle Shoals Sound in 1972), and his songs "Can't Beat the Kid" and "Every Natural Thing" for John Hammond's Muscle-Shoals album Can't Beat the Kid (1975) and Hinton also contributed "Just a Little Bit Salty" to Bobby Womack's Home is Where the Heart Is, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1976. In 1977, Hinton recorded a solo album, Very Extremely Dangerous, at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio; it was produced by Barry Beckett for the Capricorn label and included a strong set of original songs as well as collaborations with Dan Penn and Donnie Fritts"...cont. in part 2.

Rock & Roll Sermon

A re-post by request: The Elder Clifford Gospel Hour presented by Deacon Kingcake continues with a second portion because Deacon KC has been taken with the spirit and can't be denied now....I'd simulate speaking in tongues but I can't figure out how you would do that.....

 "Rock and Roll Sermon is a collection of some of the finest sanctified music recorded between 1946-56. If you're not familiar with sanctified music,and you like the blues and dazzling guitars, pumping piano, and true-testifying, then you owe it to yourself to listen to this compilation. Unfortunately, this great music has largely been ignored by the general public and by music critics. Perhaps it is because these are songs of praise to the Lord, and many prefer to keep their musical and religious tastes separated. After all, when was the last time you listened, outside of church, to selections from the Common Service Hymnal? While this is not blues music, many of the "blues forms" are utilized. Only the message has been changed. This is intense, dynamic, inspirational, and incredible music. Enjoy and Rejoice!!!"
ps there is some overlap between these two sets today but I don't believe that the same version has been used on any of the apparent duplications.

Clay Hammond & Z.Z. Hill - Southern Soul Brothers

An introduction to the earliest sides of two guys who have shown up on compilations here.

"Hammond has 16 of the 26 tracks on this split-artist compilation, which also includes ten songs recorded by Z.Z. Hill for the same label (Kent) during the same era (the mid-to-late 1960s). Hammond's 16 cuts include both sides of all four of his 1966-69 Kent singles, as well as four from the same period that did not surface until a 1988 LP, and four more from the same time that were previously unissued until this CD. He was a minor but a worthy Southern soul-style vocalist who sounded much like a gentler Sam Cooke, writing all of his material on this disc. On his Kent sides (he had previously recorded for other labels), he adeptly crossed soul with shades of blues and gospel, although the arrangements were not as lugubrious and brassy as much soul actually produced in the South was. Occasionally he used pop-style production to good effect, as on the 1966 single "You Brought It All on Yourself," with its swinging, slightly jazz horn lines. Interestingly, his 1968 B-side "Do Right Woman" is not the famous Chips Moman/Dan Penn song, but a different song (albeit with some similarities to the more famous one), recorded at Moman's studio, no less. The eight songs that were not released in the 1960s are good by outtakes standard. "Togetherness" has something of the ballad feel of Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," while "My Sweet Baby Is Coming Home," with only an electric guitar as backup, anticipates the sound of fellow Cooke acolyte Ted Hawkins. The ten songs that follow from Hill, incidentally, are average period soul that also have some stronger blues elements than many recordings from the genre, combining a few of Hill's 1966-69 singles with four previously unissued numbers. " AMG

Hunh, I liked the review until he dismissed Z.Z. that way, this is WAY above average period soul, Hill's sound in this era has a lot of Otis Redding in it. I think he sounds fantastic!

The Supreme Jubilees - It'll All Be Over (1980)

"Originally released in 1980, the scant 500 copies of the Supreme Jubilees' wonderful lone LP It'll All Be Over seemed destined for the bargain bins. A gospel-soul group with deep R&B grooves, the band came together in the 1970s, bridging two musical families from California's Central Valley. On one side were the Sanders, led by keyboardist and self-proclaimed "Donny Hathaway freak" Leonard, who was joined by his brothers Tim, Philip, and Melvin. On the other side were Joe and David Kingsby, who enlisted David's son David, Jr. to play guitar. An unaffiliated family friend named Larry Price rounded out the group. Although they had operated as a live band on the regional church circuit for several years, they had yet to release an album. The Fresno studio the band chose for their initial sessions turned out to be ill-suited to their needs. Largely a country & western studio, the engineer balked at their requests for more bass in the mix and eventually kicked them out mid-session. Undeterred, the Jubilees took their half-finished album over to Sierra Recording Studio in Visalia where they polished off the remaining five songs. The resulting nine-song debut was a comforting mix of smooth soul, warm R&B, and a dash of disco that showcased the band's enchanting vocal mix. The sublime title cut is worth the price of admission alone for its gently despairing Old Testament darkness. As the opening cut, it sets an odd, almost meditative tone as the group foretells the end times with a sort of comforting sensuality. There are certainly some uptempo gospel rave-ups like "I'm on the Lord's Side" and the ebullient album-closer "Stop Today," but the Jubilees are at their most effective with the more somber, thoughtful cuts like "Do You Believe" and "We'll Understand." It's understandable that music with so sensitive a touch didn't catch on at the dawn of the '80s. After embarking on a couple of difficult and hapless tours, the Jubilees essentially called it quits and this lovely album faded into obscurity for over three decades before being reissued by Seattle specialty label Light in the Attic Records. While it may remain a diamond in the rough, it's a comfort to know that such an honest and heartfelt piece of art is now widely available to all." AMG

Chuck Carbo - Drawers Trouble, The Barber's Blues

You have no idea how pleased I am to have copies of these two albums again. They were a gift from Hartmut, whom some of you will know from 'Don't Ask Me....' where his cool singles rips have been appearing.

During that killer period when Rounder Records discovered New Orleans one of the many things they got right was the good sense to do a couple albums on this man.

"AllMusic Review by Bill Dahl

Veteran New Orleans R&B singer Carbo proves he's a capable front man even without the presence of his '50s vocal group, the Spiders, on this infectious comeback set. With Crescent City vet Edward Frank handling piano and arranging duties, Carbo smoothly intones a mostly original lineup of songs (Jeannie & Jimmy Cheatham's lascivious standard "Meet Me with Your Black Drawers On" being one of the few exceptions). Dr. John contributes his considerable skills on keyboard and guitar to the project."

"AllMusic Review by Bill Dahl

Ex-Spiders lead Carbo returns with a Rounder encore that eschews Dr. John but brings back Edward Frank as co-producer and pianist. Some of the selections are a little on the hackneyed side (a permanent moratorium on "Everyday I Have the Blues," tplease!), but Carbo's second line-based "Hey, Mardi Gras! (Here I Am)," the title item, and a easy-on-the-ears reprise of the Cheathams' "Don't Boogie with Your Black Drawers On" hit the spot."

Roscoe Robinson - Why Must It End?

This is your HMOG moment for the day....Astute followers of this space will recall the name 'Roscoe Robinson' cropping up now and again, but mostly on Gospel posts. If you checked out the compilation The Sound Stage 7 Story, then you may recall him from there as well. He is a pretty-much unforgettable singer and here you get a big-ole dose (if not all), of his secular, screamin' southern soul! The songs are pretty decent, but when that voice gets a-hold of you, you won't be spending much time on the songs anyway. -- Just - "Holy Mother... listen to that man sing!!!"

" Roscoe Robinson (born May 22, 1928, Dumont, Arkansas) is an American gospel and soul singer.

Robinson recorded as a gospel solo artist in the 1950s with Trumpet Records, and sang in groups such as The Five Trumpets, Highway QCs, and The Fairfield Four. He began recording secular soul in the 1960s, and had two charting hits: "That's Enough" (U.S. #62, U.S. R&B #7) in 1966, and "Do It Right Now" (U.S. R&B #40) in 1967. Robinson began recording again as a gospel artist in the 1980s, releasing solo albums as well as performing with The Blind Boys of Mississippi, though he is not himself blind. He recorded into the 2000s, releasing the albums So Called Friends in 2003 and Gospel Stroll in 2005." AMG

Willie Hobbs - A Penny For Your Thoughts +

Repost by request:

There certainly isn't much in the way of info about this guy out there. Even Sir Shambling couldn't produce much more than date and place of birth and some disco-graphical info (born: Doerun, Georgia on 1 Sept 1944).

Hobbs had a 20+ year career, appears to have moved around a fair amount, but the largest portion of his work was issued on John Richbourg's family of Sound Stage 7 labels. There IS one compilation out there that focus' on the SS7 material, but neither Cliff nor I have it - If you do, please drop me a note and a link if possible.

I went on a search the other evening after listening to the song on the Sun anthology and cobbled together 18 tracks spanning the first decade or so of his recordings. This is really kind of a fishing expedition to see if any of you have any more.

Okay, since I wrote all that Preslives has blessed me with the Sound Stage 7 disc! This flushes us out to some 28 tracks which I've combined to one file for this repost.

Smokey Hogg - Original Folk Blues

Andrew 'Smokey' Hogg (January 27, 1914 - May 1, 1960)
Hogg was born near Westconnie, Texas, United States and grew up on the farm and was taught to play guitar by his father Frank Hogg. While still in his teens he teamed up with the slide guitarist and vocalist, B.K. Turner aka Black Ace and the pair travelled together playing the turpentine and logging camp circuit of country dance halls and juke joints that surrounded Kilgore, Tyler, Greenville and Palestine in East Texas.
In 1937 Smokey and Black Ace were brought to Chicago, Illinois by Decca Records to record, and Smokey had his first gramophone record ("Family Trouble Blues"/"Kind Hearted Blues") released, as by Andrew Hogg. It was an isolated occurrence - he did not make it back into a recording studio for over a decade. By the early 1940s Hogg was married and making a good living busking around the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas.

Hogg was drafted in the mid-1940s and after a brief spell with the U.S. military, he continued working in the Dallas area where he was becoming well known. In 1947 he came to the attention of Herbert T. Rippa Sr, boss of the Dallas based record label, Bluebonnet Records, who recorded several sides with him and leased the masters to Modern Records.

The first release on Modern was the Big Bill Broonzy song "Too Many Drivers", and this racked up sufficient sales to encourage Modern Records to bring Hogg out to Los Angeles, California to cut more sides with their team of studio musicians. These songs included his two biggest hits, "Long Tall Mama" in 1949 and another Broonzy tune "Little School Girl" (#9 U.S. R&B chart) in 1950.Some blues fans tend to revere his two-part "Penitentiary Blues" (1952), which was a remake of the prison song, "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos".

Hogg's country blues style, influenced by Broonzy, Peetie Wheatstraw and Black Ace was popular with record buyers in the South during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He continued to work and record until the end of the 1950s, but died of cancer, or possibly a ruptured ulcer, in McKinney, Texas in 1960.

Guitar Shorty - Topsy Turvey

A little Christmas present from our good Dr. Hepcat.

Allmusic review by Bill Dahl:

More impressive than Shorty's British venture thanks to superior production values and a better handle on his past (there's a stellar remake of "Hard Life"), Topsy Turvy made it clear that Guitar Shorty was back to stay stateside. Black Top assembled a fine New Orleans combo for the majority of the album, as Shorty proved that his act translates beautifully to record minus the crowd-pleasing acrobatic antics.

• David Torkanowsky — organ
• Ernest Youngblood, Jr. — saxophone (tenor)
• Clarence Hollimon, Derek O'Brien — guitar
• Guitar Shorty — guitar, vocals
• Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff — saxophone (baritone, tenor)
• Sarah Brown, Lee Allen Zeno — bass
• Herman V. Ernest III, George Rains — percussion, drums
• Floyd Domino — piano
• Carol Fran — vocals
• Michael Mordecai — trombone
• Keith Winking — trumpet

Guitar Shorty - The 1950s Recordings

Given the recent Guitar Shorty love fest here, I wanted to make a post of his early recordings.  While Guitar Shorty's career already spans seven decades, somehow he hardly had a chance to record until the mid-1980s.   We can be grateful, however, that he had the chance to record 8 precious tracks in the beginning of his career in the 1950s.  I believe that these eight tracks are the only Guitar Shorty recordings until the mid-1980s (please correct me if I am wrong).

This interest of these recordings is not at all just historical.  There is true brilliance here.  In fact, they are far and away my favorite Guitar Shorty recordings.  The first thing that hits you are the vocals.  Guitar Shorty has always been a fine singer, but his voice in the 1950s was truly fabulous - clear, booming, and very blue.  Then there is the guitar playing - the evidence here will make you believe Guitar Shorty's claims that a young Jimi Hendrix used to idolize him.

The first recording opportunity was for Cobra records, producing one 45 in 1957.  These are pleasing R&B-infested blues.  But the cream is clearly in the tracks that Shorty was able to record for Pull records in 1959 - Hard Life, Ways of a Man, How Long Will It Last, Love Loves, I Never Thought...   Timeless classics, in my view! Enjoy.

Discography

a) Chicago, 1957: Guitar Shorty -g,v, John Tinsley-ts, Lafayette Leake-p, Willie Dixon-b, Odie Payne-d (Cobra Records)

1) Irma Lee
2) You Don't Treat Me Right

b) Los Angeles, 1959: Guitar Shorty-g,v, Bob Tate-b, unknown band (Pull Records)

3) Hard Life
4) Ways of a Man
5) How Long Will it Last
6) Love Loves
7) I Never Thought
8) Pumpkin Pie

Marva Wright - My Christmas Song

 Not exactly 'feelin' it this year, poverty sucks, but here is a fine slice of NOLA Christmas.

For my friend Feillimed:

I have known for a long time that there was a Marva Christmas disc that I'd never heard. You would think that since I had everything else, I would have diligently tracked this down...but no, I kind of wrote it off as likely a half-ass obligatory type recording. This year I said "What the hell, get it and if it's bad...so what." Unnnh...Ooops! Do you notice where this is leading....Oh You Silly, Foolish Old Man! Are You Out Ya Mind?!

The first track opens with swelling organ, the unmistakable keyboards of Davell Crawford, the rest of the band kicks in and oh here comes the choir! It's Go Tell It On The Mountain "Damn THIS is rockin'" ...and Whoa, here comes Marva! (an enthusiastic 'chair boogie' follows) "Gee, I may have underestimated this one a bit." ya think? ...a nice sax intro, and My Christmas Song, part one  of a  classic Southern Soul tale of an abandoned woman and her inner strength to hold her family and herself together thru the Holidays...Now it really starts to get deep as Ms Marva gets your tears going with a soul stirring rendition of Silent Night....and now "OH Hell Yeah, time to get up and dance!" If Marva's Holiday Shuffle don't get ya moving...well you know.

Okay so now we are clear...I WAY underestimated this album. I mean I'm 4 tracks in and I've already laughed, cried and danced! ...now some more strong DC piano and here comes the triumphant part two of our tale of the abandoned woman, I'll Be Fine, If this one doesn't move you then you are a heartless bastard!

A Holiday Medley is just that, a nice little piece that may or may not be live. Freddie King's classic Christmas Tears follows...beautiful...I'd guess that this is something of a tribute to the late Johnny Adams, who loved to sing that song...unh oh we goin' to church AND we gettin' funky! What follows are a trio of beautiful Christmas songs that you've never heard that are clearly born of the church. Each of them is a wonderful gem. Some spastic 'old man dancing' is left to your imagination.

 What Christmas Means To Me is so deep into Marva's wheelhouse that I'd have been shocked if she hadn't absolutely crushed it, ...no shock, song crushed! Christmas Comes But Once A Year could be a third part to the story of our heroine, she somehow makes it all magic for her kids...there is a weary joy to this one.

Marva even manages to make the finale of Auld Lang Syne memorable, no mean feat! Today my favorite Marva Wright album is this one right here!

Johnny Adams - Christmas In New Orleans

Certainly one of the more maudlin Christmas albums ever, but it IS Johnny Adams so...

".....In 1975, he recorded his only Christmas album (A Christmas With Johnny Adams - Ace 2046) which has since been re-released on vinyl in 1987 as Maison de Soul LP-1023 with a different cover, then in a 1993 CD by Ace with the original LP cover, and again as a 1994 CD by Mardi Gras Records with still another cover and the title changed to Christmas In New Orleans.

His effortless handling of a mix of traditional carols and some of the more memorable Pop/R&B Christmas tunes ever written, all recorded at New Orleans' Sea Saint Studio and produced here with excellent sound reproduction and new and informative liner notes written by Jeff "Almost Slim" Hanusch, makes this the perfect album for Holiday enjoyment."

Backing musicians include guitarists Walter Washington and Jimmie Moliere, pianist/organists Sam Henry Jr. And Raymond Jones, pianist Isaac Bolden and drummers Danny Jones and Benson Dupre."

Okay, not Johnny's finest by any measure, but it is seasonally appropriate.

Howard Tate - I Learned It The Hard Way

Given the amount of Howard Tate posted here in the past you may be asking yourself "Do I really need this one?"...Yes you do! The majority of this disc is material not included on any previous post here...or anywhere else for that matter!

"Howard Tate: I Learned It All the Hard Way (CD)
(2016/Playback) 29 tracks. 29 songs strong retrospective of soul singer Howard Tate. It includes his essential recordings for labels like Verve, Turntable, Atlantic, Epic and HT. Although he was relatively unknown during his lifetime, his recordings are now traded up from Deep Soul fans. His songs have been covered by artists such as Janis Joplin, BB King, Jimi Hendrix or Ry Cooder."

Son Seals - Bottom Line 1978

So way back in 1978 this then youngin' was living in San Francisco. One evening shortly after the holidays my crazy next door neighbor showed up at my front door sporting a bleeding head wound. In the course of cleaning him up and bandaging said wound he explained that his somewhat volatile girlfriend had clocked him with a frying pan and ejected him from the apartment. Knowing him she likely had considerable provocation.

This event lead to a couple weeks on my couch while he contemplated his next move. One night while toking up some fine green bud he asked if I might like to fly to New York for a few days, seems he and the girlfriend had planned the trip prior to the event described above and he had the tickets and room already paid for (he had to sneak back into the apartment to acquire them). The following Friday night we boarded a jet at SFO and went for a long weekend in The Big Apple. I seem to recall we saw something Saturday that clearly didn't impress me much since I have no recollection of who it was, but on Sunday I found a listing for a Blues show at the Bottom Line for a guy who I'd recently discovered, Son Seals.

The club was in The Village on West 4th so it was in walking distance of our rather seedy hotel and we had some pizza slices on the way over and arrived a bit early and set to some serious preparatory drinking and toking. I was aware that Seals was still new to the bizz and played some fairly primitive equipment (like a Montgomery Wards guitar) and the setup on the stage seemed to reflect that...except for the shinny new Traynor top and bottom over on the right side of the stage. The band came out and started rockin' hard, fully justifying my excitement about seeing them, but that shinny Traynor set remained alone and vacant thru the first part of the show.

I wish I could recall when it was in the show that that equipment came into use, but I must plead ancient memory and significantly altered condition. What I do recall is at some point my eyes left the stage to accomplish a somewhat less than stealthy passing of a joint when a gasp from the crowd snapped my eyes back to the stage. A tall, thin white wraith had appeared in front of the unused equipment and in a nano second my brain exploded...there stood Johnny Winter!

The rest of the show was a blur of scorching guitar and soulful singing that I will never forget! Flash forward to a week ago and on the plixid site I find this cd! Almost wet my pants!

Ted Taylor 1976

A record that I never got around to posting. Unky Cliff just sent me a new copy to remind me.

Being that this is from 1976, there is a lot more funk in Ted's game than on the earlier recordings we've explored, but that clear, easy falsetto still takes center stage.

The LP came out as  Alarm LP-1000.

Rhonda Washington - Good Woman Turning Bad

If Stax had managed to stave off bankruptcy just a little longer, there’s a good chance that Hot Sauce would have seen their album issued; one was both planned and allocated a Volt catalogue number. The group began as as a one girl, two boy trio but quickly became a solo vehicle for the astoundingly soulful voice of St Louis’ Rhonda Washington. Most of the tracks were not cut at Stax, but at Royal Studios, home of the Hi Sound, with strings and things added later in Detroit. Rhonda Washington’s recordings are among the earthiest issued on Volt during the label’s later years, when studio activity was increasingly taking place away from Memphis. Hot Sauce only charted with two of a total of five singles, ‘Bring It Home (And Give It To Me)’ and a version of ‘Stop Doggin’ Me’ that blows Johnnie Taylor’s original into the middle of next week. The others might have done better if promotional budgets had not been cut as the 70s unfolded and the company gradually imploded.

“Good Woman Turning Bad” is the title of their projected Volt album. Thanks to the recent discovery of a proposed track listing, we were able to sequence the CD in the same order. There’s also the bonus of two extremely good non-album B-sides, to complete our anthology of the Hot Sauce catalogue.

Following the demise of both Volt and Hot Sauce, Rhonda Washington is believed to have retreated into the St. Louis gospel scene. Disco was already on its way by the time of her last sessions and she may well have not wanted to be a part of that scene anyway. Wherever she is now or whatever she’s doing, it’s a real treat to be able to get all of Hot Sauce and Rhonda’s sublime sides on one CD for the first time ever. Not so much a ‘Good Woman Turning Bad’ as a good woman singing great.

By Tony Rounce

Etta James - Call My Name

Until this issue, this Cadet album had been unavailable for many years (go figure!). The original album is augmented by a generous 12 tracks of other Chess material. Pretty much a must have for any Etta fan.

Guitar Shorty - We The People 2006

"One of Texas' most venerated blues guitarists, Guitar Shorty and his guitar "Red have stoked the engine room for Ray Charles, B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker and countless other stars of rhythm and blues. Next year, he'll celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his debut single. In the meantime, on his second release for one of Chicago's premier blues labels, he and Red burn white-hot and blue.

"We the People opens with a reference to the preamble of the US Constitution, then stomps through a scalding electric blues about how tough it can be to just keep on keepin' on that stops just short of an open call to class warfare. Its lyrics might be funny if they didn't hit so sadly close to home, though it's almost impossible to resist smiling at words like these: "I grab my guitar, try to bend a note / I look up at my neck and even my string's broke! But there's nothing funny at all about this raging electric blues, matched by the roughhouse intensity of his lead vocal, which sounds spat out of his mouth like the hot and bitter thick taste of his own blood.

"Cost of Livin' continues the theme of current economic and political times but reaches back into blues history, a solo electric blues where his foot stomps out the rhythm and his guitar and vocal sound metallic and dark and anguished, resurrecting the ghost of Howlin' Wolf.

We the People also shows the influence of Shorty's Texas guitar style on such well-known rockers as ZZ Top and the Rolling Stones. The jagged riff churning within "What Good is Life? splits the difference between the hooks to "Jumpin' Jack Flash and "It's Only Rock and Roll, and every Stones guitarist from Jones to Richards to Wood has loved to play in the style of Shorty's mid-song solo, which drags rock and roll through heavy Mississippi blues mud.

The thick meaty chords and ripping hot leads of the explosive "Sonic Boom and "Can't Get Enough continue the tradition of such fine Texas roadhouse blues as "La Grange, ZZ Top's famous whorehouse song."  CHRIS M. SLAWECKI, All About Jazz

---

Track Listing: We the People; What Good is Life?; I Got Your Number; Runaway Train; Down that Road Again; Fine Cadillac; Can't Get Enough; A Hurt So Old; Who Needs It?; Blues in My Blood; Cost of Livin'; Sonic Boom.
Personnel: Guitar Shorty: lead guitar, lead vocals; Jake Andrews: rhythm guitar; Wyzard: bass, acoustic guitar; John "JT" Thomas: keyboards; Alvino Bennett: drums.

Guitar Shorty - Get Wise To Yourself (1995)

Artist Biography by Bill Dahl

When he's not turning somersaults, doing backward flips, and standing on his head -- all while playing, of course -- Guitar Shorty is prone to cutting loose with savagely slashing licks on his instrument. Live, he's simply amazing -- and after some lean years, his latter-day albums for Black Top, Evidence, and Alligator have proven that all that energy translates vividly onto tape.

Born David Kearney on September 8, 1939, in Houston, TX, he started playing guitar at an early age. His early influences included fellow blues guitar slingers B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker, and Earl Hooker. By the time he was 17, Kearney was already gigging steadily in Tampa, FL. One night, he was perched on the bandstand when he learned that the mysterious "Guitar Shorty" advertised on the club's marquee was none other than him! His penchant for stage gymnastics was inspired by the flamboyant Guitar Slim, whose wild antics are legendary. In 1957, Shorty cut his debut single, "You Don't Treat Me Right," for Chicago's Cobra Records under Willie Dixon's astute direction. Three superb 45s in 1959 for tiny Pull Records in Los Angeles (notably "Hard Life") rounded out Shorty's discography for quite a while. During the '60s, he married Jimi Hendrix's stepsister and lived in Seattle, where the rock guitar god caught Shorty's act (and presumably learned a thing or two about inciting a throng) whenever he came off the road. Shorty's career had its share of ups and downs -- once he was reduced to competing on Chuck Barris' zany Gong Show, where he copped first prize for delivering "They Call Me Guitar Shorty" while balanced on his noggin.

Los Angeles had long since reclaimed Shorty by the time things started to blossom anew with the 1991 album My Way or the Highway for the British JSP logo (with guitarist Otis Grand in support). From there, Black Top signed Shorty; 1993's dazzling Topsy Turvy, 1995's Get Wise to Yourself, and 1998's Roll Over, Baby were the head-over-heels results. In 2001, the appropriately titled I Go Wild was released on the Evidence label, proving that Guitar Shorty had no intentions of slowing down, as he clearly remained a master showman and lively blues guitarist. Watch Your Back appeared in spring 2004. A single-disc overview of his career, The Best of Guitar Shorty, appeared from Shout! Factory in 2006, as well as a new studio album, We the People, from Alligator Records. A second Alligator release, Bare Knuckle, appeared early in 2010.

R.L. Boyce - Roll And Tumble

This will get your butt movin'.

"RL Boyce was born on August 15, 1955, in Como, Mississippi, where he still resides. It is a community with enduring blues, fife-and-drum, and gospel traditions. Boyce picked up music as a teenager, starting out singing in the church choir and playing percussion in fife-and-drum bands. Regarding his evolution on the drums, he says, “I learned from a foot tub. Back then we didn’t have a bathtub – a foot tub is what you bathed in, what you had your water in.” His earliest issued recording [“Late at Midnight, Just a Little Before Day,” on Traveling Through the Jungle: Negro Fife and Drum Band Music from the Deep South] was made on his 15th birthday, accompanying his uncle Otha Turner. Boyce later adjusted that percussion style to a blues context on a more expanded drum kit, as heard on Jessie Mae Hemphill’s classic Feelin’ Good album. His singular, bursting-at-the-seams drumming on the first side of that record is a benchmark of loose-limbed groove.

Perhaps it isn’t surprising that such a vibrant musician would want to branch out from solely being a sideman to establish himself as a solo artist and leader of his own groups. Inspired by his neighbors Mississippi Fred McDowell and RL Burnside, he took up the guitar: “Oh man, I loved it. I always wanted to do what they did, so I got along with it.” He was coached by a couple local musicians including Joe Townsend (whose sole 45 for Designer Records is spellbinding, live-in-the-church gospel blues [It is unclear who plays guitar on Townsend’s 45. Bengt Olsson’s research states it was Johnnie Mays, while Boyce has consistently asserted that it sounds like Townsend accompanied himself. Of course, it is also possible that both guitarists shared a similar approach.]) and over time he developed an individual style that draws upon songs from the local repertoire and interprets them with considerable enthusiasm and spontaneity.

RL comes from a stream of the folk tradition that is less concerned with “getting it right” than getting it going, and with developing a distinct, individual sound. While regionally popular tunes and lyrics often serve as the bedrock of Boyce’s material, he takes them to places that no one else would, often peppering them with lyrics he makes up on the spot, as well as shout outs to his collaborators, his longtime companion Sheila Birge and their daughter Shanquisha, and anyone else who might happen to be in the vicinity. At other times, his songs are fully improvised. As Boyce puts it, “Most of it, when somethin’ hits my mind, I just start. You know, like if I’m around you and I think about you a lot, I could sit at home in the yard, if you hit my mind, I play one right there, right then. I’m playin’ this for Adam, a friend of mine in New York. It’d hit me like that and I’d just go right on. I don’t do no rehearsin’ with nobody. I don’t do nothin’ like that. Whatever hits me, I jump in on it.” If he is in one of these more talkative moods, his stream of consciousness delivery is reminiscent of Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and even the jokester side of Furry Lewis. When he really gets going, there is a deeply infectious sense of release, and of letting loose. At such times, laughter comes easy and often from RL and those around him.

Although Boyce occasionally takes gigs in faraway locales, most of the time he seems content to play at clubs and parties closer to home, often in his own front yard. His music developed within this informal environment where he plays largely for friends and family, which is perhaps one reason why his songs have such an open-ended, spontaneous, freewheeling quality. His performances are very social and he welcomes an unpredictable, interactive relationship with his fellow performers as well as the audience. Other musicians may be invited to join in, but they shouldn’t expect much guidance. An inquiry regarding what key Boyce is playing in will likely elicit an instruction along the lines of “follow me.” This is not always a straightforward task. They need to be ready to respond to sudden shifts, make adjustments on the fly, or play for hours while making subtle variations on a few grooves." excerpted from review of his first record - Adam Lore, author

Howlin' Wolf - Rockin' the Blues: Live in Germany 1964

Another cut-price CD issued in the UK that I found on my travels...Without details and a rarity...but a great recording (considering the times). Howlin' Wolf  cut like a razor with his voice and delivery...
Muddy and The Wolf (with Willie Dixon as their songwriter and Bassman) created modern Blues.
Here as flac & mp3@320 - Gus

'This is a reissue of the November 6, 1964, Bremen concert that was previously available as Live in Europe 1964 on the Sundown label, with the same incorrect title references. What is first-rate is the sound, which is head-and-shoulders above most of the Howlin' Wolf live recordings of this period, undoubtedly because the show was part of the American Folk-Blues tour, large chunks of which were recorded professionally, and also the performance, which comes from a time when Wolf was still in very robust health. It's been said that if Muddy Waters had been born in Africa, he would have been a king; this show, which Chess Records could only wish they'd recorded, is a reminder that if Howlin' Wolf had been born in Africa, he'd have been a witch doctor or shaman; he's spellbinding in his performance, and the band backing him (a kind of star combo itself, with Willie Dixon and Sunnyland Slim playing alongside Hubert Sumlin) is tight, if a little restrained. And to top it off, it's mid-priced.' (Bruce Eder/AllMusic)

Muddy Waters - Live (1971, 76 & 79)

Following on from my previous post...Here are some other very good rare live performances from Muddy Waters...who epitomises The Blues ! You can never tire from his uniqueness, talent and influence !

Muddy Waters - Mojo - The Live Collection (1971&76) :
This is a compilation of other rare MW live perfomancces that have appeared on earlier independent labels...From my searches Tracks 1 to 7 are the gathering of all Muddy's vocal/guitar tracks from a gig in Switzerland April 1976 that have appeared on Jazz Helvetica CD 02 (?)

Tracks 8, 9, 10, 12 recorded at Washington University, 1971
Tracks 11, 13, 14 recorded at Oregon University, 1971
Issued under license from Red Lightnin' Ltd and courtesy of Top Cat Records...and are from a selection on the album 'Muddy Waters - The Lost Tapes' released on Blind Pig Records.
The personnel is given in my scans provided.

Muddy Waters - Windy City Blues (Live 1979) :
This is just a copy of an obscure album from Charly Records (art gathered from the net) and licensed to a small cut-price label where I stumbled across it...(and have added the cover for what its worth...with no details)...but a fine recording. Here is some info from a MW discography :
Live recording, possibly at Harry Hope’s Club, Cary, Illinois, Thur. to Sat. 22to 24 March 1979 or Fri. to Sun. 26 to 28 Oct 1979.
Muddy Waters vcl, gtr; Luther ‘Guitar Jr.’ Johnson gtr, vcl; Bob Margolin gtr;Jerry Portnoy hca; Joe ‘Pinetop’ Perkins pno, vcl; Calvin Jones bass; Willie Smith drums...
It's a gem ! - Gus
Both here as flac & mp3@320

Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man (Live 1964)

It's been a while since we've had a Muddy Waters album here...I didn't want to post the obvious classics as I'm sure we all have those in our collections (or should !).
Here is a very good live recording that is perfect for listening in the late hours with a beer (or...Champagne & Reefer...?) in hand !
...And is slightly more obscure than his Chess live sets. It's a favourite of mine from the greatest Bluesman of them all (along with Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and B B King...of course !)
The band consists of Muddy - Guitar and vocals, Otis Spann - Piano, George Smith - Harmonica, Sammy Lawhorn - Guitar, Luther Johnson - Bass and Francis Clay - Drums...Or so we are told from the lack of proper detail and info re where these recordings originate from. But don't let this put you off...It's a unique chilled Muddy with plenty of his slide-guitar and wonderful voice.

Robert Gordon in his book 'Can't Be Satisfied - The Life And Times Of Muddy Waters' (2002) has this to say about this recording : 
'...Hoochie Coochie Man (Laserlight) is notable both for its raucous slide guitar and its interesting set list (including 'Rosalie', an obscure track from the Library of Congress recordings). Recorded in 1964, the CD captures Muddy at his mightiest; during 'Tiger In Your Tank', when the guitar is about to overcome the vocals (as it rightly should, growling), the soundman abruptly adjusts it - it pains me every time. Nonetheless , among Muddy's live discs, this one's the one.'   

Note : on this CD 'Tiger In Your Tank' is wrongly titled as 'Sittin' And Thinkin' (track 4) amongst other errors ...I do believe that this label was a cheap release-anything-that-might-sell company...but this is a diamond for MW fans...his performances and voice are superb ! - Here as flac & mp3 with complete scans - Enjoy Gus