|
As for the blues, Johnny Winter's 'Still Alive & Well' is one of the most underappreciated blues albums of all time. The vocals are dirtier than a skid row bum and it matches perfectly with the guitar's note-for-note perfection. A truly inspired album.
Then there is 'Ass Pocket of Whiskey' by R.L. Burnside. I had gotten a bit jaded with the blues for a few years, didn't think it could go anywhere else. R.L. changed that for a whole lotta people. When that ablum first came out, if you called the phone number on the back, say, hoping there was something else out there that good, you got to talk to him more often than not. He listed his home number. If the name sounds familiar you may have seen his obituary in last month's Rolling Stone. This shit will make you wanna quit your job and go ridin' the rails, or move to Kentucky and take up moonshinin'.
Last is Chuck E. Weiss, 'Extremely Cool'. You could teach a course in 'blues styles' at Juliard with this disc alone. This is no overdub, one microphone, bar-band perfection. If you went deaf listening to this ablum, you'd still be grinnin' & tapping your foot to the day you died. I'd sell my soul to Satan just to hang out with this guy for a coupla weeks...
|