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| Steel Wheels |
Keef and Hubert trade big fat riffs on Still A Fool. It sounds like Keef's channeling John Lee Hooker a little. What bliss! (Think Crawlin' Kingsnake.)
Keef then shows up on I Love The Life I Live, I Live The Life I Love, a by-the-book Willie Dixon number. Nice guitars on that too.
Nothing is better than the last track. This Is The End, Little Girl. Sweet guitars, a great vocal by Hubert, |
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| FPM C10 |
I FINALLY got my copy this week, with the hope that I can perhaps get some of the principals to sign it tomorrow when I go see them at BB King's. I really love it.
Hubert isn't the star of "About Them Shoes", though - the star of this album, for ME, is Muddy Waters. I love Muddy's brand of blues more than anyone else's, and this is a great cross-section of his primo stuff, played by people who actually played with the Master at one point or another (well, I don't think David Johansen ever did, but that doesn't make his two songs any less enjoyable. I think David Jo is one of the most under-rated entertainers in the world).
The album starts STRONG with Clapton throwing down "I'm Ready" - WHY does Clapton ever play ANYTHING but the blues? The song has been recorded a million times, but this version stands up to the original. It, and the whole album, have a Chess Studio vibe that gets spooky after awhile. It all sounds like 1958. Keef's version of "Still A Fool" is next, and it's good, although I would have put it later in the album, and I'd rather hear his glimmer twin Mick sing it (M & K did a fantastic version of this at the Paradiso in 1995).
But it's not really the BIG names who make this album so sublime. Veterans of Muddy's road band like Bob Margolin, Paul Oscher and Mudcat Ward make sure that Muddy's spirit is in every track. And vocally, I like the contributions of George Recile (one of Bob Dylan's best drummers ever) as much as anyone's. Stones hanger-on Blondie Chaplin delivers "Look What You Done", which the Stones recorded at Chess Studio in 1964 - I wish Keith was on this, but he's not. The Riff's other contributions are a fantasticly laid-back "Live The Life I Love, Love The Life I Live" and the final track, Hubert's own beautiful original and only vocal, "Little Girl This Is The End".
What can I even say about Hubert's guitar playing? I've heard it called "sublime" several times, and it certainly is that. In the past it has often been bent, angular and slightly detuned, but here it's just like honey poured over everything. As I noticed when I saw him last summer, Hubert doesn't overwhelm a song. Decades of being a sideman taught him that you can sometimes lead by following, I guess.
Anyone who loves the blues - that's EVERONE, right? - and especially anyone who loves Muddy Waters NEEDS this album.
What the heck is the title a reference to? Anyone know?
Maybe I'll get a chance to ask him tomorrow.
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CHAT
ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [
RESTROOMS]