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Blues Crossroads
By Dave Hosick
April 18, 2003
Once in a while, an album captures a moment in time perfectly. It occurred with the Allman Brothers Band "Live at The Fillmore East," arguably one of the most influential live albums of all time. A comparable argument can be made about "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions" (Deluxe Edition), a reissue of a classic album with an entire CD of previously unreleased tracks.
The double album - recorded in 1970 and rereleased last month by MCA Records in an entirely new package - has lived on because it not only captured Wolf, aka Chester Arthur Burnett, at the top of his game but also because of the unbelievable lineup of musicians who jumped at the chance to record with this Chicago legend.
Imagine this lineup for your backing band: Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Steve Winwood on piano and organs, Bill Wyman on bass guitar and Charlie Watts on percussion. That's a combination of the bands Cream, Traffic and The Rolling Stones all on the same cuts.
And don't let the liner notes throw you. The drummer on "I Ain't Superstitious" listed as Ritchie is actually Ringo Starr.
This album has been remastered beautifully. It shows the array of talent working hard to get in sync with one another on such classics as "Little Red Rooster," on which Clapton urges Wolf to play the guitar parts to help the others learn the tempo. Wolf, the teacher, initially resists but eventually says "Alright; let's get on it," before he shows the students how to play the great Willie Dixon cut.
Dixon's songs are featured heavily on this album, representing a prolific time for Wolf while he was with Chess Records. Among them are "I Ain't Superstitious," "Built for Comfort" and the mainstay "Wang Dang Doodle," one of the best blues songs ever penned and covered by everyone from Wolf to Koko Taylor.
Clapton really steps to the forefront on "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Highway 49" as he finally begins to understand his role in this musical lineup. The prominence shown to Clapton is indicative of a certain deal of respect from Wolf.
The first disc finishes with three tracks from "London Revisited," a second album culled from cuts from a second London session at Olympic Studios. Wolf has never sounded more true than on "Goin' Down Slow" and "Killing Floor," a song immortalized by Jimi Hendrix.
The second disc holds a dozen tracks of unreleased alternate takes of the same songs released on the original album, which went on to become Wolf's only Top 100 album chart.
Although some may be turned off at the repetition of tracks on the second album, there are some gems to treasure here. A stripped-down version of "Worried About My Baby," with only Wolf, Clapton and Wyman featured, is certainly among them.
Wolf was reportedly in ill health in 1970 when these tracks were recorded, but his voice rings of an energetic bluesman finally getting the respect he so richly deserved. He died in January 1976 of kidney failure, two months after his final performance with B.B. King.
Bob Dylan a bluesman? Doesn't exactly roll easily off the tongue, but don't tell that to Telarc Records.
A new album scheduled for release Tuesday sets out to prove that Dylan's monumental influence on music as whole was not lost in the blues genre. A compilation of performers joins together on "Blues on Blonde and Blonde" to stir the pot of Dylan's classic album and produce a potpourri of great blues sounds.
The album is the second in Telarc's tribute to influential albums. It follows last year's release of the "Blues White Album," a compilation of blues interpretations of the Beatles ground-breaking album.
Notable tracks on the new album are Walter Trout's screeching guitar on "Leopard-skin Pill Box Hat" Duke Robillard's southern drawl on "Pledging My Time" and Joe Louis Walker's gospel-tinged sound on "Stuck Inside Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again."
Album producer Randy Labbe sums it up best: "This diversity of voices and styles among the 12 tracks on 'Blues on Blonde on Blonde,' like its creator, is not limited to one stylistic approach but, like the blues, goes wherever it needs to in order to convey the message."
http://www.myinky.com/ecp/me_music_reviews/article/0,1626,ECP_2258_1896606,00.html |
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