Leaping about Ten years forward from the last post today sees us focusing upon the purely British talents of Mick Taylor and Keith Richards, Peter Green and Danny Kirwan, and Paul Kossoff. What is it that`s in the British Water? It must be Mud, but, I don`t know - I`ve been drinking it for most of my life and…
Before Fleetwood Mac turned into a prog-rock-pop outfit they produced some awesome guitar based rock and blues music and I recommend having a listen to their album “Then Play On” from 1969. The band featured the combined and unmistakenly powerful guitar talents of Danny Kirwan and Peter Green.
Green`s unique tone from reversed pick up magnets in his neck position pick up combined with his distinctive hummingbird vibrato and Kirwan`s tremelo, sense of melody and song based approach to composition certainly gave Fleetwood Mac something haunting.
Compare this with the characteristically fragile power and awesome vibrato and unique phrasing of Paul Kossoff with Free featuring Paul Rodgers – probably the best white voice in rock music. With a guitar in his hands Paul Kossoff has got it all and you can hear inspired timing in free-fall, nuanced accents, soaring string bending (in reminiscence of Hendrix, and Albert, B.B., & Freddie King too…), razor tones and birdflight melodics.
Finally have a listen to another understated and under-rated blues guitar giant in the form of the melodically and stylistically incandescent Mick Taylor with the Stones who seems to combine a sense of timing, phrasing, and melody in a way aeons beyond the usual; fluid, stylistically overloaded, leagues of tone, emotional, exciting, uncomplicated and thoroughly meaningful all within the context of the song structure. Mesmerising. It`s Bobby Keys on sax`.
Are you with The Jets, The Sharks, or the Hawks?
1960 the year in which the Studebaker Hawk I saw this morning was manufactured, was a big year – the U.S. sent troops to Vietnam and Elvis returned from Germany. The Beatles earlier incarnation hooked up with Stuart Sutcliffe and left to play residency spots in Germany. Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and Duane Eddy all released records. Also featured in 1960 was the great Chester Burnett, or Howlin`Wolf who had been making records since 1951. 1960 saw Wolf release four records including Spoonfull. Wolf had a great ear and since `55 had been working with the awesome guitarist Hubert Sumlin.
It`s likely that Hubert Sumlin`s electric playing brought Chicago across the Atlantic and into the hands of the Great British Blues Players & bands like The Rolling Stones, who made their first recording in 1962, The Animals, or the incandescent guitar trio of Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton – all members of The Yardbirds. In between, Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studios. If you haven`t already heard what he did there in 54-55 with guitarist Scotty Moore then get a copy of the The Sun Sessions immediately – the guitar on that`s alright Mama is off the hook.
Ever wondered where it`s at ?
It`s right here…check out the crossover between B.B.King here and Clapton`s live performance from the 1980 album Just One Night in Budokan. If you were going to buy ONLY ONE Clapton you need to buy about six…and don`t forget in a similar way to Hendrix, Clapton`s guitar prowess has overshadowed his songwriting genius…
1. Eric Clapton `Eric Clapton`
2. Eric Clapton `Just One Night`
3. John Mayalls Bluesbreakers `Beano` Album
4. Eric Clapton `Behind the Sun`
5. Eric Clapton `461 Ocean Boulevard`
6. The London Howlin` Wolf Sessions
7. Cream `Wheels of Fire` although all 3 albums are good
8. Eric Clapton `Sessions for Robert J`
Sweet Sixteen
Have you ever loved a woman
Double trouble
This is what happens when you take Memphis – (Chicago) – to Surrey in the U.K.; man are King`s phrasing and tones bell like and sonorific?…but I`ve got a soft spot for Clapton cause I`m from the same village and used to bump into him when picking up the papers on a Sunday morning. He`s a great bloke.
Hi, I`m seeking inspiration whilst recording through exploring abandoned buildings in the presence of a psychic investigator. There`s obviously a supernatural tradition innate to the blues lyric and the historical context from which the early blues pioneers emerged.
It`s a subject of great interest both for its pseudo religious supranatural leanings and the degree to which this tradition has been perpetuated through different media to this day. The lone artist, soaked in liquour or absinthe, an artist struggling with, for or against the elements or humanity in defiance of tradition, change, oppression -a freedom fighter channelling the forces of good or evil through a talismanic or demoniacal engagement to the guitar. A vocal tradition hoodoo-esque, incantational, evangelical, proselytising, confessional, mean, base or sexual. What do you want your blues to be?
An incantatory, elemental, almost Amerindian element to the blues, a rhythmic, hypnotism and hoodoo-esque quality exists in all of John Lee`s blues and he`s a severely underrated icon perhaps to my mind. Spot the Robert Johnson stylistics and hear the cold, dirty earth under his feet. It`s wake up time so ruminate upon your past, present and future…it`s all here…
Although only idiosyncratically dissimilar to the Tulsa sound of Oklahoman J.J. Cale, but miles away from Woody Guthries narrative egalitarianism, Slim Harpo, as heard below, delivers the languid swamp blues Louisiana sound with as little effort as it apparently takes on King Bee which was later covered by almost everybody including Englishmen The Pink Floyd, here, The Rolling Stones and real deal Muddy Waters. Although JJ Cale started recording as early as 1958 he didn`t really kick off until 1971 with the album Naturally. If you`d like to take the swamp blues to rock and roll, psychedelia, grooves, shuffles and head into jazz experimentalism start with (Californian) Captain Beefheart`s 1966 Diddy Wah Diddy Howlin` Wolflike release and listen to Mirror Man, Clear Spot and then step into the deep space weirdness of Trout Mask Replica`s Moonlight on Vermont and perhaps Bat Chain Puller, or Lick My Decals off Baby. White Stripes have been covering a few Beefheart Numbers lately… the blues will never die because it`s in everything; and when you stretch that string you`re stretching your life!
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