Am I Blue? The first Fufu Blues Fix (originally posted 23 March 2007)
At long last, I’ve got some second helpings to serve up. This post was originally published way back in March. At any rate, here it is again for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.
Hello, kiddies.
It’s time to switch gears today and serve up a heaping plate of blues. Today I really had the blues, too. I wanted to grill but it ’s raining. Both Leslie and I had a pretty dismal day at work, short as it was. Thinkng about the songs I am about to serve here makes me feel better, as a good blues song should. Nothing is going to spoil my joy today for I still intend to grill, rain or shine, I will still go to work tomorrow and prove once again that I am an irreplaceable asset, Leslie gets to see the Indigo Girls (her all time favourite band) next week, and most important, I will indeed complete this post. This mix was instigated by reading Larry’s post from Tuesday where he expresses his love for Canned Heat. I’m hearing you, Larry. This one’s for you. I do have to agree with him that most of the blues from the 70s was not specifically too good. I was sifting through tracks to play (because this was intended to be a collection of blues from the 70s) and I found it quite difficult to come up with a solid playstack. For the most part, here are just a few of my favourites. There’s a wide assortment of styles represented here spanning the post war period on up to the mid 70s. Again, I must thank Mike for the thorough introduction to this genre and the people associated with it who he affectionately refers to as “The Original Rappers”. Everyone should know that it was indeed the blues that laid the foundation for EVERY SINGLE GENRE OF MUSIC that we take for granted today. I repeat, EVERY SINGLE ONE. With that said, get your plates ready.
Am I Blue? A Fufu Stew Blues Fix
01 Introspeak by Billie Holiday. This sound byte is very well known.
02 (I) Done Somebody Wrong-Elmore James. Truly one of the all time greatest slide players. This man influenced more rock stars than any one can count, most notably, Jimi Hendrix and Duane Alllman.
03 Bad Luck Shadow-Johnny Otis. Featuring a young Shuggie Otis on slide.
04 Booby Trap Baby-The Carter Brothers. A recent discovery of mine about four years ago. Not too original with elements of B.B. King, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Buddy Guy, but quite satisfying NOLA blues.
05 Caldonia-Louis Jordan. The TRUE architect of rock and roll (I’ve said that once before). Taken from the hard to find classic “Somebody Up There Digs Me”, a collection of Jordan’s standards done with a 1960s twist.
06 Bad Acting Woman-Little Walter With Baby Face Leroy and Muddy Waters. One of the many sides made for the legendary J.O.B. records, circa 1949. This is one of Muddy Waters’ earliest recording sessions.
07 Short John-Dinah Washington. Aretha Franklin’s predecessor and rightful inspiration as the singing performance easily proves. From the out of print album “Late Late Show” circa 1962. Surprisingly enough, the tracks from that album are not included in the Complete Mercury Recordings box set…
08 Don’t Answer The Door-B.B. King. My all time favourite B.B. King track, from “The Electric B.B. King”.
09 Good Time Boogie-John Mayall. From my all time favourite blues record “Jazz Blues Fusion”. Leslie and I were fortunate enough to catch Mayall during his 70th birthday tour a couple of years back. If you really want to see a blistering contemporary blues performance, you must check out this DVD…
10 Jumpin’ Jimmy-Jimmy Reed. I picked up this one strangely enough at the local dollar store. I could have easily paid fifty bucks for it and been equally as satisfied. The name of the CD is “Funky Funky Soul”, and it is too… I strongly suggest you seek this one out.
11 Keep Your Hand Out Of My Pocket-Sonny Boy Williamson. One of the best from the second “Sonny Boy”, Rice Miller. John Lee Williamson plays the role equally well.
12 It Serves Me Right To Suffer-Jimmy Dawkins. Another recent discovery taken from the 1969 classic “Fast Fingers”.
13 Louise-J.B. Lenoir. John Mayalls primary influence, and now my all time favourite bluesman. The voice and diction are priceless.
14 Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man-Bobby Rush. A funky reading of theis classic blues standard. How’s about some Hot Tuna, huh?
15 Mr. Dittas’ Grocery Store-Lightnin’ Hopkins Feat. The 13th Floor Elevators. Muddy went psychedelic and so did Wolf. Lightnin’ had no other choice but to add his two cents and create a very interesting piece entitled “Freeform Patterns”.
16 Rough Dried Woman (part 2)-Hubert Sumlin. Howlin’ Wolf’s right hand man, and quite the axeman in his own right as this track demonstrates.
17 The Little Red Rooster-Luther Allison. A pretty rare occasion for Motown to issue blues records, but this one from 1975 is quite heavy. It’s worth the assessment.
18 Galloping Horses A Lazy Mule-Junior Wells. One of Steppenwolf’s main inspirations, and an overall great piece of blues…
19 Big Legged Woman (Live)-Freddie King. One of Eric Clapton’s main inspirations. This track was recorded live at the Electric Ballroom circa 1974.
please download and enjoy Am I Blue, an .mp3 file, 62 MB. There’s no zip file as of yet. I’ll add a link for one real soon.
There’s more to come so please stay tuned and bear with me as my bad habit of multitasking shows once again.
Peace and blessings.
