Cosmik Blues January 2004: Eric's Top Five Blues Releases of 2003
The Year of the Blues was a great year for the blues. Every year, I celebrate the New Year by picking my favorite blues releases, and I invite you to join me in celebrating five releases that have made it onto to my Top Five list here on the screens of Cosmik Debris. I've thrown in some stragglers, too, and hope that you'll welcome the New Year with the blues.
Bob Margolin's All Star Blues Jam (Telarc) figures prominently in my blues year, not only for his excellent collection on this disc, but also his re-mastering of the 70's classic Muddy Mississippi Waters Live (below). The All Star Blues Jam disc reunites Bob with some of Muddy's bandmates, including Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Carey Bell and Pinetop Perkins. Rounding out this dream blues unit are Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy D. Lane (Jimmy Rogers' son), and Mookie Brill. Listen to Little Walter's "Juke," Bob's "Mean Old Chicago," and the classic "My Baby Owns a Whiskey Store," and you'll see why Bob's backporch style brought the blues home for me in 2003.
Various Artists, Last of the Mississippi Jukes (Sanctuary/Black Starz!) is an unforgettable blues snapshot of the Mississippi Delta. The Black Starz! cable network aired this homage to two Mississippi juke joints early in the year, and the CD and DVD both deserve places on any blues fan's shelves. We see contemporary blues acts playing Clarksdale's Ground Zero blues club, and we learn more about the effort to preserve the Subway Lounge in Jackson, Mississippi. Catch Bobby Rush, Chris Thomas King, King Edward, and other acts that keep the blue flames burning on Last of the Mississippi Jukes.
Various Artists, West Side Blues (Delmark) is a budget-priced collection of Chicago blues players from a Chicago-based boutique blues and jazz label that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003. West Side Blues features many treasures from the Delmark vaults, including Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Luther Allison, Willie Kent, and Jimmy Dawkins. As an introduction to specific styles of Chicago blues, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better overall picture of guitar-fueled blues. Other titles in this series, including Blues From Up the Country, Masters of Boogie Piano, For Jumpers Only!, and Bob Lives, are bargains at twice the price.
Muddy Mississippi Waters Live (Sony Legacy) is a remastered and expanded set from Muddy's classic late 70's album. Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin produced and remastered the disc, and added another disc from Chicago-area shows with Muddy's late-70's band that featured Jerry Portnoy, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones. Muddy's onstage banter is a hoot, and versions of "Corinna, Corinna," "Trouble No More," and "Kansas City" bring me back to the days when I saw this band live in Chicago. Margolin's liner notes take us song-by-song through each set, and he should know: he played alongside Muddy for most of the 70's.
Kim Wilson, Lookin' for Trouble (M-C Records). Kim's got a well-deserved GRAMMY nomination for this one, and the disc's got an old-school feel for Chicago-style blues fueled by Kim's harp. There are two versions of the title cut, and the first one, "Lookin' for Trouble II," continues to blow me away each time I hear it. While Kim relies on a couple of songs from Jimmie Rogers and Willie Dixon, nine of the songs were written or co-written by Kim. I don't usually recommend CDs based on the strength of one song, but Lookin' for Trouble is my exception to that rule: play "Lookin' for Trouble II" and you'll agree with me that the future of the blues is in mighty good hands.
James Harman, Lonesome Moon Trance (Pacific Blues). I shouted about this CD last November, and it's remained a favorite ever since I first heard Harman blow the 6-minute title cut. He's got some first-class sidemen to help out on a dozen prime cuts that simmer, shimmy, and shake. West Coast blues guitar wizard Kid Ramos sits in on "Double Hogback Growler" and "Miss Bessie Mae Blues," and Chicago blues guitar man Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin drags "Bad Luck Life" right down to the Delta, where it belongs. Over the past few years, James has had some personal setbacks and some record distribution deals gone wrong, but he's landed on the new Pacific Blues Recording imprint with his long-time engineer Jerry Hall.
I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize a few other outstanding blues releases of 2003, most notably Tommy Castro's Gratitude (Heart and Soul), Tab Benoit's Sea Saint Sessions (Telarc) and Rory Block's Last Fair Deal, also on Telarc. I'd also like to shout about Martin Scorsese's public TV series, The Blues. While the series was uneven in the eyes of many critics, it did bring to the record store an amazing amount of blues CDs featuring a dizzying array of blues artists. The 21-cut blues sampler disc from that series, The Best of the Blues (Universal), is an outstanding compilation and one that rewards multiple listenings.
Check out some past Cosmik Blues:
COSMIK BLUES - (1 Jan 2004) - Who will win the 2004 Blues GRAMMYs? Eric Steiner looks at the nominees in several categories and tells you what his crystal ball is saying about these awards.
