One Summer Day

For me, Cream’s version of I’m Sitting On Top Of The World was that moment when I said, "Yeah, alright.  I get it.  The Blues."

Cream gave me Muddy, and Hooker, Robert Johnson, and B.B., and Son House, and Keb’ Mo’, and Bonnie Raitt.

Mission Impossible

Udiscovermusic doesn’t apologize for giving you an alphabetical – instead of a ranked – listing of The 100 Greatest Blues Albums, saying that would be nigh on impossible, and I don’t blame them.

I don’t pretend to be on intimate terms with every album or artist on the list, but I’ve heard enough of them to believe everyone that should be there is there.  And I sure wouldn’t want to rank ‘em.

The inclusion of so many white folks – especially from the wrong side of the Atlantic Ocean – may rankle a few blues purists, but not me.  In terms of respect for the music, not to mention influence, they belong.

So Many Roads

With apologies to the purists, here are the songs that helped me figure out that  The Blues was the thing:

·      Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

·      Led Zeppelin – When The Levee Breaks

·      The Doors – Riders On The Storm

·      Canned Heat – On The Road Again

·      Cream – Crossroads

·      Led Zeppelin – Since I’ve Been Loving You

·      Elvis Presley – Heartbreak Hotel

·      Johnny Winter – Highway 61 Revisited

·      The Beatles – Come Together

·      Creedence Clearwater Revival – Suzie-Q

Yeah, I know – but we all get there by different roads.  For me, Main Street was called Beatles Avenue.  Take a right at Rock & Roll Drive, left on Psychedelic Boulevard, left again at Hard Rock Road, slip down a back alley and you find this cool juke joint where they’re all playing:  B.B., Muddy, Sonny Boy, Howlin’’ Wolf, Hooker …  all of ‘em.

Does the road matter if we reach the destination?

Hoochie Coochie Man

Q: What do Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Steppenwolf, the Allman Brothers, Otis Rush, Gary Moore, Koko Taylor, Canned Heat, the Stones, Steve Miller, the Animals, Tom Petty, Sam Cooke, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Elvis, and the Everly Brothers all have in common?

A: Willie Dixon.  They all recorded Willie Dixon songs, per Gibson’s 10 Great Willie Dixon Songs.

Oh, and Paul Butterfield, Savoy Brown, Ten Years After, Etta James, the Pointer Sisters, Jeff Beck, James Cotton, Hendrix, Megadeth and the White Stripes.

That’s quite a list.  A hall of fame, who’s-who, Desert Island, best-ever-playlist kind of list.

You can make your case for Robert Johnson, or Muddy or B.B. as the most influential blues musician of all time, but when it comes to blues songwriting, no one else comes close.  It’s Willie Dixon that make the world wanna know what this all about.

Still Got the Blues

Gibson’s Top 10 Modern Blues Guitarists prove that the Blues, like Rock ‘n’ Roll, can never die.

Just like a generation of giants took the torch in the 60’s, a new group took it up in the last decade or so.  Here’s the list:

 1. Joe Bonamassa

 2. John Mayer

 3. Jack White

 4. Eric Gales

 5. Dan Auerbach

 6. Davy Knowles

 7. Kenny Wayne Shepherd

 8. Derek Trucks

 9. Jonny Lang

10. Ben Harper

All deserving, and all sources of comfort.  The torch is in safe hands.

For my money, Bonamassa is the Eric Clapton of the bunch, standing head and shoulders above the rest.  Kinda suprprised to see Derek Trucks as low as #8.  He’s good enough for two (three, really) Grammies, plus a long stint with Eric Clapton.

Speaking of Clapton, Doyle Bramhall II would get my nod for the list, as would acoustic guru Harry Manx.

Anyway, it’s all good, and Muddy can rest in peace.  And with the likes of Bonamassa, Jack White and The Black Keys out there, my generation can stop fretting about that Led Zeppelin reunion.  Don’t need it.

Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Artists

The Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Artists list is a little closer to good enough.  A little.

Here's the Top 25:
 1. The Beatles.  Correct.
 2. Bob Dylan.  Good.
 3. Elvis.  Sure.
 4. Rolling Stones.  Lookin' pretty good so far ...
 5. Chuck Berry.  Man, they're gettin' this about right!
 6. Jimi Hendrix.  Can't argue there!
 7. James Brown.  Sigh.  Just too good to last, I suppose.
 8. Little Richard.  Curious, but nice.
 9. Aretha Franklin.  Surprisingly low, no?
10. Ray Charles.  Sure.
11. Bob Marley.  Ya mon!
12. Beach Boys.  Inevitable, I guess.
13. Buddy Holly.  Good.
14. Led Zeppelin.  Yep.
15. Stevie Wonder.  OK, fine.
16. Sam Cooke.  Higher, I think.
17. Muddy Waters.  OK, these people do know what they're doin'.
18. Marvin Gaye.  Ya, maybe, 'cause I feared higher here.
19. Velvet Underground.  Oh for cripesakes, why this enduring lie?
20. Bo Diddley.  Alright, the list-makers have redeemed themselves.
21. Otis Redding.  OK, OK.
22. U2.  Yes.
23. Bruce Springsteen.  No.  Top 10.
24. Jerry Lee Lewis.  Ya, I get it.
25. Fats Domino.  Not sure I do.

So this is artists here.  We're not talking just playing, singing, writing or performing, right?  But all the above.  And influence and impact and all that, right?

Therefore Howlin' Wolf is not #51.  And Clapton at #53 is crazy.  And how can James Taylor be only #84?  How can Booker T be all the way down at #93, when he backed up, inspired or otherwise impacted half the list above him?  And Tom Petty is absent from the list?

Thanks for keeping Aerosmith in the bottom half, though (#57).

Now, can someone explain to me where they sold that koolaid that made you think the Velvet Underground were so freakin' cool?  'cause I never drank that stuff, brother, never a sip.

Mojo's Still Working

A while back, I had the chance to see James Cotton live.

There aren't many living blues legends left, and it's always a special occasion when you can see one of them.  Check, hear one of them.

Even though he belongs to a younger generation, Cotton has a direct connection to many of the greats that influenced modern music:  Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Freddie King, Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King.  He played with 'em all.  He's also played with the generation of blues masters that followed:  Taj Mahal, Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop ...

Cotton has also played with the students of all those guys, the ones that directly defined the classic rock sound:  Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, Santana, Johnny Winter, The Grateful Dead ...

A sonic thread woven through blues rock, Memphis, Chicago and the Delta.  A great songwriter, and an inspired blues harp player.

What a great show!  He can barely walk, he can't really talk, but man can he wail!  Great songs, tight band, and one of the best to ever hold a harmonica over a microphone.

Cotton's special guest was Matt "Guitar" Murphy, who has played for Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Etta James and Chuck Berry.  He left the fancy, showy stuff to the two younger guitarists in the band, but I'd say he had the winning percentage of tastiest licks delivered that night.

Two blues greats, two living legends, two real-time music lessons for the price of one.  As thrilling as seeing a McCartney show?  No, of course not.  Value for money?  You bet!

A while back,

Favourite Songwriters - Part 2

Going back to a previous post  ...  whenever you cut a list short at 10, you start feeling guilty about who you have omitted (well, I do, anyway).

So, some honourable mentions:

Influential blues greats:  Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Leadbelly, Willie Dixon.  See?   There are too many to squeeze into a top ten.

Pete Townshend.  You could say he's uneven, but his best material is huge, and massively influential.

Paul Simon.  Ditto.

Neil Young.  I mean, Neil Young is Neil Young, and even if he didn't make my top ten list, he should be on yours.  Who said this had to make sense?

David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler and Warren Zevon.  My holy trinity of under-rated songwriters.  You can decide which is father, son and holy ghost.

Yikes!  And so I just remembered I forgot - completely forgot - about Bruce Springsteen.  Too late to revise the top ten, so let's put him in with Neil Young and say he should be on yours.

Favourite Albums - Part 1

I stumbled across a Beatles forum a while ago,and the burning question under discussion was, "What's your favourite Beatles album?"  Like it's possible to decide, or consensus could be achieved.  So I typed "the last one I heard" and moved on.

But like a bad TV commercial, the idea wouldn't go out of my head.  So, against my better judgement, here is my list of favourite albums (excluding the Greatest Hits, since that would be cheating).

AC/DC - Back In Black.  Easy.

The Band - Music From Big Pink.  They could have stopped there.

The Beatles - yes.

Bonnie Raitt - Luck of the Draw.  Tough call.

B.B. King - Deuces Wild.  I know it's cheating, but you get his greatest hits repackaged with some great guest artists.

The Cars - A tie.  The Cars and Candy O.

Cat Stevens - Another tie.  Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat.

Colin James - National Steel.  More acoustic and less big band, please.

Cream - Wheels of Fire.  'cause it has two discs.

The Cult - Electric.  In case you care.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here.  Maybe it's the cover.

Deep Purple - Another tie.  Shades of ...  and Fireball.  Not Machine Head, not that I don't like that.

Dire Straits - yes.

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True.  It was.

Eric Clapton - Crossroads.  OK, that's cheating.  So From the Cradle.  No wait!  Me and Mr. Johnson.  Wait!  ...

The Guess Who - Share the Land.  Just to be contrary.

James Taylor - Sweet Baby James.  Unsurpassable.

Jeff Beck - nope

Jethro Tull - Mood dependent, but let's say Stand Up.

More later.

About The Blues

John Lennon famously said "before Elvis there was nothing."  But as far as I was concerned before John Lennon there was nothing.  For a long time anyway.

When Muddy Waters sang "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll," to me, that was just some old guy trying to stay relevant.  For years, I just didn't get it.  I got that Cream and Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull were doing all these great blues covers, but all I was hearing was Cream and Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull.  To me they were just covers.  Even when my idols brought their idols Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf over to London to record, I didn't get it. I thought they were just being nice to these old guys.

Years later, I finally went back and started to listen.  And I got it.

What's not to get?  A hypnotizing groove, raw sexual energy, guitar virtuousity, betrayal, heartbreak, injustice, standing alone against the world.  How had I missed all that?  Wow!

Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker, BB King  ...  they may not have shaped my world as directly as Lennon, McCartney, Clapton or Page, but in the end their influence was even bigger.  First they influenced me indirectly through my idols.  Then they touched me directly.

And it turns out there was plenty before Lennon, plenty before Elvis.  It just keeps going back:  Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Son House, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson ...  there is no beginning.

Hopefully there will be no end.