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My Favorite Blues Ever Recorded


WRGKMC

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This is as good as it gets. There's a few flubs but the old rule is, you don't take chances and let it all hang out, there no way you can reach for the stars. I cut my teeth learning this one back in the 70's and hadn't heard this version before but its recorded during the same tour. The homogenized version is probably familiar to many, but this one is a sward fight you don't hear with any guitar bands today. You have to play this one back on a good playback system and crank it up to appreciate what's being done here. White lightening at its best.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1682170/04%20It's%20My%20Own%20Fault1.mp3

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That's the one, the man knows his albums. You want to buy the re-masterd version. It will sound like it was recorded yesterday instead of 45 years ago. I've seen CD's sold used for $9 but you got to dig. I found it for $5.89 on EBay after a long search. Some of the tracks are from the and live album which is recorded at a couple of different locations, but the Fillmore East 1970 has several tracks that aren't on that one. Rick is smokin' his guitar on the Fillmore tracks. There are several parts where John is giving him riff lessons during the concert that are slow enough to understand and its truly memorizing to hear the two of them communicate musically that way.

 

An ES335 and Firebird combination dueling together? Ricks fat full sized HB's and Johns Mini HB's? You have to be a guitarist to appreciate how well those two fine instruments blend together so well. No fancy electronics either, just cranked tube amps with their stock spring reverbs and the concert hall reverberation. The drummer has a wide fill and Hobbs is doing his trick bass riffs locked at the hip with the drummer. Truly energizing renditions of those songs that have no makeup pasted on them to cover up the true talent of the artists during their hay day.

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I couldn't get the track link to come up (computer problems). Love Johnny Winter though and remember him as the original bad ass guitar slinger, before Hendrix. How do you feel about his collaborations with Muddy Waters on the Blue Sky label?

 

"In live performances, Winter often told the story about how, as a child, he dreamed of playing with the blues guitarist Muddy Waters. In 1977, after Waters' long-time label Chess Records went out of business, he got his chance.[2] Winter brought Waters into the studio to record Hard Again for Blue Sky Records, a label set up by Winter's manager and distributed by Columbia. In addition to producing the album, Winter played guitar with Waters veteran James Cotton on harmonica. Winter produced two more studio albums for Waters, I'm Ready (with Big Walter Horton on harmonica) and King Bee and a best-selling live album Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live. The partnership produced three Grammy Awards for Waters and an additional Grammy for Winter's own Nothin' But the Blues, with backing by members of Waters' band. Waters told Deep Blues author Robert Palmer that Winter had done remarkable work in reproducing the sound and atmosphere of Waters's vintage Chess Records recordings of the 1950s. The albums gave Waters the highest profile and greatest financial successes of his life." - From Wikipedia

 

^ I was a fan before, but those three studio albums Johnny did with Muddy's band really put him over the top for me.

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I couldn't get the track link to come up (computer problems). Love Johnny Winter though and remember him as the original bad ass guitar slinger, before Hendrix. How do you feel about his collaborations with Muddy Waters on the Blue Sky label?

I was a fan before, but those three studio albums Johnny did with Muddy's band really put him over the top for me.

 

That was one of the albums where he goes back to playing traditional Texas/Louisiana delta type blues. He would do that every so many albums because he was mainly a blues guitarist. The production quality is very good and if you like the traditional blues, you can learn allot of basics off that one. There's only a couple of songs on there I like. The rest are kind of boring when it comes to guitar work. I prefer his first couple of Columbia albums for that kind of stuff. That one was a collaboration though so its more of him backing Muddy then one of his own. I did get to see Muddy open for Winter back in the 70's at the Philadelphia Spectrum. The band did have a good groove but not quite big enough for such a large venue. You could tell they were out of their element and would be much more comfortable playing a smaller gig.

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Ehh. I like supercharged Johnny Winter more.

 

 

Is that supercharged? See I'd put that more in the traditional Blues category which as you might have gathered I prefer (great slide work). The Muddy collaborations were real ensemble work with great keyboards (Pinetop Perkins) and harp (James Cotton and Jerry Portnoy). Don't get me wrong, I love Winters' version of Jumpin Jack Flash better than the Stones version, but I really like his Blues chops. People rave about Duane Allmans' slide playing but I'll take Johnny Winters' Blues slide over anybody.

 

Even the great Derek Trucks looks like he's struggling a little to keep up in this Crossroads classic:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAA1tssUoR0

 

 

 

 

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I have to admit, to my great shame, even though I love the blues and am from Texas, I'm really just beginning to listen to Johnny. I had an old LP of his from the 60s when I was a kid that I liked. Then later, I heard some of the stuff he did with Muddy and liked that too. Then I fell under the spell of Stevie Ray Vaughan and sort of "forgot" about Johnny. That was a damn shame. Because of that, I never went to see Johnny perform live, and now I'll never get the chance.

 

But thankfully, we have his recordings and videos, so I will be able to explore his music and enjoy it the rest of my life. Thanks to the OP for reminding me to listen to Johnny.

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I have to admit, to my great shame, even though I love the blues and am from Texas, I'm really just beginning to listen to Johnny. I had an old LP of his from the 60s when I was a kid that I liked. Then later, I heard some of the stuff he did with Muddy and liked that too. Then I fell under the spell of Stevie Ray Vaughan and sort of "forgot" about Johnny. That was a damn shame. Because of that, I never went to see Johnny perform live, and now I'll never get the chance.

 

But thankfully, we have his recordings and videos, so I will be able to explore his music and enjoy it the rest of my life. Thanks to the OP for reminding me to listen to Johnny.

 

He could play both traditional blues and blues rock (and some very fine jazz as well). To know much of his work you also have to check out Edgars albums. You'll find Johnny and Derringer on many that get missed on the radar screen if you don't listen to both artists. The full power of the two playing together peaked on their Together album which was a collection of rock and roll standards they likely played together from an early age. The vocal work on the album is some of their best and energy level top notch. This album probably did more to develop my own voice singing to it then any of their others.

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"Because of that, I never went to see Johnny perform live, and now I'll never get the chance."

 

I feel fortunate to have caught Johnny towards the end of his career, but I would have preferred to have seen him with Derringer or Muddy Waters (lucky to have caught those acts as well). Regret not seeing Gary Moore and the more recently departed Joe Cocker though.

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on this track "it`s my own fault" who starts playing first ,i suspect it is johnny winter because i assume he is the one singing as well ,but if you listen to "stormy monday blues " by the McCoys, Derrringers band the guitar playing sounds like the same guy who kicks off "it`s my own fault" .what i`m saying is ,is they both sound very similar ,confusing .

 

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