Month: July 2012

Allman’s solo albums have been good to excellent and generally more satisfying than most of the Allman Brothers post-Duane releases; they’re bluesier, darker, more down-home.

With a band built around Mac “Dr. John” Rebenack on piano and Doyle Bramhall II on guitar, with Low Country Blues, Allman has made an album of the type many artists in the later middle stages of their career have tried to make – one that pays homage to their personal musical journey and roots, their heroes, and to what experience has helped them find what is, for them, most real and valid.

This collection includes a version of Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied” (with Allman joining Bramhall and T-Bone Burnett on guitar), a hallelujah version of Don Robey’s “Blind Man,” and a classic take on Amos Milburn’s “Tears, Tears, Tears” where Allman lets Rebenack and Bramhall take the spotlight. The songs, it would seem, are included because they are part of Allman’s musical core; this is where he’s at and where he’s always wanted to be. B.B. King’s “Please Accept My Love” is straight out of a Beale Street juke joint Saturday night, with Allman’s journeyman-soul-singer’s vocal call matched by Bramhall’s tasteful guitar response. Low Country Blues brings out the positive implications of the phrase “tried and true” with the emphasis on “true.”

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Jon Spencer formed his Blues Explosion ensemble in New York City in 1991. The band was instantly hated and beloved; purists saw them as treading on age-old blues traditions with no respect. Others were fascinated by the band’s deconstruction and reinvention of the music.

At heart, the Blues Explosion was pure power trio. Spencer, then recently of noise-rockers Pussy Galore, played guitar and Theremin, sang and hollered, and wrote many of the originals. Drummer Russell Simins and leadguitarist Judah Bauer rounded out the sonic attack.

Through the years, the band cut numerous albums, EPs, singles, and released outtakes and alternative takes. They also collaborated freely with a variety of musicians, from Dub Narcotic Sound System to Delta blues man R.L. Burnside.

The Shout Factory label has collected and re-released the band’s catalog in stylish two-CD sets that combine the original albums with various previously and newly released tracks.

Year One, on the other hand, is a new set collecting 38 of the band’s earliest tracks, and is a must for diehard aficionados.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

It’s not often the man who starts a record label is featured on one of its first releases, but that’s the case with Chris Harper. And when you’re backed by players like Jimmy Burns, John Primer, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and Bob Stroger, things will likely turn out alright, musically.

The guitars of Primer and Burns cook on the acoustic stomp of “Down In the Bottom” and the slow blues of “I Smell Trouble.” Both supply vocals full of soul and feeling. Primer’s guitar and vocal carry the boogie of “Mojo Hand” and the flying country-blues of “Digging My Potatoes,” while Burns’ slinky guitar and wonderful vocal shine on “Hand Me Down My Cane.” Harper’s vocals aren’t as strong, but his harp playing is top-notch.

Four Aces and a Harp doesn’t break new ground, but it’s full of soulful, energetic performances where the players simply have a great time making music.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Avant-garde guitarists Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, and Glenn Phillips share a love for the blues, so when a threeway collaboration was suggested, it morphed into a tribute to Willie Dixon. To differentiate it from a mere blues collection, the trio modeled it loosely after Chess Records’ much maligned but oddly attractive late-’60s albums Electric Mud and This Is
Howlin’ Wolf’s New Album by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. So it’s also a nod to Miles Davis alum Pete Cosey, whose fuzz and wah were featured on both of those LPs.

Vocals are shared by Queen Esther and Eric Mingus, son of the late jazz icon Charles Mingus. Sharp’s liner notes explain, “As guitarists, we tried to go over the top while relying on Melvin and Lance [bassist Gibbs and drummer Carter, respectively] to keep us connected to terra firma, whether rock solid or in temblor mode.”

“Over the top” is an understatement, as Sharp and Phillips (interspersing some clusters of “gnat notes,” as Zappa would call them, amidst some remarkably vocal-like squalls) illustrate in “Which Came First.” But the guitarists can also play lowdown and authentically, as demonstrated by Sharp’s intro to “Backdoor Man” and Kaiser’s sweet slide solo on “Pie In The Sky.”

Recorded live at New York’s Tonic club, the set eschews Dixon warhorses, for the most part, in favor of lesscovered compositions like “It Don’t Make Sense (You Can’t Make Peace)” and “Eternity” (co-written by Bob Weir). The dirge-like “Same Thing,” however, from Muddy’s repertoire, is the perfect canvas for the guitarists to stretch out and stretch the boundaries of the blues – Sharp wrestling an eightstring Fender Stringmaster console steel into submission, Kaiser delivering an impassioned break with remarkable sustain, Phillips viciously employing volume swells, whammy shakes, and soulful bends. Willie and Muddy would no doubt smile in approval.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s May. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

After George Harrison played the simple hook to the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” on sitar, then studied with Ravi Shankar, Indian music became all the rage, with Shankar its rock star.

Harrison signed Shankar to his Dark Horse label in ’73, and the following year produced Shankar Family & Friends, mixing Indian classical musicians with jazz and rock players, such as Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Tom Scott, Emil Richards, and Nicky Hopkins on Harrison’s “I Am Missing You” and music by Shankar, including the three-part, 30-minute “Dream, Nightmare & Dawn.” Harrison also took his friend and mentor on tour in ’74, with Shankar’s orchestra opening for Harrison’s Dark Horse band.

The limited-edition boxed set Collaborations’ three CDs present Family & Friends with the pair’s other Dark Horse releases – the studio recording of The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India (1976) and Chants Of India (1997). Also included is a DVD of a 1974 Royal Albert Hall performance of Festival – the first event organized by Harrison’s Material World charitable foundation, featuring a 17-piece Indian classical ensemble as well as a solo performance by Shankar with Alla Rakha, his tabla player since 1962.

Unfortunately, over the years, much of the original footage from the concert (featuring amazing playing by such Indian luminaries as L. Subramaniam on violin and Sultan Khan on sarangi) was misplaced or destroyed, but the restored surviving footage is presented for the first time. The complete audio, however, was preserved, and is included with the existing footage as well as in a separate audio section of the DVD.

A bonus section shows Shankar’s daughter, sitar star Anoushka, remixing the concert in a San Diego studio, under the watchful (and joyful) eye of her 90-year-old father, along with George’s widow, Olivia.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.