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June
2007
Paul Reddick Revue NorthernBlues/Festival
For all the new fans who've purchased Villanelle, here's the chance to put some context behind Paul Reddick's name. Revue collects songs from earlier pages of Reddick's career in a way that other artists may find useful: tracks that you know from Villanelle are sequenced around songs from other albums and projects to show quite effectively that he didn't appear out of nowhere. Rattlebag, the last album with the Sidemen is well represented along with three of Reddick's recordings with the Rhythm & Truth Brass Band. These are here, I think, to show us that Reddick never wanted simply to be the singer in a blues band. Colin Linden produced this collection, Rattlebag and Villanelle. His guiding hand helped two songs from earlier Sidemen albums fit in also. There are two previously unreleased songs to end the album from the earliest days of the band, included to show how much energy they played with, Reddick says. One of the side projects was to Johnny's Blues, NorthernBlues' tribute to Johnny Cash, Reddick & Linden's contribution was "Train of Love" also included here. From such disparate sources, though, comes a very listenable album, attractively packaged and I think only completists like me would have all the songs here already in their collections. Paul Reddick's is a voice to be reckoned with for some time to come and this one will help tide us over nicely until Villanelle's successor is ready.
Sue Foley, Deborah Coleman & Roxanne
Potvin Time Bomb Ruf/Fusion
On the strength of Sue Foley's Blues Guitar Women project, these well chosen representatives were booked for the Third Blues Caravan tour of Europe. They gathered at Ruf Records USA in Minneapolis to prepare. They were ready. Live in the studio, they start off smoking, with three songs by Foley: the title song is a perfect show-starting instrumental, with each guitarist soloing. Roxanne Potvin takes the vocal on "Hitting On Nothing", a fine Stax-styled soul blues before Foley at her most Dylanesque, presents "So Far". Deborah Coleman, not to be outdone, takes the lead on James Brown's "Talking Loud" and nails it. Potvin's up fifth, slowing the pace right down with a beautiful new ballad, "(Are my Arms) Strong Enough to Hold You". Foley's trademark raunch guitar introduces her "Show Me" before Coleman debuts a smoldering new blues, "Motor City". Potvin's rocking plea for action, "Get Up" leads nicely into Foley's best song, "Two Moons Gone", a lament for lost love. Coleman's final vocal is the clever "Don't Start The Car (If You Ain't Gonna Drive)". The set concludes with "In the Basement", the duet originally by Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto. The three vocalist/guitarists have a great time, as they do on the entire CD, shouting encouragement to each other. The backing band, especially Bruce McCabe on piano, do a great job. The audience for this tour is in for a real treat!
Downchild- Five Re-Issued CDs on Linus/Universal
In doing a column on new releases, it's sometimes easy to lose sight of what got
us here. Downchild's first album was
recorded in the basement of Rochdale College in
its heyday in 1971 by the then two-year-old band and the LP was issued on
Special Records. The LP would soon be picked up
by RCA Victor, which turned out to be a very good thing for me because my first copy
had grown bubbles! Bootleg has not been
available since then. So you can now return to those
early days at Grossman's with Hock &
Donny, Jim Milne, Cash Wall, Dave
Woodward and Ron Jacobs. In 1977, a collection drawn from
the next three LPs (originally on GRT and now available on CD through Attic) was
released on Posterity Records. So Far also
contained the "Stagger Lee"/"For Pete's Sake" 45.
Now it's back too, with "For Pete's Sake",
Jane Vasey's wonderful piano feature once
again there for you to enjoy. Good Times
Guaranteed (1994), Lucky 13 (1997) and
Come On In (2004) are the three studio CDs with
Chuck Jackson as the lead singer and have been available in stores and they
were always at www.downchild.com. It's good
to be reminded of them all once more.
McKenna Mendelson Mainline _ Two Re-Issued CDs on Pacemaker/EMI
I want to continue with re-issue news and with another famous band. Their iconic Stink album has been available on CD for some time and at a super budget price. Blues, which preceded it in recording but was released after, has unfortunately already been deleted in its CD version. The Bump `N' Grind Revue, the landmark 1972 New Year's Eve show at the Victory Burlesque Theatre, is now available on CD through Pacemaker/EMI. Mike McKenna tells me he's now preparing the DVD release of the show. You may, or may not, recall that The Revue was broadcast live on TVOntario. When it comes out, we are to look for our Editor, who says he was right beside the runway! Perhaps shortly after you read this, the Our Home and Native Land album will also be available on CD and you can sing along to "Brain Damage" once more. The web site is www.pacemaker.cd.
Little Miss Higgins Junction City
LMH/Festival
Nokomis SK is a rail junction. The CN & CP lines cross there and its also the home of Little Miss Higgins and her blues band. Cobbler Shop Sessions, the last CD, consciously tried to re-create the sound of the Thirties. This one keeps the same basic instrumentation but is decidedly contemporary. The song titles are informative: "That Train A' Comin' Down", "In The Middle of Nowhere", "Nokomis Waltz". Foy Taylor is on the other guitar, keeping the Memphis Minnie/Joe McCoy influence intact and a fine performance of their "You Ain't Done Nothing To Me" is a highlight. Producer Tim Williams has brought along some members of his Highwater Jug Band for some of the songs. One of them is another highlight, the catchy "The Dirty Ol' Tractor Song" - it'll have you humming & tapping away well before it ends. Mississippi John Hurt's "Frankie" features a clarinet part from Highwater's Cedric Blary and Williams on washboard. Higgins takes some liberties with the lyrics and the song takes on quite a different sound. I'm not sure Hurt would recognize it if he could hear it but he would probably enjoy it. Two songs are from a theatre production that has little to do with blues. Joel Tremblay wrote the play, Oh George, and the two songs. "If I Could" is a ballad that isn't noticeably out of place but "Liar Liar" is klezmer and with its accordion and clarinet is quite a jarring experience. Miss Higgins sings these very well indeed, however. If you thought she feels trapped in Nokomis, just listen to the concluding "Velvet Barley Bed" and you'll realize she won't be leaving any time soon. A wonderful CD of acoustic blues by a songwriter and singer to watch.
Maria Muldaur Naughty, Bawdy & Blue Stony Plain/WEA
This one completes Muldaur's Stony Plain tribute trilogy. Richland Women Blues was devoted to country blues, Sweet Lovin' Old Soul continued the theme but concentrated on the women, performers like Memphis Minnie and Lucille Bogan. Both CDs were nominated for Grammy Awards. This one aims at "Classic Blues", as it has been called, the world of Mamie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace and more.
They performed in theatres and other large venues, with larger bands and Muldaur enlisted James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band to help out. She may well be the foremost interpreter of this style today, not only does she have a gift for it, she also received instruction from Spivey herself while still a teenager in New York. A couple of years later the Kweskin Jug Band recorded with Sippie Wallace and Muldaur was there. She has recorded in this style frequently over the years and I've always felt it was her strength but this is the first full CD of it. She has chosen her songs well, with a delightful range of innuendo but no coarseness.
Her visit to Hugh's Room this past month showed that in the hands of a talented performer, these songs never die.
Duke Robillard's World Full of Blues Stony Plain/WEA
Duke's creativity seems unstoppable. Last year's Guitar Groove-A-Rama billed itself as a showcase for his guitar influences, this one moves beyond that to blues in general and a wide definition of blues at that. This is where the creativity comes in: two discs, "All Killer No Filler" - just as the back cover says! About half the package is original, with some fine covers running the song count to 23. His originals are led by "Monkey Arms", a hook-laden written to his wife and the title song. The covers show not only whom he's played with recently but also the depth of his listening. Bob Dylan's "Everything is Broken" features a rare slide guitar appearance in a stunning performance. Tom Waits' "Low Side of the Road" is another highlight. T-Bone Walker, Johnny Young, Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, Booker T & The MGs and Eric Bibb also get the ducal treatment. Duke's band just cooks throughout, guests are invited and play, I won't list them here because they're all in the package along with helpful song notes from Duke. The best part is that the second disc is free, two CDs for the price of one. You may not listen to all 115 minutes at one sitting, but you sure will come back again and again.
Pinetop Perkins Born in the Honey DVD & CD Redeye
The DVD portion of this package is a one-hour documentary celebrating the life of this Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He was born on Honey Island, near Belzoni MS, hence the title. Pinetop's story is perhaps not that different from many of his peers but this telling of it involves all these peers. You can follow the exploits of the now 93-year-old Pinetop as he traveled and played with Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Earl Hooker & Ike Turner.
Producer Peter Carlson, who also brought us The Junior Wells Story, has taken great care to have the appropriate visual to go with the story - as a tour of the 30's & 40's Delta, this DVD is invaluable. Paul Oscher is on hand to talk about Pinetop's eleven years as Muddy Waters pianist and Saffire's Ann Rabson has some great stories. There is extended performance footage of Pinetop at The King Biscuit Blues Festival with Bob Margolin on guitar.
The audio CD is a concert recording from a club in Chicago presumably in 2005, the year this documentary was assembled and snippets of it appear in the DVD. Pinetop is in fine form, with old friends Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Stroger on hand. Pinetop Perkins has spent a lifetime playing the blues and Carlson's production tells us a great deal about the man playing the piano on all those records.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
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