Blues With A Feeling

Throughout his career, Taj Mahal has always been considered a bluesman, which is true enough, since the basis for everything he does has been the country blues, but he is not a traditionalist at heart, and he has always looked for ways to push the blues into new places and shapes. Adding at times rhythms and sensibilities that are drawn from reggae, ragtime, calypso, zydeco, and other genres, Mahal practices a kind of blues hybrid that is his alone, and he has been a huge influence on newer artists like Chris Thomas King and Corey Harris. This collection derives from the five albums he recorded with Private Records during the 1990s, and overlaps somewhat with The Best of the Private Years, released in 2000. Highlights include his version of Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue," a bebop blues take on Horace Silver's "Señor Blues," and an atmospheric reading of Goffin & King's "Take a Giant Step"…

Throughout his career, Taj Mahal has always been considered a bluesman, which is true enough, since the basis for everything he does has been the country blues, but he is not a traditionalist at heart, and he has always looked for ways to push the blues into new places and shapes. Adding at times rhythms and sensibilities that are drawn from reggae, ragtime, calypso, zydeco, and other genres, Mahal practices a kind of blues hybrid that is his alone, and he has been a huge influence on newer artists like Chris Thomas King and Corey Harris. This collection derives from the five albums he recorded with Private Records during the 1990s, and overlaps somewhat with The Best of the Private Years, released in 2000. Highlights include his version of Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue," a bebop blues take on Horace Silver's "Señor Blues," and an atmospheric reading of Goffin & King's "Take a Giant Step"…

George Smith - Blues With A Feeling (1969) {Remastered & Expanded 2012, Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1035}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 276 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 12 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2012 Capitol / Beat Goes On Records | BGOCD1035
Blues / Electric Blues / Harmonica Blues / Juke Joint Blues / West Coast Blues

Reissue of the first full length album recorded by this great West Coast harmonica player for the World Pacific label in 1968 with three bonus cuts. Most of the disc consists of George singing or playing some of the best sides recorded by the great Little Walter who had died shortly before these recordings. On this session he is accompanied by members of the Muddy Waters band who were touring the West Coast at the time with Muddy & Luther Johnson on guitars, Little Sonny Wimberly on bass and S.P. Leary on drums.

Live effort by Little Sonny with his son on guitar (by then the largest audience they have ever played, as said on an interview in this album). The two interviews and three singles, specially The Creeper (a must for harp players later re-recorded by Mark Hummel) add a little flavor on top as nice and rare extras.

A blues album by prog rocker and classically trained guitarist Steve Hackett? It may seem a bit of a surprise, but as Hackett himself explains, his first musical affinity was for the blues, and his first instrument of choice was the harmonica, not the guitar. So he returns to his roots on this release, unknown as they are to most of his audience. Most of the songs are original compositions, and the tunes are well written. Hackett plays a mean harmonica throughout, and shines in particular on a couple of instrumental numbers, "A Blue Part of Town" and "Footloose" (mercifully not the Kenny Loggins song). Hackett sings lead vocals on the other songs, and unfortunately his voice just doesn't lend much conviction to blues material, even though it's treated to sound much deeper and grittier…

Blues with a Feeling is a two-CD, 40-track compilation which makes the perfect audio bookend to The Essential Little Walter (or the single disc The Best of Little Walter for those on a budget) by systematically combing the Chess vaults and rounding up the best stuff. No bottom-of-the-barrel scrapings here; this compilation effectively renders all '70s Euro vinyl bootlegs null and void, both from a sound and selection standpoint. While not as exhaustive as the European nine-CD retrospective (in and out of print as of this writing), there are still things on this compilation that are left off the box set on Charly. The rarities (including the low down "Tonight with a Fool," possibly the rarest Walter Checker single of all and one whose title never shows up in the lyrics) are all noteworthy by their inclusion…