His Only Son

The grotesque cover illustration is an abomination, but the contents are right in the growling grizzly bear style that we've come to expect. Only four Seals-penned originals, but the R&B-laced "Life Is Hard" and "I'm Gonna Take It All Back" are quality efforts. So is his heartfelt tribute to Hound Dog Taylor, "Sadie".

Son Seals 1991 Alligator release "Living In The Danger Zone" is arguably one of Seal's finest studio releases to date. His best live performances being "Live and Burning" and "Spontaneous Combustion". Like the live disc's, Danger Zone features and abundance of gritty vocals and piercing guitar solo's in the style of Albert King. The songs on the disc range from the humorous "Frigidaire Woman" to the slow blues number "Danger Zone" to the funky "Bad Axe" to a ballad like "My Life". Seal's is a natural for the blues. He was born in Osceola Arkansas and, as a child, spent much of his time in his dad's juke joint surrounded by the likes of Albert King, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk. About four years after recording this CD his wife shot him in the face. He would survive that trauma only to later have his leg amputated due to complications from diabetes. As the saying goes, you got to live the blues to play the blues.

This 2CD set from the influential bluesman features over thirty classic recordings all digitally remastered for optimum listening.
Son House's place, not only in the history of Delta blues, but in the overall history of the music, is a very high one indeed. He was a major innovator of the Delta style, along with his playing partners Charley Patton and Willie Brown. Few listening experiences in the blues are as intense as hearing one of Son House's original 1930s recordings for the Paramount label. Entombed in a hailstorm of surface noise and scratches, one can still be awestruck by the emotional fervor House puts into his singing and slide playing…