Otis Rush - Troubles Troubles

This is a review that I wrote in Fall 2006 and published in the November-December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 288). I will be posting other reviews from this every few days in next couple weeks.

Universal Music on the Verve label has released the second batch of CDs in its series, The Sonet Blues Story. These sides make available albums from the 1970s that were issued in Europe on the Sonet label although some were imported in the United States and some were even issued in the US, as GNP-Crescendo issued The Legacy of the Blues recordings stateside. This latest batch includes more from that series along with other albums that Samuel Charters had produced for Sonet. I will be posting these reviews every few days. 

Otis Rush’s volume, subtitled Troubles, Troubles, is being released for the first time in its original form. Alligator had leased it, but Bruce Iglauer edited the solos and added “noisy keyboard” (quoting Sam Charters in his notes here), was retitled as Lost in the Blues, but there was a very critical reaction including from Rush (I seem to recall).

This 1977 Swedish session was with Rush’s band at the time with Bob Levis on second guitar, Bob Strokes on bass and Jesse Green on drums tackling a diverse repertoire including Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me to Do, You’ve Been an Angel, and You Don’t Have to Go; Willie Dixon’s Little Red Rooster; B.B. King’s Whole Lotta Lovin’ (actually Please Love Me) and Troubles, Troubles; Albert King’s Got to Be Some Changes Made; and Little Milton’s Same Old Blues (on which drummer sings). Alternate takes of You Been an Angel and Same Old Blues are included. 

The song selection is mostly covers of some well known songs with Rush sounding relaxed and soulful (Little Red Rooster suggests more of Sam Cooke’s influence than Howlin’ Wolf) with plenty of solid guitar. Rush’s admiration for Albert King is evident from the opening notes of a strong rendition of Albert King’s Got to Be Some Changes Made, and he throws quite a bit of passion into Hold That Train. 

This may not be an essential Rush album, but it is a very good ‘un and the release in this untampered form is most welcome. 

I likely received a review copy from Jazz & Blues Report. This may be available used or as a download. Here is Otis Rush in performance.

Snooks Eaglin - Crescent City Rhythm and Blues Troubador

Back three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced a series of blues lps for the Swedish Sonet label, The Legacy of the Blues, along with some other blues recordings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Country Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as a producer of blues recordings, including the classic Chicago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name a few of the artists he recorded. Universal Music, through its Verve imprint has just issued seven of the seven Sonet lps for reissue in a series, The Sonet Blues Story. Six of these are from The Legacy of the Blues series. This is the sixth in a series of posts of my reviews from this series, although my statement about Snooks being the only living performer in the series is no longer true. These reviews that originally appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283)


It should be noted that on these Sonet reissues, the playing time is somewhat short. Even those with extra tracks (such as the one reviewed below) do not exceed 45 minutes. Still there is some good to exceptional music to be heard on these. This CD may be out-of-print but is available from various sellers and is available as mp3 files. I received my review copy from the publication.


Snooks Eaglin, the remarkable New Orleans singer-guitarist, is the only performer still living in this series. Unfortunately Samuel Charters recorded Eaglin as a solo artist rather than in a band context, helping perpetuate the myth of him being a street singer-songster. Not to say that this disc is not full of engaging performances including takes on songs from Sam Cooke (Good News), Little Richard (Lucille), John Lee Hooker (Boogie Children taken at a slower tempo and opening with Eaglin’s own spontaneous rap), Jimmy Rogers (That’s All Right mistitled here as Who’s Loving You Tonight and credited to Eaglin), and Lonnie Johnson (Tomorrow Night), as well as a stunning guitar adaptation of Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie and a terrific Funky Malaguena. Previously unissued bonus tracks include Shake a Hand and Shake Rattle and Roll.


Listening to these performance one is astonished by the fertility of Eaglin’s imagination but also one wishes that he had been plugged in, but one would have to wait for Rounder and Black Top to capture the side of Snooks that still dazzles us today. This is not to dismiss the many pleasures here, but Snooks could be electrifying, not simply astonishing.

Juke Boy Bonner's One-Man Band Blues

Back three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced a series of blues lps for the Swedish Sonet label, The Legacy of the Blues, along with some other blues recordings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Country Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as a producer of blues recordings, including the classic Chicago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name a few of the artists he recorded. Universal Music, through its Verve imprint has just issued seven of the seven Sonet lps for reissue in a series, The Sonet Blues Story. Six of these are from The Legacy of the Blues series. This is the fifth in a series of posts of my reviews from this series that originally appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283).


It should be noted that on these Sonet reissues, the playing time is somewhat short. Still there is some good to exceptional music to be heard on these. This CD may be out-of-print but is available from various sellers and is available as mp3 files. I received my review copy from the publication.


Weldon “Juke Boy” Bonner was a Houston based one-and band who was a notable blues poet as well as a performer but who never was able to get out of his hard life. His recordings for Arhoolie demonstrate his approach a one-man band with his effective harp and guitar playing as well as his songs which often dealt with topical themes.


Recorded by Arhoolie’s Chris Strachwitz, the performances on Bonner’s Blues Story volume are fine ones opening with I’m a Bluesman, singing about his hard life (“My father passed when I was two.”) with an easy groove followed by Problems All Around (I can’t get ahead from being held down) taken at a slow tempo. Besides his strong lyrics, Bonner provides strong boogie-laced guitar playing and tough rack harp playing that made him a fascinating purveyor of the one-man blues band idiom. Like his other releases, this is a gem that one should be delighted is widely available now.

Big Joe Williams Country Blues Mastery

Back three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced a series of blues lps for the Swedish Sonet label, The Legacy of the Blues, along with some other blues recordings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Country Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as a producer of blues recordings, including the classic Chicago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name a few of the artists he recorded. Universal Music, through its Verve imprint has just issued seven of the seven Sonet lps for reissue in a series, The Sonet Blues Story. Six of these are from The Legacy of the Blues series. This is the fourth in a series of posts of my reviews from this series that originally appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283).


It should be noted that on these Sonet reissues, the playing time is somewhat short. Even those with extra tracks (such as the one reviewed below) do not exceed 45 minutes. Still there is some good to exceptional music to be heard on these. This CD is shown as still available and is available as mp3 files. I received my review copy from the publication.

Big Joe Williams was another great Mississippi bluesman who is best known for Baby Please Don’t Go. A Delta musician who as much as anyone led the life of the traveling bluesman, Williams lived in St. Louis for a period where after Peetie Wheatstraw’s death started playing Wheatsraw’s trademark 9-string guitar. A repertoire that ranged from originals to songs from Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson, Williams played a strong rhythmic style and also sang in a highly exclamatory fashion. This volume, which includes five previously unissued recordings, was a typically fine session by an artist who rarely made a poor recording. Songs include Patton’s Hang it on the Wall, Big Fat Mama and Black Gal You Sure Been Looking Warm. This is another artist who belongs in any blues collection.

A Good But Not Great Mighty Joe Young Reissue

Back three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced a series of blues lps for the Swedish Sonet label, The Legacy of the Blues, along with some other blues recordings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Country Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as a producer of blues recordings, including the classic Chicago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name a few of the artists he recorded. Universal Music, through its Verve imprint issued several years ago seven of the Sonet lps for reissue in a series, The Sonet Blues Story. Six of these were from The Legacy of the Blues series. This is the first in several postings of reviews from that series that originally appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283).

The late Chicago singer-guitarist, Mighty Joe Young was a fine purveyor of soul-laced blues in a mellow mode like his good friend Fenton Robinson. This writer had the pleasure to see Young while a senior at Case Western Reserve University and in fact he came on my WRUW blues show while playing The Kove in Kent, Ohio. He was promoting his Delmark album, Blues With a Touch of Soul at the time and was accompanied on the trip by a Delmark employee, Bruce Iglauer, who was a year or so from issuing the first album on Alligator Records. The Delmark album is my favorite of the various discs Young recorded with band with horns providing a tight backing for his extended blues performances. Young explained to me several years later that he dropped the horns because as he got booked increasingly on the then college market, horns were not viewed as blues instruments. Sonet has released a session with his then working band that included horns with a few overly familiar songs like Rock Me as well as then not overly recorded numbers like Percy Mayfield’s Baby Please and an original, Early in the Morning, which is an original that seems inspired by the Louis Jordan classic but with different lyrics. There is a nice mix of soul into his blues stew, but despite the fine piano of Bob Riedy and bassist Sylvester Boines, the session doesn’t fully jell and while Young sings and plays well, it is overshadowed by the earlier Delmark release.


It should be noted that on the Sonet reissues (including the Mighty Joe Young), the playing time is somewhat short. Even those with extra tracks, do not exceed 45 minutes. Still there is some really good music to be heard on these and if not essential releases, these are welcome additions to available blues.

This CD may be out-of-print but is available from various sellers and is available as mp3 files. Blues With a Touch of Soul is still in print. I received my review copy from the publication.