Monday, October 12, 2009

Buddy GUY - Can't Quit The Blues 2006


Buddy GUY - Can't Quit The Blues 2006
Label: Sony

Blues

Robert Cray says that Buddy Guy's guitar solos sound like laughter from space, but they can also peal like the cries of lost souls attempting to cross the River Styx. If these 47 songs on three CDs plus a DVD boasting a new 75-minute documentary and six performances from the Montreux Jazz Festival prove anything, it's that Guy is one of the most dynamic, diverse, expressionistic, and emotional guitarists--in any genre. The set neatly examines the 70-year-old Chicago blues legend's half-century career, starting with a ragged but soulful "The Way You Been Treating Me" cut in 1957 at a radio station in Guy's native Louisiana that finds him developing his searing, exploratory style. A year later, he's in Chicago working with tunesmith Willie Dixon, and the rest is history (chronicled in Anthony DeCurtis's excellent lines notes) that leads from the glory days of Chess Records to Guy's early breakout recordings for Vanguard to his modern-day mastery. The most recent recordings often find him working with acolytes: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keb' Mo', Jonny Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, and John Mayer (who duets with Guy on the unreleased "I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled & Crazy"). B.B. King, who along with Guitar Slim was Guy's most important early influence, also joins Clapton and Guy on a stirring acoustic version of John Lee Hooker's "Crawlin' Kingsnake."

This set makes the argument for Guy's ever-continuing growth as a musician--not only as a player whose frenzy, improvisational instincts, and tonal control keep stretching with age, but as a stylist who was unafraid to put aside his trademark electric approach in 2003 to make the acoustic Blues Singer (represented here by "Bad Life Blues" and the Hooker tune) and to embrace primal North Mississippi juke joint music with Sweet Tea, which lends this set a pair of Junior Kimbrough covers. Guy's sole artistic weakness is his songwriting. He's never been prolific, and even in the '60s his lyrics drew on well-established clichés. But, as these performances attest, his playing's never been less than daring and his voice knows every nuance of heartache and joy.
By Ted Drozdowski. AMG.
**
Buddy Guy (Guitar);
Eric Clapton, Jonny Lang, Otis Rush, Phil Guy, B.B. King, Lefty Bates (Guitar);
Junior Wells (Harmonica);
Jerrett Gibson, Bob Neely (Tenor Saxophone);
Donald Hankins (Baritone Saxophone);
Dr. John, Pinetop Perkins (Piano);
Jack Meyers, Terry Taylor (Bass Guitar);
Clifton James, Dallas Taylor, Fred Below, Jim Keltner, Odie Payne (Drums).
**
DISC 1:
01. The Way You Been Treating Me
02. Sit And Cry (The Blues)
03. This Is The End
04. Untitled Instrumental
05. First Time I Met The Blues
06. Ten Years Ago
07. Let Me Love You Baby
08. Stone Crazy
09. When My Left Eye Jumps
10. Hoodoo Man Blues
11. In The Wee Hours
12. I Can't Quit The Blues
13. One Room Country Shack
14. T-Bone Shuffle
15. When You See The Tears From My Eyes
16. I Smell A Rat
17. She Suits Me To A T
18. DJ Play My Blues
*
DISC 2:
01. Damn Right, I've Got The Blues
02. Mustang Sally
03. Five Long Years
04. Mary Ann
05. She's Nineteen Years Old
06. Miss Ida B
07. Feels Like Rain
08. 7-11
09. I Smell Trouble
10. Someone Else Is Steppin' In
11. My Time After Awhile
12. Your Mind Is On Vacation
13. Midnight Train
14. Totally Out Of Control
*
DISC 3:
01. Nobody Understands Me But My Guitar
02. Baby Plaese Don't Leave Me
03. Done Got Old
04. Honey Bee
05. Tramp
06. Crawlin' Kingsnake
07. Moanin' And Groanin'
08. Bad Life Blues
09. I Can't Be Satisfied
10. First Time I Met The Blues
11. I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled & Crazy
12. Somebody Sleeping In My Bed
13. I Miss You
14. Cut You Loose
15. The Price You Gotta Pay
**
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