1980 Issue R.R. 2022
Blues
Seldom has a title for any album been so literal: Live on Maxwell Street was recorded, for the most part, live on an actual street--background noise includes cheers from bystanders, people passing by, and cars driving past. The informal setting and necessarily unideal recording circumstances don't detract one bit from the material here, which represents some of the elusive Robert Nighthawk's best material. Recorded in 1964, with sparse instrumentation--rhythm guitar, drums, and some excellent harmonica from Carey Bell--the recording includes some great guitar soloing on "The Time Have Come" and the "Maxwell Street Medley," which combines "Anna Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel." Other highlights include the smooth, active "Take It Easy Baby" and the slow moaner "I Need Love So Bad." Despite the highly unofficial nature of this recording, what's on here is more than worth hearing--including a 13-minute interview with the musician.
By Genevieve Williams.AMG.
**
Live on Maxwell Street is as good an impromptu album as one is likely to come upon, with all the exciting, loose esprit de corps among singer/slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk (Robert Lee McCollum) and his Flames of Rhythm that made their Sunday street performances so agreeable to Chicagoans. Captured on fan Norman Dayron's tape recorder in 1964, the Helena-born patriarch of city blues rough-hews Little Junior Parker's "I Need Love So Bad," Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush," and seven others, cutting single-note runs from the same bolt of cloth as B. B. King without compromising his own amplified guitar poetics. Also heard are thirteen minutes of an interview with the underappreciated musician (encompassing a reluctantly delivered song) that was conducted by a respectful Mike Bloomfield.
By Frank John Hadley.
**
Drums - Robert Whitehead
Guitar [Rhythm] - Johnny Young (3)
Harmonica - Carey Bell (tracks: A2, B3)
Mastered By - John Nagy
Photography - Ray Flerlage , Valerie Wilmer
Producer [Coordination], Artwork By - Scott Billington
Producer [Coordination], Other [Liner Notes] - Peter Guralnick
Producer, Recorded By - Norman Dayron
Vocals, Guitar [Lead, Slide] - Robert Nighthawk
**
A1. Goin' Down To Eli's 4:50
A2. Mr. Bell's Shuffle 1:33
A3. The Time Have Come 5:04
A4. Yakity Yak 3:40
A5. Nighthawk Shuffle 1:45
B1. Take It Easy Baby 3:53
B2. Maxwell Street Medley 6:47
B3. Burning Heat 2:17
B4. I Need Love So Bad 5:16
B5. Excerpts From Interview/Kansas City 2:31
**
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