Archive Review: Muddy Waters’ Soundstage: Blues Summit In Chicago, 1974

In July 1974, Muddy Waters was chosen to host the inaugural episode of Soundstage, the beloved live concert series broadcast by PBS stations around the country for thirteen subsequent seasons. Waters was the first in a long run of talented performers to appear on the acclaimed TV show, and he brought some friends with him, resulting in what the producers called a “Blues Summit In Chicago.” The King of Chicago Blues brought along his Queen, the phenomenal Koko Taylor, and a full suite of acolytes and admirers, including Junior Wells, Michael Bloomfield, Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles, and Dr. John, among others.

Muddy Waters’ Soundstage Blues Summit In Chicago 1974

After a solid performance of Waters’ “Blow Wind Blow” that’s interrupted by introductions, the show gets down to business with a sizzling take on “Long Distance Call.” Muddy is in fine voice, belting out the lyrics with perfect timing and emotion, accompanied by Wells’ icy harp and Bloomfield’s twangy guitar licks, with Pinetop Perkins banging the piano keys. Singer/songwriter Nick Gravenites joins Wells on his signature “Messin’ With the Kid,” the pair ripping the roof off the sucker with an energetic performance, Bloomfield’s wiry solos underlining a smiling Wells’ lively vocals.

Waters returns to the stage for a raucous read on his “Mannish Boy,” the band delivering a white-hot groove for Waters to croon above while Winter and Bloomfield swap licks. Taylor is joined by Willie Dixon for a romp through “Wang Dang Doodle,” guitarist Phil Guy receiving a well-deserved spotlight while Koko outshines her male colleagues with an electrifying performance. With his usual modesty, Johnny Winter introduces “Walking Through the Park,” leading the band on a livewire cover of the Buddy Guy tune featuring three dueling guitarists and Wells’ raging harp play.

An extended take on Waters’ “Got My Mojo Workin’” literally has the audience on its feet as everybody hits the stage. Wells offers a freight-train solo, Winter lays down a finger-blistering lead, and Pinetop hammers the keys alongside Dr. John. There are other solid performances here, ten in all for this first Soundstage release, the DVD a definite “must have” for any old-school Chicago blues fan! (Legacy Recordings, 2015)

Review originally published by Blues Music magazine, 2015

Buy the DVD from Amazon.com: Muddy Waters’ Soundstage

Pink Floyd’s The Early Years 1965-1972 box

You wouldn’t think that there’d be much of a market for multi-disc box sets that run hundreds of dollars, but the major labels keep crankin’ out these things, so I guess that somebody’s buying them. As P.T. Barnum is alleged to have said, “There’s a sucker born every minute!”

I have to admit, though, that sometimes these things are mighty sweet…take a gander at Pink Floyd’s The Early Years 1965-1972, a wallet-whopping 27-disc box set that is receiving the Dylan treatment from Legacy Recordings on November 11th, 2016. Swaddled in swanky deluxe packaging, The Early Years box offers ten CDs, eight Blu-ray discs, nine DVDs, and five 7” vinyl singles packaged in seven individual book-style volumes, all of the discs graced with a wealth of unreleased music.

This absurd mix of quality and quantity doesn’t come cheap, Bunkie, and The Early Years is gonna set you back seven bills…six and a half if you’re lucky…but did I mention that the box also includes over 40 pieces of Floyd memorabilia such as posters, flyers, tour programs, etc to drool over?

With unreleased songs, BBC radio sessions, remixes, outtakes, and alternative versions, The Early Years provides almost twelve freakin’ hours of audio content from 130+ tracks as well as live and TV performances comprising better than fourteen hours of audio-visual thrills. The box highlights the evolution of the band from psychedelic rockers to prog-rock legends via seven hours of previously-unreleased live audio and five-plus hours of rare concert footage.

The five 45s included in the box are presented in replica sleeves and feature such awesome A-sides as “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play,” “Apples and Oranges,” “It Would Be So Nice,” and “Point Me At The Sky” as well as groovy Bs like “The Scarecrow” and “Careful With That Axe, Eugene.”

For those of us of, well, more ‘modest’ means (i.e. we’re not freakin’ millionaires…), Sony Legacy will also be releasing the two-disc “highlights” set Cre/ation – The Early Years 1967-1972. Also scheduled for November 11th release, Cre/ation features 27 tracks culled from the larger box set, 19 of ‘em previously unreleased, offering fans a budget-priced ($16 on Amazon as I type...) way to experience the tasty rare tracks, BBC performances, and live recordings included in the massive Floyd The Early Years box set.

Hidden in the fine print of Sony’s press release for this box set it says “each individual book-style package will be released separately early in 2017,” save for a bonus disc exclusive to the box, so we fans may be able to buy “ala carte” from the Pink Floyd menu early next year. And can a 40-disc “later years 1973-1995” box set be far behind? Buy your flavor of Floyd via the Amazon.com links below...

I won the lottery, give me the full Pink Floyd experience: The Early Years 1967-1972 box set

I found a twenty on the street, give me a little taste of the Floyd: Cre/ation – The Early Years 1967-1972 two-disc set

CD Preview: Sly & the Family Stone' Live at the Fillmore

Let’s get straight to the chase here, buckos! On July 17th, 2015 Legacy Recordings will release Sly & the Family Stone’s Live At The Fillmore East October 4th & 5th, 1968, a four-disc set comprised of four different shows (two early and two late shows) from two nights in October 1968. The previously unreleased performances were recorded at promoter Bill Graham’s legendary NYC venue The Fillmore East in support of the band’s third album, Life.

There’s some significant overlap between the two nights and across all four discs, each of which contains an entire performance – you know that Sly was going to play the band’s big hit, “Dance To The Music” every night – and, indeed, it’s here four times, as are great songs like “M’Lady” and “Color Me True.” But there are also some other individual gems to be found among the 34 performances on the box set, and while I haven’t heard it yet, it’s a sure bet that there’s some subtle shading and differences in the performances from show to show.

In late ’68 Sly & the Family Stone were building a well-deserved reputation as a dynamic, high-energy live band, and Live At The Fillmore East will be a fine addition to the collection of any funky fan.

Buy the CD set from Amazon.com: Sly & the Family Stone's Live At The Fillmore East October 4th & 5th, 1968

Posthumous Jimi Hendrix Albums Reissued

At the time of his death in September 1970, blues-rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was reportedly working on a double-album set tentatively titled First Rays of the New Rising Sun. It was planned to be Hendrix’s fourth studio album, and it included musical contributions from the guitarist’s long-time friend and bass player, Billy Cox, and his former Experience bandmate, drummer Mitch Mitchell.

Hendrix’s death scuttled the original project, which was only about halfway done by most reports, but as his record label (Reprise Records) and manager still saw the ability to make a buck off Jimi’s tragic passing, they enlisted Mitchell and longtime Hendrix studio collaborator Eddie Kramer to finish up the tracks. The first batch of studio recordings were released in March 1971 as The Cry of Love, ten brand new original songs; the second batch were released the following October as Rainbow Bridge. On September 16th, 2014 both of these long-lost posthumous Hendrix albums will be released for the first time (technically) on CD by Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings.

The Cry of Love was a revelation at the time of its 1971 release, displaying Jimi’s immense talents in a different light on ten original tracks that have since become part of the Hendrix canon. Songs like “Ezy Ryder,” “Freedom,” “Angel,” and “Belly Button Window” feature not only Hendrix’s stellar fretwork as well as the always-welcome talents of Cox and Mitchell but also tracks recorded with former Band of Gypsies bandmate Buddy Miles and Experience bassist Noel Redding, percussionist Juma Sultan, vibraphonist Buzzy Linhart, Stephen Stills, and Steve Winwood. The album was re-mastered for CD by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes. Given the commercial success of The Cry of Love – the album rising to #3 on the U.S. charts and #2 in the U.K. on its way to Platinum™ sales status – a follow-up album was a given.

In October 1971, Reprise released Rainbow Bridge. Ostensibly billed as an “original soundtrack album” for the legendary 1970 Jimi Hendrix Experience performance in Hawaii (and resulting 1971 concert film), the Rainbow Bridge LP actually features but one live track – a great eleven-minute version of “Hear My Train A Comin’,” recorded at the Berkeley Community Theatre – the other seven songs are studio versions of songs from the film soundtrack, recorded in 1969 and 1970 and featuring Cox, Mitchell, and Sultan with Redding, and Miles each appearing on tracks. Like its posthumous predecessor, the album would yield several enduring Hendrix classics, including “Dolly Dagger,” “Room Full of Mirrors,” and the studio version of “Star Spangled Banner.” Rainbow Bridge was also produced by Kramer and Mitchell, with help from Electric Lady Studios engineer John Jansen, and re-mastered for CD by Bernie Grundman from the original analog masters.
  
When I previously stated that The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge hadn’t been released on CD, they haven’t been, at least not in their original form. Tracks from the former LP were released as part of the 1995 Voodoo Soup CD and again in 1997 as First Rays of the New Rising Sun. Recordings from the latter LP surfaced on First Rays of the New Rising Sun and on South Saturn Delta. This is the first time that both albums will be reissued on CD as they were on the original vinyl, however, which makes those of us who were big Hendrix fans in 1971 very happy!

Now that we’re getting The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge reissues, I have to ask Experience Hendrix – when do we get War Heroes on CD?