Thursday, December 11, 1986
Stew's Blues
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UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE
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Nebraska Union-Lower Level
Daily Nebraskan
By Stew Magnuson
Diversions
1986 has been a great year for blues
on vinyl. Virtually every major blues
artist released an LP this year. Most of
the blues' magic isn't found on records,
though. The blues is best in a hot,
sweaty nightclub with a screaming gui
tar and a moaning harmonica. Still,
blues artists often transfer this energy
onto a record. No, it's not the same as
being in the Zoo Bar on a Friday night
when Magic Slim blows the crowd away
with just the right chords, but sitting at
home alone, one can stick a blues
record on the turntable and hear about
all of life's woes "My baby found
somebody new," "I found somebody
new," "My baby's sleeping with some
body else" and even worse, "I ain't got
no baby." These are the time-honored
cliches, but the blues are more than
painful tunes.
I love to hear Muddy Waters ,
belt out the words:
"I felt so good Hope I
alwavs -will Vnti
know I feel so good. O
tin..!.: t -
wiiai joyous music i
tn wake nn trt in J
v v ii wit m V V ill jp
. the morning. Sy'r
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The
Chess
Re-releases
on MCA Re-
I cords
1 Last year, MCA
Records bought
the entire Chess
Catalog. For those
j who don't know, Chicago's
Chess label, along with Sun
and Atlantic, were virtually
' responsible for bringing rock 'n'
roll to the world. Chess recorded
such people as Chuck Berry, Bo
Diddley, Muddy Waters and hun
dreds of other equally important
artists. In November, MCA released
the first 12 re-issues in a hopefully
long series of classic blues and rock.
Now the executives at MCA have some
thing better to do than fabricate the
300th repackaging of Buddy Holly's
Greatest Hits.
Among the first 12 is Howlin' Wolfs
first LP, "Moaning in the Moonlight,"
John Lee Hooker's "John Lee Hooker
Plays and Sings the Blues," "Muddy
Waters at Newport, 1960" and "Muddy
Waters Plays Big Bill Broozny." Now
these late, great artists are available to
a whole new audience of younger lis
teners. This music still is as fresh as
the day it was recorded. The best part
is the price. All the re-releases list at
$4.98 or lower. I challenge anyone who
is unfamiliar with these artists, but
who listens to Z.Z. Top or George Tho
rogood regularly, to take a chance on
any one of these records. You won't be
sorry.
New Releases
The end of 1986 saw the release of
four records from major blues artists.
In each of these LPs, a listener can
3 hear the many different approa
ti ches a blues artist can take.
1 The jazzfunk stylings of Albert
y Collins, The Texas Boogie of John
ny Winter, the smooth, bluesy soul
of Robert Cray and the rock 'n' blues of
Lonnie Brooks.
Johnny Winter, "3rd Degree, "
(Alligator Records)
Johnny Winter's voice sounds like he
gargles with gravel every minute, and
his guitar well his hands are all over
the neck for non-stop blues licks. Win
ter is the quintessential Texas guita
rist. His guitar overwhelms the lyrics
and virtually all other instruments.
Johnny Winter isn't a household
name with people under the age of 30.
For those who don't know, he was once
hailed as America's answer to Eng
land's Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. His
rockblues LPs sold millions in the
early '70s. Now Winter has returned to
his blues roots, totally leaving rock 'n'
roll behind. That's good, a musician
can grow old gracefully with the blues.
"Third Degree" is Winter's third LP
since his return to the blues. It's all
guitar. And that's what Winter does
best. He takes his slide and works up
Page 7
high-energy Texas boogie. Except for
one song, all the cuts on "3rd Degree"
are covers. The history of the blues goes
20 years before rock 'n' roll, so artists
like Winter can go further back and dig
up some real obscurities like J.B.
Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie," the opening
song, followed by the equally unknown
"Love, Life and Money" by Little Willie
John.
These obscurities are great. Maybe
Elmore James' "Shake Your Money
maker" is a little overcovered, but Win
ter's guitar scorches so well that it
hardly matters. What makes "3rd
Degree" stand out from his last two
Alligator releases, "Guitar Slinger" and
"Serious Business" is the reunion of
Winttr with his original rhythm sec
tion, drummer John Turner and bassist
Tommy Shannon. The three broke up in
the late '60s when Winter left the blues
for rock 'n' roll. Now they're back after
16 years, helping Winter on three songs.
Also notable are the two acoustic
songs on a National Steel guitar, "Evil
on My Mind" and "Bad Girl Blues."
Winter recreates the raunchy Missis
sippi delta-blues sound, the basic blues
kicked out for years before anyone had
even thought of an electric guitar. If
you want to hear a screaming blues
guitar by a true master, this is the
blues LP for you.
The Robert Cray Band, "Str ong
Persuader ' ' (PolygramHightone
Records)
I have to admit Mucous TV got to me
on this LP. I saw Robert Cray's video for
"Smoking Gun" and ran out to my
favorite record store the next day and
bought "Strong Persuader," the most
talked-about, written-about blues LP
in years.
There are several reasons why "Strong
Persuader" is getting so much press.
Yes, Cray is the first black blues guita
rist to sign on a major label since B.B.
King. Yes, he's on David Letterman and
MTV. Only a few years ago, Cray was a
Zoo-bar semi-regular, and now music
critics are raving all over the States.
There's a reason that goes beyond
Cray's signing on a major label. Cray's
"Strong Persuader" is a beautifully
See BLUES on 8
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