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Luther
Allison- Live in Chicago
Original Release Date: Aug 24, 1999
1.
Intro (Marker) - :23
2. Soul Fixin' Man (Allison/Solberg) - 4:03
3. Cherry Red Wine (Allison) - 8:36
4. Move from the Hood (Allison/Solberg) - 4:48
5. Bad Love (Allison/Solberg) - 10:16
6. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (Allison/Solberg) -
6:00
7. Big City (Allison/Solberg) - 9:07
8. Give Me Back My Wig (Taylor) - 5:22
9. It Hurts Me Too (Whittaker) - 7:40
10. Medley: Gambler's Blues/Sweet Little Angel (King & Pate/Pate)
- 10:25
11. Party Time (Allison) - 5:20
12. All the King's Horses (Allison/Solberg) - 12:19
13. What Have I Done Wrong? (Magic Sam [1]) - 7:10
14. Walking Papers (Allison/Solberg) - 6:48
15. Think With Your Heart (Allison/Solberg) - 6:27
16. What's Going on in My Home? (Allison/Solberg) - 7:13
17. Will It Ever Change? (Allison/Solberg) - 5:48
18. You're Gonna Make Me Cry (Malone) - 8:26
19. Everything's Gonna Be All Right - 5:30
Review
(by Tommy
Chung)
I
have never been a great fan of Luther Allison; he just seems
to lack a distinct style and he smothers and never seems to
catch fire. Luther's singer and playing are respectable but
he seems he never quite gets there. Luther Allison had been
around the American Blues scene since the late 50's. One could
say he never quite made it in America and he moved to live
in Paris in the late 1980's. He released quite a few albums
and the latest ones were on Alligator, Soul
Fixin' Man (AL 4820), Blues
Streak (AL 4834) and Reckless
(AL4849). I have one of his bootleg recordings when he played
Sapporo City in Japan. I didn't like it very much.
One
afternoon, I was looking at the Blues section in HMV
and for some reason I picked up a copy of "Live
In Chicago" and decided to buy it. I didn't know
why, but I had this instinct that this might be a good thing
to buy despite the fact that I am not a big fan of Allison's.
It turned out to be right. Damn right.
"Live
In Chicago"
is a two-CD set and contained live recordings from two shows.
But the liner notes are so confusing that, for a not particularly
well-educated person like myself, I just couldn't make out
what recordings are from which show. Anyway, it doesn't matter,
because all that mattered were on the first CD. I think the
bulk of the recordings on the first CD were from the Chicago
Blues Festival in 1995. I have seldom heard Blues with such
intensity. On the first CD, Luther Allison was playing with
such emotion and intensity as if his life depended on it.
The emotion, the vocal and guitar phrasing were stunning.
"Soul Fixin' Man", "Cherry Red
Wine", the opening two tracks set the scene
for the rest of the songs. I remember I listened to the first
track "Soul Fixin' Man"
three times before I moved on to the next track. It really
shows you don't have to be a big name, it all comes down to
your feeling for the Blues. This is one live recording that
is absolutely indispensable in anyone's CD collection, whether
you are into Rock or Blues or Blues Rock. The rhythm section
was steaming hot. I said it before and I say it again, in
Blues, the number one thing is the rhythm section. A mediocre
singer and guitar player can get away with a good backing
band, but even the greatest player cannot do well with a backing
band that doesn't smoke. Sadly, Luther passed away in 1997.
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