Robert Nighthawk - Live On Maxwell Street - 1964

Review:
Recorded by Norman Dayron live on the street (you can actually hear cars driving by!) in 1964 with just Robert Whitehead on drums and Johnny Young on rhythm guitar, Robert Nighthawk's slide playing (and single-string soloing, for that matter) are nothing short of elegant and explosive. Highlights include "The Maxwell Street Medley," which combines his two big hits "Anna Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel"; a mind-altering 12-bar solo on "The Time Have Come," which proves that Nighthawk's lead playing was just as well developed as his slide work; and a couple of wild instrumentals with Carey Bell sitting in on harmonica. Nighthawk sounds cool as a cucumber, presiding over everything with an almost genial charm while laying the toughest sounds imaginable. One of the top three greatest live blues albums of all times. The 2000 CD reissue on Bullseye Blues & Jazz adds five previously unreleased bonus tracks, although Nighthawk doesn't have a lead vocal on any of these. "The Real McCoy" is an instrumental; Young sings on "Big World Blues" and "All I Want for Breakfast/Them Kind of People"; Bell sings "I Got News for You," and J.B. Lenoir takes a guest lead vocal on "Mama Talk to Your Daughter" (though Peter Guralnick's liner notes express doubt that the singer is actually Lenoir).

Find track listing here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-on-maxwell-street-mw0000265024

Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 192 kbps
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2i0rpb9l1g1/rnjlams.rar

Guitar Slim/Jelly Belly: Carolina Blues-New York City 1944 (1997) Arhoolie 460

Review:

Pure authentic country blues in the East Coast tradition from guitarists and singers Alex Seward and “Fat Boy” Hayes, billed as Guitar Slim & Jelly Belly on these recordings made in the 1950s. The two alternate as vocalists and even trade off verses on some selections. Alex Seward (Guitar Slim), a friend and associate of Brownie McGhee's, sings in a polished, urban style while Mr. Hayes contributes the rougher, rural vocals. The CD contains nearly the entire commercially recorded output of the duo.

“Their heyday was the '40's and they were one of the last outposts of the then outdated country blues, although with a very sophisticated city overtone. Their playing meshed beautifully together as did their voices ... an amazing bargain for anyone who loves the gentler sounds of the Carolinas.”

Tracks:

1. Ups And Downs Blues
2. Crooked Wife Blues
3. Snowing And Raining
4. No More Hard Time
5. She's Evil And Mean
6. Mike And Jerry
7. Don't Leave Me All By Myself
8. South Carolina Blues
9. Crying Won't Make Me Stay
10. Big Trouble Blues
11. Humming Bird Blues
12. Right And Wrong Woman
13. Southern Whistle Blues
14. Jail And Buddy Blues
15. Mean Girl Blues
16. Travelin' Boy's Blues
17. Railroad Blues
18. Yellow And Brown Woman
19. Bad Acting Woman
20. Christmas Time Blues
21. Cooking Big Woman
22. You're My Honey
23. Early Morning Blues
24. Isabel
25. Hard Luck Blues
26. Unhappy Home Blues
27. Working Man Blues
28. Why, Oh Why
29. Betty And Dupree

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 320 kbps
http://www.filefactory.com/file/1u1ece3rkv03/gsjbcb.rar

Lucky Peterson - The Son of a Bluesman - 2014

Review:

Lucky Peterson's father was blues guitarist and singer James Peterson, a well-known regional musician who also owned the Governor's Inn, a premier blues nightclub in Buffalo, New York, which means Peterson grew up around his father's friends, who just happened to be touring and recording musicians like Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, and Bill Doggett, and he learned from all of them. He became fascinated with the Hammond B-3 organ as a young child, and by the time he was five, he'd proved to be a prodigy on it. Mentored by another of his father's friends, the great songwriter, bassist, arranger, and producer Willie Dixon, Peterson was still only five when he scored an R&B hit with the Dixon-produced "1-2-3-4," the novelty of it all landing him appearances on The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and others, and his debut album appeared in 1969. But Peterson had an exploratory nature, and while he could have had quite a career as a keyboard player, he picked up the guitar at the age of eight, and by the time he was a teen, he had developed an emotionally searing guitar style. He could have relaunched his career then, but instead he attended the Buffalo Academy of Performing Arts, and went out on the road as part of the touring bands of Etta James and Otis Rush, spent three years as Little Milton's keyboardist, another three years in Bobby "Blue" Bland's band, and backed jazz stars like Hank Crawford and Abbey Lincoln. He learned blues, jazz, soul, R&B, funk, and gospel, and by the time he made his re-debut as a bandleader with the Bob Greenlee-produced Lucky Strikes! in 1989, Peterson was a triple-threat multi-instrumentalist who managed to fuse R&B, jazz, gospel, funk, and rock with the blues. All of this leads up to this very personal and semi-autobiographical set, and his 18th album as a bandleader. The Son of a Bluesman, aside from being another fine set of Peterson's joyous fusion blues, is also the first of his albums that he has produced himself, and it has a warm, career-summing kind of feel to it. The title track, "The Son of a Bluesman," and the two different versions of the gospel-themed "I'm Still Here," give this album a personal and retrospective feel, as does the striking, and even silly "Joy," a straight-up family home recording featuring a rap interlude. But perhaps the best and most poignant track on an album full of standouts is the lovely instrumental "Nana Jarnell," dedicated to both Peterson's mother and his wife's mother, musician, singer, and songwriter Tamara Stovall-Peterson. Peterson's guitar lead on the track is a marvel of crying, elegantly balanced phrasing, almost horn-like or vocal-like, and it speaks and sings like the marvel it is. This is perhaps Peterson's most well-rounded and personal album yet, and it coheres in a wonderful arc, capturing the blues as an ever-flowing, joyous, and ultimately uplifting thing.

Tracks:

1. Blues In My Blood

2. Funky Broadway

3. Nana Jarnell

4. I Pity The Fool

5. Boogie-Woogie Blues Joint Party

6. I'm Still Here

7. The Son Of A Bluesman

8. I Can See Clearly Now

9. Joy

10. You Lucky Dog

11. I'm Still Here (Gospel)

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
FLAC
http://www.filefactory.com/file/6kyp78p4ytgd/lptsob.rar

Johnnie Taylor - Wanted: One Soul Singer - 1967

Review:
Johnnie Taylor set the tone for his recording career at Stax with Wanted: One Soul Singer, a consistently gritty collection of blues and raw, hard-hitting Memphis soul. In addition to his appealing medium-sized hits "Just The One I've Been Lookin' For" and "I Had A Dream," Wanted (reissued on CD in 1991) boasts pleasant surprises ranging from the addictive "Toe-Hold" to gutsy versions of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons" and the standard "Blues In The Night." Adding lyrics to Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," Taylor removes the song's jazz elements and turns it into pure Southern R&B. When Wanted was released, Taylor (who has occasionally been confused with bluesman Little Johnny Taylor) had yet to become the soul-radio fixture that "Who's Making Love" would make him, but these solid performances show that he was definitely on the right track.

Find this album's tracklist here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/wanted-one-soul-singer-mw0000674917

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 224 kbps
http://www.filefactory.com/file/4vui029wxhcn/jtwoss.rar

Johnnie Taylor - Raw Blues - 1969

Review:
While the "Raw" part of the title may be overstating the case just a bit, "Blues" describes this disc pretty well, thank you -- on his fourth album, Johnnie Taylor shifts his focus away from Stax's trademark Southern soul stylings towards leaner and grittier blues-based performances, a style he'd already shown a knack for on his earlier sets. Raw Blues still walks a line between soul and blues, with the sweet-and-sour tone of The Memphis Horns sometimes stacking the deck in favor of the former, but "Part Time Love", "Hello Sundown" and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" generate a potent late-night mood vibe which match the downcast authority of Taylor's voice. And if the always air-tight performances of the Stax studio crew (including Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes) pack enough heat to turn "You Can't Win With A Losing Hand" and "That Bone" into potent dance floor material, Taylor's rough but passionate delivery never lets this get too close to the Land of the Slick. A strong and heartfelt set that serves as an important precursor to Taylor's later blues-oriented sets for Malaco.

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 192 kbps
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2jd595839uc1/jtrb.rar

Slim Harpo - Shake Your Hips

Here's some quality stuff by Slim Harpo.
Check out back cover for more info on the material you'll find here.
Password and Link:
mississippimoan
FLAC
http://www.filefactory.com/file/77i7mgrekavr/shsyh.rar

Little Junior Parker - Driving Wheel - 1962

Review by Mark Barry:

Originally issued in 1962 on Duke Records DLP-76 in its rare full-colour "Cadillac" sleeve, the album was re-issued a year later in 1963 (also DLP-76) and yet again in 1974 as part of the ABC/Duke reissue series on DLPX-76. Both the 1963 and 1974 reissues used different artwork - they used what's become known as the "driving wheel" sleeve. This 12-track Hip-O Select CD reissue of November 2006 (B0006408-02) unfortunately uses that same artwork...and as you can see, it's staggeringly dull. A trawl of the net will show you the original beautiful artwork - and when you see it, you'll realise what a sloppy choice Hip-O Select has made.

There is no booklet either, just a next-to-useless one-page inlay barely offering any info, no history of the record, no photos, not even session details, no singles pictured - nothing! And when it does give us info, it gets it wrong - it quotes the album as being issued in 1973 and its catalogue number as being DLPX-76 - the 1974 reissue catalogue number! There's no bonus tracks either (see 7" singles below) - a bit slap dash to say the bloody least.

Still, it is remastered by noted engineer GAVIN LURSSEN and given that the songs were put down using less than fantastical recording techniques, he's done a remarkable job - very clean and evocative of early Sixties Chicago blues - even if the echoing mono recordings sound a little like re-channelled stereo from time to time. With brass on almost every track, the sound is loud and takes some getting used to - but when you do, the album becomes so enjoyable - one gem after another. At times it sounds like the "American Graffiti" soundtrack - evocative of cars and girls and drive-ins...

Here's the breakdown (29:04 minutes):
1. Driving Wheel (a Roosevelt Sykes cover)
2. I Need Your Love So Bad (a Percy Mayfield cover)
3. Foxy Devil (a Deadric Malone song)
[Deadric Malone is a pseudonym for DON ROBEY; Robey owned Duke & Peacock Records and was a prolific songwriter)
4. Somebody Broke This Heart Of Mine (a Deadric Malone song)
5. How Long Can This Go On (a Junior Parker song)
6. Yonders Wall (an Elmore James cover)
7. Annie get Your Yo-Yo (a Deadric Malone/Joseph Scott song)
8. Tin Pan Alley (a Robert Geddins cover)
9. Someone Somewhere (a Junior Parker song)
10. Seven Days (a Junior Parker/Deadric Malone song)
11. The Tables Have Turned (a Junior Parker song)
12. Sweet Talking Woman (a Deadric Malone song)

USA 7" singles off and around the album were:

1. "Driving Wheel" b/w "Seven Days", May 1961 on Duke 335
2. "In The Dark" b/w "How Long Can This Go On", November 1961 on Duke 341
3. "Annie Get Your Yo-Yo" b/w "Mary Jo", February 1962 on Duke 345
4. "I Feel Alright Again" b/w "Sweeter As The Days Go By", 1962 on Duke 351
5. "Foxy Devil" b/w "Someone Somewhere", 1962 on Duke 357
6. "The Tables Have Turned" b/w "Yonders Wall", 1963 on Duke 367

As you can see from the two lists above, only 8 of the 12 tracks across the 6 singles are featured on this CD - and with a bit of effort on the part of Hip-O Select, the remaining 4 could have been included as relevant bonus tracks. "In The Dark" and "I Feel Alright Again" are available on other compilations, but to my knowledge "Sweeter As The Days Go By" and "Mary Jo" aren't.

If you wanted a taster of how it sounds, iTunes is offering the entire album as a download - check out the lovely "Someone Somewhere" (the title of this review is lyrics from it) or the Ruth Brown Atlantic rhythm and blues feel of "Foxy Devil" and you'll get a good idea of what "Driving Wheel" is like.

A legendary "Hall Of Fame" blues album - docked a star for Hip-O Select's less-than-stellar reissue of it.

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 320 kbps
http://www.filefactory.com/file/223coaidm2lr/ljpdw.rar

Clifton Chenier - King Of The Bayous - 1970

Review:

After gaining initial notoriety in the '50s and '60s on Specialty Records and a variety of small Texas and Louisiana labels, Zydeco King Clifton Chenier brought the blues-fueled Cajun music he practically invented to Chris Strachwitz's roots label Arhoolie, subsequently recording a series of fine albums including 1970's King of the Bayous. Featuring brother and longtime partner Cleveland Chenier on rubboard, Robert St. Judy on drums, Joe Morris on bass and Antoine Victor on guitar, King of the Bayous includes Chenier's standard blend of zydeco two-step, waltzes and blues, and provides an excellent taste of what the band no doubt played on countless one-niters along the Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast. Zydeco-brand blues predominates with Chenier originals "Hard to Love Someone," "Who Can Your Good Man Be" and "I Am Coming Home," in addition to a cover of the honky-tonk weeper "Release Me." Offering a contrast to the blues and something for the dancers, the band lays down a lively two-step beat on "Tu Le Ton Son Ton," "Josephine Par Se Ma Femme" and "Zodico Two Step." Throughout the varied set, Chenier's irrepressible vocals and accordion playing stand out. A nice sample of bayou zydeco by one of its finest and most original practitioners.

Find this album's track list here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/king-of-the-bayous-mw0000675738

Password and Link:
mp3 128 kbps
mississippimoan
http://www.filefactory.com/file/4j67saio4uz1/cckotb.rar