| CD REVIEW Johnny Winter |
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Band : Johnny Winter It would take me far too long to get into the complete history of this real fine Blues Rock guitarist & singer, but here’s some pointers. Born in 1944 in Baeumont, TX he was already playing music with his brother Edgar (with whom he shares being born with albinism) at a very early age, making their debut tv appearance on a local show when they were barely 10 years old. He made his recording debut ( a single) at age 15 and saw his full-length debut The Progressive Blues Experiment (filled with Blues staples and some original tracks) released in 1968. Although you never saw him on any of the official festival’s movies or soundtracks, he was one of the artists at Woodstock (it’s only “recently” that his performance was put on CD), went for the Hard Rock approach for a while during the ’70, kicked a heroin habit, and has released a steady stream of albums through the decades leading to today. (for a decent list and more detailed history, check the man’s page at Wikipedia) He still performs on a regular basis, aalthough his health forces him to take a seat on stage. As suggested by the title of this album, the recordings within are of live performances, although in contrast it has to bbe mentioned that there is an official side to things with all recordings coming from the hand of Winter, whom also compiled the albums. Vol. 6 means there’s already 5 predecessors, and the series was, as far as I can gather, started in early 2008. You would therefore be correct in asuming it’s a fairly successful series, especially since they’ve even gone into the Billboard album charts. This time arround what you get is a totall of 7 tracks (including an “introduction” and a “bonus” track) clocking in at 52 ½ minutes. Among the songs you get nice tribute renditions of Freddie King’s “Sen-sa-shun”, Ray Charles’ “Blackjack”, and a very rare extensive (almost 15 minutes in length) bonus track discovery of B.B. King’s classic “it’s My Own Fault”…gathered around Winter’s own tracks “Johnny Guitar”, the extended “She Likes To Boogie” (just over 9 minutes) and “White Line Blues”. If you’re into Blues Rock and never heard Johnny Winter, you have no business calling yourself a Blues Rock fan, but…since we all have to start sómewhere, and since we’re here to possibly educate the younger amongst us, check out the following websites for audio on thiss real fine artists in his genre: (www.) myspace.com/johnnywinterguitarist (official), (www.) myspace.com/johnnywinterblues, (www.) johnnywinter.net (official). You’ll also find Winter @ YouTube (evidently, a lot of his material is available from iTunes). Live recordings, so no rating here, but let it be known that Johnny Winter (ànd his brother Edgar) rank among my favourite musicians. Tony. |