Born on 30th July 1936 down in Lettsworth, Louisiana, the one and only Buddy Guy is celebrating his 85th Birthday today.
"Guitar Legends do not come any better than Buddy Guy. He is feted by his peers and loved by his fans for his ability to make the guitar both talk and cry the blues. Such is Buddy's mastery of the guitar that there is virtually no guitarist that he cannot imitate." - Bill Wyman, former Bassist of The Rolling Stones.
Buddy Guy may have had to wait many years before he achieved some mainstream success but back in the 60's he was touted as one of the finest Bluesmen by the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton,Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix (who stole a few of Buddy's moves), Jimmy Page and has influenced the likes of Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer along the way.
By the age of 21 (1957) he had moved to Chicago and in 1958 managed to get a record deal with the Cobra subsidiary, Artistic. He released two singles ('Sit and Cry (The Blues)' in 1958' and 'You Sure Can't Do' in 1959), the second featuring Ike Turner on guitar. He was signed by Chess Records in 1959 and became the House Guitarist at the label. He recorded as a session guitarist alongside a number of the greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson. He did release a dozen or so singles on Chess between 1960 - 1969, but only one album for Chess Records, 'I Left My Blues in San Francisco', which was released in 1967.
It was probably around 1979 or 1980 that I first started trawling shops for old Blues records. I was only 16 going on 17 and while I had heard some Blues before I had never really taken much of an interest in the artists who performed it until The Blues Band and Nine Below Zero began playing at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street. I was keen to discover many of the original artists and the name Buddy Guy kept coming up so I checked him out by finding some albums he had done with Junior Wells and some of the recordings he had appeared on while on Chess Records. They were not exactly easy things to find from what I recall. Fast forwards to 1991 and I was listening to Richard Skinner one Saturday Afternoon and he played 'Damn' Right I Got The Blues' and said that it was from a new album by Buddy Guy. I can remember rushing out to see if I could find a copy and being absolutely blown away by it. He was touring the album and had a date in Glasgow and I managed to get a ticket. Support act for the night was a fella called John Campbell (who was brilliant and I was transfixed by the sheer power and emotion of his set). B.B. King and Dion DiMucci were probably the oldest artists I had ever seen at this point in my life and here was another one who seemed to have lived the kind of life he was singing about. There was no pomp, no believing he was above everyone else just because he was on stage but just a depth of gratefulness that he had the opportunity to share some songs he and others had written among a company of friends who would understand.
Ever since that concert and album I haven't missed a new record of his and he rarely has disappointed. It's great that he is still playing and making music and he's getting the recognition he deserves (half a dozen Grammy Awards is nothing to turn your nose up at, is it!). Hope he has a great 85th Birthday and long may the Blues continue. Here's a wee show from 1992 at the Montreaux Jazz Festival of Buddy Guy in action, enjoy.
Part 2
There's a huge void in ZZ Top after the passing of Joe Michael Hill, better known to us as Dusty Hill. At aged 72 he had been a member of the band since 1969. He had been a former bandmate of drummer Frank Beard in American Blues (who replaced Dan Mitchell as the new drummer of ZZ Top in 1969). Hill got the chance to join the band when Billy Etheridge left(Etheridge had replaced original Bassist Lanier Greig).
Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons you might have assumed were more connected than just being band members as their look of dark sunglasses and long beards gave them an almost family look, and with drummer Frank Beard not quite being able to master growing a beard merely adding to their charm (of course we have seen that he's well and able to grow one but it was never on the level of Billy or Dusty) ZZ Top had the perfect look.
“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” it read. “We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top’. We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.’ You will be missed greatly, amigo.” - Billy Gibbons & Frank Beard
The band played their first show without Dusty Hill on 23rd July 2021 at the Village Commons in New Lenox, Illinois; at this show, ZZ Top's longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis filled in for Hill, who was unable to perform because of hip issues. Within hours after the announcement of Hill's death, Gibbons confirmed that ZZ Top will continue as a band and that Francis will replace him, declaring "the show must go on".
It's staggering to believe that Desmond Dekker passed away 15 years ago. Today would have been his birthday had he still been alive. As a wee tribute to his memory I thought I would post this today. Now, 'King of Ska' was an actual release by Dekker back in 1991 on Trojan Records so we have to be careful not to mix up this new album that was released for Record Store Day in June this year seeing that they are two totally diffrent albums.
This one is a reproduction of the first ten 7" singles that established Desmond Dekker as a Jamaican superstar. All put out on Beverley's Records that were released between 1963-66 and this Special Release was to celebrate what would have been his 80th Birthday. This new collection is also released on Trojan Records. In the USA it was apprently limited to only 500 Copies. I don't know if it was limited in the UK.
Seeing that there are twenty tracks covering the ten 7" Singles I will just post the A-sides as I am pretty sure you will be able to track down the B-sides on some streaming platform somewhere.
The first pressing of Rocket To Kingston by Bobby Ramone was in 2020 as a Limited Edition on Black Vinyl of only 300 copies. Not sure if the French Punk Rock label Guerilla Asso had come under pressure to Reissue the album but whatever the case I'm glad they did. This time around it's on White Vinyl (can't say for certain that it is Limited or not) and is available as a download from the Guerilla Asso Bandcamp Page.
So, you are looking at the front cover of the album and thinking, "What on earth is this? Bob Marley with no dreadlocks sporting a Ramones bowl cut!" Surely it's an insane idea to wed the manic music of Queens, NYC with the laid back vibe of Kingston, Jamaica? Normally you would probaly be right but...
...on this occasion, for some totally bizzare reason it totally works! The songtitles are a play on Marley/Ramones songs and you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or just pogo around the room in utter delight. I should leave it at that and let you get on with the music, and for the record say that Rocket To Kingston is going to be very high on the list when discussing Best Albums of 2021.
1. Durango 652. I Don't Wanna Stand Up3. Stirring In My Room4. Today One Love, Tomorrow The World5. Jamming Affairs
1. Three Little Surfin' Birds2. Kaya Bop3. Glad To See You Cry4. Is This Love Kills?5. Bye Bye Redemption
The Ramoneswere not invited to Marley's original "Punky Reggae Party" so hopefully the Rocket To Kingston album is a sign of intent that they would have gatecrashed the party had they been in town!
Not sure how I missed this when it was released last month. The Rubinoos, the Power Pop band (before the term Power Pop was even invented!), released The CBS Tapes on Yep Roc Records in Limited Edition Red Vinyl, CD and also as a Digital Download (see their Bandcamp Page for more details).
The band began life in 1970 as Jon Rubin and the Rubinoos and changed their name to The Rubinoos after that line up dissolved. They got away from being a purely covers band to perfom songs that Rubin had written and to this day the band still has three of the original members from the 1971 line up, Jon Rubin (Vocals, Guitar), Tommy Dunbar (Guitar, Vocals) and Donn "Donno" Spindt (Drums, Vocals. He played with them between 1971-1985 and returned for a second stint in 1999). Their current bassist, Al Chan, has been with the band since 1980.
Recorded at CBS Studios in San Francisco in 1976, before they were signed to the legendary Beserkley Records, The CBS Tapes captures The Rubinoos as the scrappy, bratty kids they were. It also shows the huge talent and energy of a young band near the beginning of their career, who believed they were unstoppable. This never before released recording is the perfect way to kick off the band's 50th anniversary celebration. Songs performed include Jonathan Richman's "Government Center", "The Pepsi Generation", commercial jingle, and several Rubinoos originals.
1. All Excited2. Sugar Sugar3. Memphis Soul Stew/Pepsi Generation4. I Want Her So Bad5. Nooshna Kavolta6. She Loves You
1. Walk Don't Run2. Heartbeat It's A Lovebeat3. I Want To Hold Your Hand4. Cissy Strut5. Government Center
We'll finish up this post with an interview with The Rubinoos for BLEACH BLANKET BINGO REPORT from a couple of weeks ago.
The Vinyl Edition of this was released on Record Store Day last month and soon after it was announced that a CD Version would be released 2nd July 2021, today.
The album is a remixed, remastered and reimagined version of the 1996 album Songs and Music from the Motion Picture "She's the One". This version of the album takes off the tracks that were from the Wildflowers sessions (the ones added to the Wildflowers and All the Rest Deluxe Edition), and replaces them with previously unreleased bonus tracks. These tracks include 105 Degrees and One of Life's Little Mysteries, both written by Petty, as well as Thirteen Days (J.J. Cale cover) and French Disconnection (instrumental). Also, the original Supernatural Radio is replaced by an Extended Version (all of 41 seconds longer!).
I'm not 100% certain that I like this move to basically shred the original album and the tracks that replaced those removed could quite easily have been released as an EP. That might seem quite harsh but it's getting a little annoying with posthumous releases in Tom Petty's name. I really loved 'American Treasure' (it was my favourite album of 2018) but was disappointed that they decided to release another Collection called 'The Best of Everything - The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016' that only features two songs out of 38 that had been unreleased before. Then there's the whole debacle that sits with the highly anticipated Wildflowers Boxset titled 'Wildflowers & All The Rest', a 5CD collection that was released in October 2020 only for them to release the 5th disc in the set, 'Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)' as a stand alone album in April 2021 on Limited Edition Gold Vinyl and also CD. I've always tried not to be too negative on my previous blog and here on this new one but every once in a while it gets a bit frustrating!
1. Angel Dream (No. 2)2. Grew Up Fast3. Change The Locks4. Zero From Outer Space5. Asshole6. One of Life's Little Mysteries
1. Walls No.32. Thirteen Days 3. 105 Degrees4. Climb That Hill5. Supernatural Radio (Extended Version)6. French Disconnection
I hope you enjoy the music despite my reservations.
