Record Reviews
📝 2096 reviews| Artist | Title | Review |
|---|---|---|
| Jesse Winchester | Let The Rough Side Drag | |
| Jesse Winchester | Nothing But A Breeze | |
| Jesse Winchester | A Touch On The Rainy Side | |
| Jesse Winchester | Gentleman Of Leisure | |
| Johnny Winter | Progressive Blues Experiment | |
| Johnny Winter | Second Winter | <p>Second Winter, Johnny Winter's second album for Columbia, originally had the distinction of being the only album in rock history that was a three-sided double LP. Musically, 35 years after its original release, Second Winter is still an oddity. Issued by Sony's Legacy division, the set has been painstakingly remastered, and expanded by bonus cuts and an entire disc of live material. It's too bluesed-out to be a pure rock record, and too psychedelically dimensioned to be a pure blues album. Tommy Shannon calls it "power blues." And as for whatever else passed for blues-rock at the time -- Cream, Hendrix, Canned Heat, etc. -- forget it. This set is a whole different animal. Cut in Nashville with all tracks begin done within one or two takes, the energy of Second Winter is undeniable. The sheer range of styles Winter assaulted in his restless quest is astonishing too.</p><p>The set begins with a blues-funk cover of Percy Mayfield's classic "Memory Pain," that adds a wealth of rock sonics to the mix. The same goes for the gritty originals like "I'm Not Sure," with its screaming electric mandolin, and the album's closer "Fast Life Rider." The latter two are textured with Edgar's stellar piano work. Then there's the album's centerpiece, the signature cover of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" with its burning, gut bucket slide work and Winter's bona fide revival of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Trad Delta blues makes its appearance here as well in "I Love Everybody," as does jump jazz in "I Hate Everybody," both of them with Winter's raucous edge. The original album is buoyed here with a pair of bonus tracks, an instrumental version of Ray Charles' "Tell the Truth," as well as the jump blues classic "Early in the Morning." Disc two in the set is an entire unreleased concert from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 with the same band The show is a monster showcasing all the fiery craziness of Winter's nearly unbelievable guitar mastery on tracks such as "Mean Town Blues," "Black Cat Bone," "It's My Own Fault," "Tobacco Road," and "Johnny B. Goode." It is also significant for the early performance of Edgar's classic, "Frankenstein" -- it's a very different, and preferable -- version than the one recorded in the studio. All in all, fantastic sound, an excellent package, and good notes by Andy Aledort make this a welcome addition to the classic rock canon.</p>— <b>Thom Jurek</b> |
| Johnny Winter | Progressive Blues Experiment | <p>Although his early Columbia albums brought him worldwide stardom, it was this modest little album (first released on Imperial before the Columbia sides) that first brought Johnny Winter to the attention of guitarheads in America. It's also Winter at the beginning of a long career, playing the blues as if his life depends on it, without applying a glimmer of rock commercialism. The standard classic repertoire here includes "Rollin' and Tumblin'," "I Got Love if You Want It," "Forty-Four," "It's My Own Fault," and "Help Me," with Winter mixing it up with his original Texas trio of Red Turner on drums and Tommy Shannon (later of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble) on bass. A true classic, this is one dirty, dangerous, and visionary album. The set was issued in a sonically screaming 24-bit rermastered edition on CD by Capitol in 2005. It contains no bonus tracks, but it leaves the original crummy CD issue in the dust.</p>— <b>Thom Jurek</b> |
| Johnny Winter | Johnny Winter | <p>Winter's debut album for Columbia was also arguably his bluesiest and best. Straight out of Texas with a hot trio, Winter made blues-rock music for the angels, tearing up a cheap Fender guitar with total abandon on tracks like "I'm Yours and I'm Hers," "Leland Mississippi Blues," and perhaps the slow blues moment to die for on this set, B.B. King's "Be Careful With a Fool." Winter's playing and vocals have yet to become mannered or clichéd on this session, and if you've ever wondered what the fuss is all about, here's the best place to check out his true legacy.</p>— <b>Cub Koda</b> |
| Johnny Winter | Johnny Winter | |
| Johnny Winter | Nothing But The Blues | |
| Johnny Winter | A Rock 'n Roll Collection | |
| Steve Winwood | Winwood | |
| Steve Winwood | Steve Winwood | |
| Steve Winwood | Arc Of A Diver | <P>He wasn't Little Stevie, the 16-year-old phenom who set mid- '60s London blazing with his Ray Charles-like vocals, anymore. He was a half-forgotten ex-member of some of rock's most progressive (Traffic) and vilified (Blind Faith) bands, and he was considering leaving show business while recording this--his second album--alone and without a backup band. Arc of a Diver reflects a resigned-to-fate mood. It boasts a synth-heavy, dub-like ambience, with dirge-y tracks like "Spanish Dancer" and the wistful single "While You See a Chance" all but zoning out of your speakers. The fates were kind, though. Recording the single, Winwood inadvertently erased the drum intro. This spacey alteration, together with his catchiest tune since "Paper Sun," catapulted the song onto the charts. In a few years he would be among the top-selling vocalists in the world. His mood was lighter. He could afford to hire engineers that didn't make mistakes.</P>— <B>Don Harrison</B> |
| Steve Winwood | Back In The High Life | |
| Steve Winwood | Roll With It | |
| Steve Winwood | About Time | <p>Steve Winwood took an extended break after the ignoble flop of 1997's <I>Junction Seven</I>, resurfacing on his own indie label Wincraft six years later with About Time. Where his last major-label effort fell prey to many of the trappings of a veteran artist gunning for the charts one last time — an overly slick Narada Michael Waldenproduction, cameos from Des'ree and Lenny Kravitz, songs that were too slick and unmemorable — About Time finds Winwood scaling back things considerably, keeping himself to a trio featuring him on a Hammond organ, drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr., and guitarist José Piresde Almeida Neto. Occasionally, congas and timbales and other percussion flesh out the rhythm, while Karl Denson plays flute or saxophone elsewhere, but these are subtle additions to a loose, laid-back, intimate album that harks back to Traffic, even if it is never as freewheeling or unpredictable as that band.</p> <p>Winwood's ambitions with About Time are pretty modest, actually — to cut R&B-based tunes that bring in jazz and Latin influences and give everybody the chance to jam. Though they meander a bit too much at times, the jams are warm and appealing, and while the songs are a little indistinct, the feel of the music is good, which counts for a lot, since the last two slick solo albums felt distant (surely a byproduct of records that were designed to be <i>Roll With It</i>, Pt. 2). If Winwood's voice is now a little rough (which comes as a surprise), it nevertheless fits the scaled-down, relaxed atmosphere. And if individual songs aren't necessarily memorable, they don'tnecessarily need to be — the feel is the thing here, and while it isn't first-rate Steve Winwood, it does feel like a welcome update from an old friend, which, after several years of waiting and several uneven records, is enough.</p><p> — <b>Stephen Thomas Erlewine</b></p> |
| Steve Winwood | Soundstage | |
| Howlin' Wolf | The Red Rooster | |
| Howlin' Wolf | His Best |
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