![]() Hoodoo Man Blues was the record that Guy said “made the world see us as a team” and in his autobiography, When I Left Home, he reflected on the album’s enduring success: “Left to our devices, we could burn. The album announced a special musical bond to the world and the pair’s collaborations continued right up until Wells’ death in 1998. “‘Hey man,’ he said, ‘why not?’”Įlsewhere, their locked-in version of Kenny Burrell’s jazz classic Chitlins Con Carne rejigs the recipe on the fly to seal a set with amazing variety, a huge range of emotions on display and inimitable swagger. “Junior heard the sound and smiled,” wrote Guy. No bother – he just plugs into the Leslie speaker of a Hammond B3 to produce the guitar-into-organ sound we now know and love, and gets on with it. The sparring continues throughout the instrumental We’re Ready, where each tries to outdo the other by coaxing unexpected tones and phrasing, and their uptempo take on You Don’t Love Me is a stepping stone between the Willie Cobbs original and the later Allman Brothers version.īy the time they get to the title track, Guy’s amp has temporarily given way. Warren’s funky fat-back beat is decorated with taut, intricate outbursts and the band’s assured musicality showcases the horn-like expressiveness of Wells’ harp and the controlled mania Guy wrings from his clean Strat sound.Ī few tracks in and Wells’ slow-burning In The Wee Hours dims the lights for the soloists to stretch out, Wells’ harp setting the scene with mournful, lingering trills while Guy alternates muscular minor-key partial chords with featherlight lead, barely touching the strings. On opener Snatch It Back And Hold It, they come flying out of the traps. The one-shot, live feel is to the fore, with all four musicians uninhibited and raw, yet fully focused. The band took full advantage of the freedom afforded them, and the Sound Studios sessions – masterminded by Wells – took a total of around seven hours. You in?” Because Koester mistakenly thought Guy was contractually obliged to Leonard Chess, the guitarist didn’t sing and was credited on early pressings as ‘Friendly Chap’. ![]() When Guy asked Wells why there was no piano player, his reply was: “Less cats, more money. ![]() Wells chose now-legendary bassist Jack Myers, jazz-schooled blues drummer Billy Warren and guitarist Buddy Guy for the session, a well-oiled line-up who knew each other and the material inside-out from playing Friday to Monday nights at local club, Theresa’s. ![]() It marked the first time a Chicago artist was given the creative freedom to pick their own band and record material free from the three-minute constraints of radio-friendly commercialism it was also the first attempt to transplant the sound of the city’s South Side clubs to the superior acoustic environment of the recording studio. Recorded over two sessions on 22-23 September 1965 for producer Bob Koester’s Delmark Records label, the record was the album debut for Memphis harp virtuoso Junior Wells, a Chicago mainstay who had replaced the imperious Little Walter in Muddy Waters’ band in the 50s (that’s his harmonica on Mannish Boy). ![]() Hoodoo Man Blues was an entirely different animal. Up until the mid 1960s, the electric blues albums of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter et al that were released on Chicago’s Chess label and its Checker subsidiary were, for the most part, compilations of singles or live albums, aside from the occasional oddity such as Muddy Waters’ Folk Singer acoustic session. ![]()
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