Blues

Classic Concert: Muddy Waters at Rockpalast 1978

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Muddy Waters Bluesband live at Rockpalast is a great document of a fantastic musician and stage personality. It really shows Muddy’s magnetism and skill in working a crowd. Especially when he abandons his guitar for “Mannish Boy” and at the end prowls the stage, manic preaching-style, as he jumps up and down, bemoaning the fact that “another mule is kicking in your stall”. His falsetto is sweet and true here, and gives us a glimpse of the strong sexual attraction Waters exuded in the fifties. What an artist, what a stage presence!

This is a fabulous blues concert!

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Georgia Blues: Blind Willie McTell , Blind Willie’s Blues (Documentary) 1997

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Blind Willie’s Blues

A 54-minute documentary film about the life, times, and music of blues legend Blind Willie McTell.
With music masters Taj Mahal Stefan Grossman,historian Daphne Duval Harrison,and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun.
Written and produced by David Fulmer

“Nothing less than the economic, social, and
historical evolution of America’s indigenous music.”
— Video Librarian

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Classic concert: Led Zeppelin live Denmark 1969 (full TV performance) plus bonus clip

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Here’s a short but sweet film of what Led Zeppelin looked and sounded like in the first year of the band’s history. This was mid March, 1969. Their debut album, Led Zeppelin, had been out in USA for three months.

Led Zeppelin was on a tour of the UK and Scandinavia when they visited TV-Byen studios in Gladsaxe, Denmark, to play four songs from the new album:

0:11 Communication Breakdown
2:58 Dazed and Confused
12:13 Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
19:01 How Many More Times
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Blues Classics: Skip James – “Devil Got My Woman”

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

I’d rather be the devil, to be that woman man
I’d rather be the devil, to be that woman man
Aw, nothin’ but the devil, changed my baby’s mind
Was nothin’ but the devil, changed my baby’s mind
~Skip James (Devil Got My Woman)

Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James’ early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
~Cub Koda (allmusic.com)

Skip James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer. He is regarded by most blues writers as a very important artist.

He is one of 3 blues artists to featured in Wim Wenders great documentary film The Soul of a Man (2003). 

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Best Album 2016: The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

rolling-stones-blue-and-lonesome-artwork-1024x1024

The Rolling Stones released their latest album December 2nd 2016, their first album in over a decade is a return to the blues. It is a great blues album, and a tremendous return to form by The Stones.

The album is fresh and spontaneous and was recorded in just 3 days last December (2015) with co-producer Don Was. It really sounds like band enjoying themselves.

“This album is manifest testament to the purity of their love for making music, and the blues is, for the Stones, the fountainhead of everything they do.”
– Don Was

It’s a very good introduction to the blues, by a band who clearly pours their love into the songs. We’ve included the versions that are closest to the Rolling Stones’s takes on these songs. It isn’t always the original recording.

The entire list part 3, part 2, part 1

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Nov 30: The late great Robert Nighthawk was born in 1909

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Of all the pivotal figures in blues history, certainly one of the most important was Robert Nighthawk. He bridged the gap between Delta and Chicago blues effortlessly, taking his slide cues from Tampa Red and stamping them with a Mississippi edge learned first hand from his cousin, Houston Stackhouse.
~Cub Koda (allmuisc.com)

Goin’ Down To Eli’s (Live On Maxwell Street):

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