Album of the month

Muddy Waters album “Live At Mr. Kellys” from 1971 took my heart into the blues. I bought this album (Cassette) a sunny saturday in the summer of 1974, and I was nine years old. Acually I got money from my sweet grandmother to buy the 45rpm of WATERLOO with ABBA that won the Eurovision that same year. I took the bus all alone to town to buy this album and when I finish the deal, I had 10 Norwegian Krones (Nok) left (apx. 1 EURO). At the entrance of the record shop there where a big bowl with cassettes for Nok. 10,- each. I grew up with my mothers 1950/60’s albums, but couldnt’t find any cassette with some of them (Rick Nelson, Elvis, Cliff Richard, Roy Orbison, Brook Benton aso), so I ended up with a cassette with a cool cover in cool colors. This was MUDDY WATERS, that I never heard about before. When I came home of course the first thing I did was to put on ABBA cause I liked that song. Later on the same Saturday Night I put the Muddy cassette in my new cassette player and the rest is history. I played trumpet in the local school brassband (my father was the director) since I was 7 years old and the first song on this live recording was «WHAT IS THAT SHE GOT». Don’t know how to describe it, but it blow me away total. The harmonica work on this tune is among the best I still hear and in the cassette cover/ sleve it says the it was Mr Joe Denim on Mississippi «Trumpet» on track 1, 3 & 9. On the other songs there where Paul Oscher on harp. For years after 1974 I was looking for more music with Mr. Joe Denim, but no luck before I meet a hippie in 1981. He told me that “Joe Denim” was James Cotton. In the pseudonymic contract-hopping tradition, where sidemen show up on other peoples’ records under names like “Friendly Chap” and “Dirty Rivers,” Mr Joe Denim was James Cotton. He worked with Muddy several years before going solo and Muddy insisted that he should play harmonic at this fantastic live show. I was lucky enough to meet my mentor James Henry Cotton twice and he will forever be my hero. Still listen to his solos and fill in’s on this album, and I will never get tired of It. I also meet Paul Oscher and we shared a bottle of Jack Daniels while he told me about this fabulous recording from June 1971. Mr. Superharp (James Cotton…or Mr Joe Denim if You like) died in 2017, but he will forever be my biggest influence since I first heard his fabulous playing in July 1974.

There have been so many great blues albums made over the years that it is very difficult to choose just one. After much consideration, I did go with an artist who I feel is truly among the top blues music artists. I came across this fantastic album by Bonnie Raitt after seeing a live recording of this performance. Anyway, I was familiar with her music beforehand, but after seeing this I was completely sold. The album contains some of my favorite songs such as “Love sneaking up on you” and “Angel of Montgomery,” but have come to appreciate these songs even more after hearing them in live jacket. Raitt’s slide playing is so unique and recognizable that it stands out right away. Her husky, smoky voice also comes through again and stands out beautifully in the whole. There are also a good number of guest musicians playing along such as Charles Brown, Kim Wilson, Bruce Hornsby, Bryan Adams and Jackson Browne. They all add their individuality to the record. If you watch the live performance as well, you can see the experience and musicality of Raitt and the other musicians added to that. Therefore, it is definitely a must-see. For me, Bonnie Raitt is definitely a musical inspiration. This album really introduced me to Bonnie Raitt’s music and it is certainly not the last thing I will listen to from her. She is one of the best and most versatile blues musicians out there and there are few who can match her. In my opinion, she is a true female blues legend and I hope many more like her may follow.

At our house, I was quite spoiled with music. Mijn vader had een hele rits aan platen, waar ik als kleine knul maar al te graag mijn kleffe grijpvingertjes in wilde zetten, al was het alleen maar vanwege de afbeeldingen en de aantrekkingskracht van al die mensen die er op afgebeeld stonden: muzikanten, wat een raar volkje. The house was also full of reels for a Revox tape recorder. Daar werd nog wel eens wat mee opgenomen en afgespeeld. Fantastic and incredibly complicated, all those needles, discs, spools, magnets and miles of tape just to fill our living room with the hip sounds of the 60s and 70s. I cherish fond memories of whole Sundays playing with my train under a blanket of Pink Floyd, the Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Cuby & The Blizzards. My father’s love for the latter band was a holdover from the 1960s, when he himself played in many a youth band (and who didn’t in those days). Later we also got a cassette deck on the cabinet and the collection expanded to include music which was skillfully and illegally exchanged between my father and his friends/colleagues. So suddenly there was a bin of tapes with the word “CHESS” written large on them. Deze collectie opende mijn ogen als het gaat om de oorsprong van de Blues. Terwijl ik eerder dacht dat de Blues een fenomeen was uit de wilde jaren van mijn ouders, doorspekt met de geluiden van elektrische instrumenten in een twelve-bar korsetje gesnoerd, bleek al gauw dat het hier ging om een sterk staaltje jatwerk. Guys like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker were already bringing me a little closer to the truth. I had to learn more about that. Seeing the movie “Crossroads,” in which Ralph Macchio takes on the devilish Steve Vai in a symbolic duel between (Blues) rock and authentic Blues, I realized it could be a great scavenger hunt. Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, Son House and so on…. that was the “real shit!” However, the real itch to pick up a guitar myself and put my fingers in a double ship knot came with an LP by Mississippi John Hurt, The Original 1928 Recordings. Maybe this isn’t an obvious choice for everyone but his inimitable picking and alternate bass work blew me away completely. All this is also framed by, perhaps, the most genial voice in the history of the Blues. Anyone who hears this man sing is instantly transported back to times long gone, brought with honesty by one man with one voice and, I secretly suspect, 26 or so fingers. The subjects John Hurt sings about contrast greatly with his conversational sound. Sex (Candy Man Blues), Adultery/Murder (Frankie) and psychopaths (Stack o’Lee Blues) all pass in review in the oeuvre of this blues legend. A record that, with your eyes closed, is great for daydreaming away on a Sunday afternoon with a good glass of “whatever” and possibly a guitar on your lap. Definitely worth a try!

When I was 19, the first LP by The Paul Butterfield Band came out. Before that I had been listening to blues by Muddy Waters, Willy Dixon, Rolling Stones etc. But when I put this LP on my turntable it came in like a bomb. It was Chicago blues that was just a little different, blues with energy, passion, tight and straight ahead. That wasn’t surprising in the end because Chicago-born Paul Butterfield was one of the most innovative singers/mouth harmonica players in Chicago blues. In 1963 Paul formed the band with Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay and they made 5 albums, the first of which is still the best for me and impressed me the most. Listen to ‘Mellow Down Easy’ (Willy Dixon) and ‘Blues With A Feeling’ (Little Walter) and you will break down. But also the songs ‘Born in Chicago’ and ‘Shake your Money Maker’ are gems. The band disbanded after 8 years (1971) and Paul Butterfield died on May 4, 1987. The LP I have is no longer playable, it went from black to gray, so I just bought the CD some time ago.  

One Sunday morning in the early 1970s, my phone rang. It was my good friend and music lover Ben V. talking very enthusiastically about the LP he had purchased. You were still buying your sound carriers back then. `Have you ever heard of `The Allman Brothers Band`? I had to admit that this band was unknown to me. `Come over to enjoy an afternoon`. Together with my young wife, I reported to the GLIPHOEVE in the BIJLMER. `Let’s hear it`. After listening to it for the first time, the bomb hit me. I had never heard this before. What wonderful music, what a great group of musicians, what singers. Bluezy underground, beautiful arrangements. We played this album at least a dozen times, and the depth got deeper and deeper. The music got stronger and stronger. To this day I still think this is a TOP album. Later I started collecting everything by The Allman Brothers Band and can still enjoy it to this day. Even though the individual members went out on their own and both Allman Brothers exchanged the temporary for the eternal I am a fan for life.

Although we had a pickup (record player) in the house with LPs by the Scorpions, The Beatles and the Kinks even before 1967, the penny dropped for me when I first heard A Hard Road by John Mayall. The guitar sound was magical and the then guitarist Peter Green is to this day my all time hero. At that time, I also began my first attempts on the guitar and of course I wanted to play all those beautiful songs flawlessly as well. Eventually, many drops of sweat later, I succeeded and played in a band that only played songs by John Mayall. Consequently, all the songs from A Hard Road were in the repertoire. For me personally, the LP all has classics. Standouts are the instrumental song The Supernatural, still unmatched, and the other instrumental The StumbleThe basic lineup of this band consisted of: John Mayall vocals/piano/organ/harmonica/5 and 9-string guitars, Peter Green, vocals/solo guitar, John McVie, bass guitar and Ainsley Dunbar, drums. On the LP, some songs were augmented by a horn section. To this day, this record is the basis for my own guitar playing. From this LP I discovered the way back to the traditional American blues around the year 1900 and I studied all the developments and blues styles and eventually ended up back with the British blues, in which John Mayall in various line-ups surely played a leading role. So for me, A Hard Road was the starting point of my journey of discovery into the blues and this journey of discovery is far from over.  

When the CD player made its appearance in the Woestenenk home (in Eefde), I was about eleven years old. I thought it was magical! The drawer opened and closed, you could quickly click on to any song and be completely surprised by the shuffle function (also called random, I found out later). I was in grade 8 in elementary school and sometimes I would go play at a friend’s house where there was a CD player. If I was very careful, I was sometimes allowed to put a CD in the drawer, but now we had one ourselves. When, after much deliberation, we had selected a JVC tower in Doetinchem, the system stood gleaming in our living room. My parents bought two double CDs with it. One of those thick boxes with a CD on two sides and a protective foam in the middle. CDs were very expensive in those days. I think as much as 40 guilders. Both CDs were by Eric Clapton. We also had them on elpee, so an apt choice. ‘Backtrackin’ (a collector) and ‘Just One Night’: Eric Clapton Live. The cover alone: Clapton with his black Fender Stratocaster up front! I dreamed of such a guitar and also knew immediately that I wanted a beard when I grew up. My parents’ record closet had been a magnet for me for years. The smell, the pictures, the stories on (or in) the cover, the link between the artists…. and most of all, the music. I loved it. There was no Internet yet, so if I wanted to know more besides the information on the covers, I would bike to the library to pick up the pop encyclopedia or a biography of an artist I had rediscovered. Cycling a little further was to Deventer. There was Musica, the music store. There were real Fender and Gibson guitars. With a little luck I was allowed to hold one. On a shopping night my parents allowed me to pick out an electric guitar. I had been taking guitar lessons for some time and wanted nothing more than to exchange my Spanish (rental) guitar for a real electric one. The black stratocaster of the Hondo brand fit the budget exactly, and it came with a red strap, just like Clapton! Once home, I discovered a button on the amp: drive. When I pressed it, my guitar sounded exactly like Clapton. “Sunshine of your Love” and “White Room” suddenly sounded very different from my Spanish guitar. My enthusiasm for Clapton became even greater, because in the same year I was allowed to go with him to see Eric Clapton in the Statenhal in The Hague. There I saw him live. Ten years earlier, when Clapton was 34 and I was still in diapers, he recorded the album ‘Just One Night’ during a tour in Japan. Clapton had already lived a glorious life. Music was his passion, but a life of drugs and booze obscured his talent for a long time. In the late 1970s, he replaced his regular American backing band for a group of English musicians. The fresh wind of new musical friends and especially the input of Albert Lee made Clapton play with more fire again. ‘Just One Night’ is a record where for me a lot of emotion can be heard in Clapton’s playing and singing. I played the album and later so the CD over and over again. I took a self-recorded cassette tape to my bedroom to practice and practice on my own stratocaster. The drive button pressed, of course. To this day, this album is a comfort, inspiration and frustration (because I want to be able to play it myself, just like him). Some nights when I travel through Eric Clapton’s songs with my band Claptunes for another evening, there are moments when I am back in my bedroom in Eefde. Then I dream again that I will become as good as Eric and for a moment it seems like that is really the case. Wonderful! The double CD is still in my parents’ closet. Sometimes I take it out, the yellowed foam is still inside. Funny really, how hearing a sound or seeing a simple CD case opens up a whole barrel of memories.

I was 14 when Led Zeppelin III came out. The first song, Immigrant song, was immediately overpowering (and still is). I thought it was an unearthly sound. And that voice of Robert Plant. Rough without screaming. Great record too to play along to as a young guitarist. Even playing air guitar again I couldn’t resist! It took a while until I realized that the guitar was in open tuning on ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’, which was even released on single. Automatically I reach for my guitar again to fiddle around with it. What fun is that to rediscover his record. Kind of coming home. The cover is a work of art in itself, still, timelessly beautiful with that dial and only minimal information. Music is louder than words they must have thought back then. Damn right. Went to spin III now of course for this piece and am once again captured by the sound. All the songs are etched in my memory, how often I played that record. And yet now I heard different details again. Not played it for so long. What such a piece of writing brings about. Once I bought it on CD, but now when I play it on LP, the magic of playing LPs comes back. It won’t leave my turntable for a while. The song “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” I must highlight separately. A slow blues on which Jimmy Page plays one of the most beautiful guitar solos of all time. Some songs like this were inspiration for Homesick & The Backstabbers, my first band, with whom we also often played in Wijk bij Duurstede. And that rhythm section, such a fat drum (John Bonham) & bass (John Paul Jones) sound. Those 4 together was also part of the magic! In the third year of high school I had one of those army bags, those things were hard to come by, a pimple you called it. On mine, of course, was written in thick felt-tip pen…. Led Zeppelin. Timelessly brilliant and I am years younger again.

Back then at V&D these albums were 2.50 guilders. I had seen that mentioned in the Saturday edition of the newspaper but was sick and asked a friend of mine to just take 2 elpees at random. One of them was this one. I don’t really like greatest hits, but she knew a lot and this seemed like a safe choice. I often find greatest hits a mishmash but this one was consistent and all the songs fit together perfectly, especially in terms of atmosphere. Such an old United Artists record. Very pure performances, on which the depth of John Lee Hooker’s voice is outstanding. Still the vintage sound without embellishments and great performances that bore right in. Terrible albums they released. I found that out later. When I heard this album I knew it….this kind of music is what gets me. Since then I have never been able to let go of the blues and my tastes have changed forever. Blues, preferably bare and as pure as possible. And that’s what you get with this album. The old Lightning Hopkins albums have that too, just like the terrible, terrible and another terrible Alabama Blues by J.B. Lenoir. But that’s not an elpee. And no matter how many elpees/CDs I have heard of John Lee Hooker that are not greatest hits: this elpee remains unsurpassed. By anyone.

The album you can wake me up at night for is Boogie with Canned Heat. In 1969 I was 15 years old and that’s when the American blues band came to Castle Duurstede in Wijk bij Duurstede. The reason for their coming was that a weekend of filming was being made of their performances. Buses full of hippies came, there was drug use, music and dancing. At that time, I myself also looked like a hippie and it was not difficult to attend the performance at the castle. The Canned Heat performance was my first introduction to the blues/boogie and set me on the path to the blues. I was impressed by the performance and the first thing I did as a fifteen-year-old after the performance was to buy an album by Canned Heat. It became the LP Boogie with Canned Heat. This album is the second studio album by the American blues and rock band Canned Heat. Released in 1968, it contains mostly original material, unlike their debut album. It was the band’s most commercially successful album, reaching No. 16 in the US and No. 5 in the UK. Boogie with Canned Heat includes the top 10 hit ” On the Road Again “, one of their best-known songs. Also “Amphetamine Annie,” a warning about the dangers of amphetamine abuse and was widely played on the radio. “Fried Hockey Boogie” was the first example of one of Canned Heat’s boogies. Canned Heat emerged in 1966 and was founded by blues historians and record collectors Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite. The Bear took the name “Canned Heat” from a 1928 recording by Tommy Johnson. They were joined by Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine. The band was completed in 1967 by Larry “The Mole” Taylor on bass, an experienced session musician who had played with Jerry Lee Lewis and The Monkees. Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra played on drums. With their performances at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (along with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who) and headlining the original Woodstock Festival in 1969, the band secured a place in the pages of rock ‘n roll history. The band collaborated with Jon Mayall, Little Richard and later blues icon John Lee Hooker, the musician from whom they initially drew much of their musical inspiration. The band achieved three worldwide hits, “On The Road Again” in 1968, “Let’s Work Together” in 1970 and “Going Up The Country” in 1969 became rock anthems around the world, with the latter song being adopted as the unofficial theme song for the movie Woodstock and the “Woodstock Generation.