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| Big Joe Turner |
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| Slim Harpo and Friend |
I somehow got through last summer after tempting the blues gods to smite me with genuineness when I would not be prepared to appreciate it. I somehow dodged that bullet by loving damn near every minute of it. Is there perhaps something to the phrase "Summertime Blues" that applies to seniors such as myself?
So, oops, I did it again and got a couple of albums I had no business getting in June (thank you, Father's Day and Universal Wish List - It's Free - Things To Get Me!). And it worked out great!
I'm cheating a bit, having Joe here. There are a handful of blues songs, after which Joe smells the money and starts to, well, rock. He doesn't drop the blues - he just slaps it together with the new sound and in the process, releases half a dozen songs that - when covered by other people - more or less founded rock 'n roll. Joe himself - the Rodney Dangerfield of rock 'n roll? - never made it big.
This is certainly one of the most unpretentious albums I've ever heard. Nary a guitar to be found, but the piano and horns lend everything a party atmosphere. Even the slow blues numbers will make you smile, because Joe is a SHOUTER, and that tends to allay the gravitas.
It's called fun.
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Slim Harpo: The Best of... (1997)
You'd think after hearing the always hustling Joe Turner, I'd dismiss this guy, whose delivery is so on the criminally lazy side, it would almost be funny, except that those vocals contrast so beautifully with his very sharp band, and his own even sharper lead guitar. In theory, awful, but in practice, magical.
And just when you think he's a clown, he goes dark. And I suspect when he talks about "love", he's not talking about romance. During one of his come-ons, he mentions how neither she nor he is going to heaven, so why not? Shudder!
So he really means business and understands that taking it a little slow just guarantees you'll get there in one piece. Well, at least he will.
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And that's that. Each is a single CD, and neither overstays its welcome. I wasn't going to push it with a huge box or multi-CD set. I still have scars from my Lou Reed five-album foray a couple of years ago.
I've had similar luck with jazz, lately, too. We'll get to that maybe next time.
