Endless Boogie
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Audio CD (10 December, 1991)
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Reviews (8)

Peak performance by a legendery entertainer
A true standout, especially when you compare the performances on this album to some of Mr. Hooker's other work. The studio musicians all seem to blossom here, with J.L.'s incredible vocals, in creating this classic. It ranks with my personal top 10 alltime albums, way up there. Universal and current messages abound, and is a lot of fun too (check out "House Rent Boogie"..."Hit Kix U").

Endless Blues
I bought this album soon after its initial release in 1971 and was blown away. It holds up even after 30 years and will continue to do so. Some critics have dismissed this album as another example of aimless jamming by some white guitarists in awe of a blues icon. I completely disagree. Sure, many of the tracks are over 5 minutes: and yes these are jams. But they anything but chaotic and unstructured as some listeners have suggested. There are fine contributions from the likes of Steve Miller, Mel Brown and the late Jesse Ed Davis (listen to Davis' snake like notes and brittle playing on the jam Pots on, gas up high). For the blues mood in extremis check out Kick Hit 4 hit Kix U and Sheep out on the foam. The rhythm section of Gino Skaggs (you want to learn blues bass playing, listen to this cat's clean playing) and Ken Swank (fine drumming) on most tracks (late Carl Radle and Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos appear on the remainder) is rock steady. I emigrated to Canada as a 15 year old in 1971 and this was the album that got me into blues. I have worn out two double albums and have presented copies to numerous friends to illustrate how joyful blues music can be. Its wonderful that the CD is available once more to delight blues fans every where. The 5 stars are for the content and for the seminal role this CD has played in shaping my musical education.

Driftin' and driftin'...
Do you like your blues sleazy? I mean with sleaze just dripping off it and oozing out of every nook and cranny? Do you like your blues without chord changes, droning and building emotional intensity as it burrows into your soul like a thousand nights in a shotgun shack on the delta? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, Endless Boogie is your type of album. It's John Lee "jamming" with a group of, mostly, young white blues dudes in an essentially live session recorded in studio. All the tracks are extended by today's standards, and all have some decent guitar, piano, and electric piano solos. What really makes this disc special is the alchemy, that special "something" that you hear sometimes at the Monday night blues jam, when the players catch fire and everything transcends. Hooker's voodoo guitar doesn't get much of a showing, but his singing is definitely in top form: brooding, evocative, and, quite frankly, somewhat disturbing in its urgent melancholy. Listen to this, you will come away changed. ... Read more

Asin: B000002OI6
Sales Rank: 25072

Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton [Remasterd/Bonus Tracks]
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Audio CD (05 June, 2001)
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Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (34)

Guitar Heaven by Eric Clapton!
Few albums have had greater impact than the landmark John Mayall With Eric Clapton "Blues Breakers." Released by the Decca label in Britain on 22 July 1966, literally days after Clapton quit the Bluesbreakers and just a week before Cream's debut, it went all the way to #6, a pretty mean feat since Mayall's band had never had a hit single. This may have been a first in Britain.

Of course, this is the album that set the blues and guitar worlds aflame and established Eric Clapton's name worldwide as the most passionate of musical interpreters. If you haven't yet heard "Beano" (as the album is affectionately known, because Clapton is pictured reading "The Beano" comic book on its cover), then you ain't heard nuthin' yet!

From the album's first notes, you realize that you're in guitar heaven, as "Slowhand" shows us the way electric guitar can and should be played. Clapton's virtuoso playing is white-hot throughout. Playing with maturity beyond his 21 years, the young Eric Clapton was so influential that Gibson eventually reissued the (out-of-production since 1960) Les Paul model guitar, which Clapton then played.

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers served--and still serves today--as a finishing school for great musicians and sidemen (Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, John McVie, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Fleetwood, Coco Montoya and others). Mayall's proselytizing the blues (he's 69 years old!), his songwriting skills, and his other musical talents should not be ignored nor taken lightly.

Clapton is God
This is the album on which Eric Patrick Clapton, Slowhand, emerged as one of the most innovative and original guitarists in the world. Clapton created a new sound when he combined a sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard through a Marshall amplifier. And while blues guitarists like B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Buddy Guy, Freddy King, Otis Ruch, Albert King had pioneered the electric blues guitar idiom, Eric Clapton brought it into the popular mainstream and transformed it. The blues guitar now became an integral part of popular music and rock and roll. This is where Claton showed how it could be done. He perfected on the Beano album of 1966.

Clapton had begun the transformation of the electric guitar while he was with the Yardbirds. He had electrifying solos on the Yardbird's GOODMORNING LITTLE SCHOOLGIRL and on GOT TO HURRY. Clapton wanted to develop and evolve his guitar style with the Yardbirds. But when they decided to go commercial and release pop material, Clapton quit the band. But Beano merely continues where Clapton left off with the Yardbirds. Unlike with the Yardbirds, however, John Mayall lets Clapton take center stage and allows him to realize his vision of the electric guitar. What results is a landmark recording. This album had a major impact in transforming the electric guitar from a secondary instrument to center stage. Eddie Van Halen cited Beano as the album that most influenced him. Jimi Hendrix purchased a copy and wanted to duplicate Clapton's sound. Hendrix even bought a Marshall amp like Clapton so he could get that thick distorted sound that Clapton got on Beano.

Beano showed what you could do when you combined the blues and the electric guitar. The blues did not have to be a peripheral music form but could now take center stage. Claton showed everyone how. He had the vision and the commitment to make it happen. As Clapton himself said, he wanted to change the world and to shake up the music scene. And he did that with Beano.

The album opens with the powerful ALL YOUR LOVE, which Stevie Ray Vaughan covered. Clapton has blistering guitar solos. On DOUBLE CROSSING TIME, a song Clapton co-wrote with Mayall, Clapton's solos are searing. A nice touch to WHAT'D I SAY? is Clapton playing the Beatles' DAY TRIPPER riff in the second half of the song. Clapton scorches on Freddy King's HIDEAWAY. Clapton is on fire throughout the album.

There are two bonus tracks that comprise the single that was released at the time.

This is a must-own album for any guitarist. This is a landmark album that transformed the electric guitar and ushered in the guitar god or guitar hero. But Clapton was the first one. Clapton is indeed SUPERMAN INSIDE and God! Hear for yourself why they called Clapton god and why Jimi Hendrix wanted to first meet Clapton when he arrived in England in 1966.

The debate rages on
Why on earth anyone would give this LP a low rating because it's done by British white boys is beyond me. That smacks of puritanism at its finest. It's like saying Chet Baker was a lousy jazz guy because he was white. These guys were playing what they loved and emulating their heroes. Clapton plays with a passion and fire that transcends racial or gender issues. He was a young musician trying to make his mark and that's where we as listeners really benefit. His focus is on his music and the critics be damned. I'm originally from Chicago's southside and know the old southside (go sox) blues clubs intimately. You could walk in there and mention this albumn and the musicians (mostly black) and the patrons (mostly black) would sing its praises. The nay sayers need to get a grip. I've lived the Chicago blues scene and this albumn is a must. During a conversation I had with the late great Lefty Dizz he told me this was his favorite blues albumn. Go figure..a black blues musician disagreeing with the white purists. Does that make Hendrix a lousy rock player. Do youself a favor and but this albumn! ... Read more

Asin: B00005K9QP
Sales Rank: 2378

Lightnin' and the Blues: The Herald Sessions
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Audio CD (17 April, 2001)
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Editorial Review

Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins belongs on the Mount Rushmore of great blues artists. You'll get a strong sense of why upon listening to the 16 tracks (including four unearthed specially for the CD) that the fortyish Texan made for Herald Records in 1954, about the time his African American fans deserted his country blues for a more modern sound. Hopkins sings "Sick Feelin' Blues" and the rest (except for a couple of boogie instrumentals) in a carefully regulated yet declarative manner, expounding on rotten luck with women and life through an outstanding blend of warmth and self-awareness. Though usually thought of as an acoustic guitar picker, he plugs in here and lets amplification give an edge of unresolved tension to his jagged rhythms and idiosyncratic musical ideas. And while Hopkins is better known as a solo performer, he gets chased by a frisky rhythm section throughout. --Frank-John Hadley ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A Pox On All Their Houses
Mostly the producer for even conceiving of the session, the rhythm section for taking the gig and Po' Lightnin' for seemingly not even being aware there were a bassist and drummer present. Kinda cool to hear him play the electric guitar, though. Don't get me wrong, Lightnin' is one of my faves, but not this date.

No doubt about it.
Sam- I hadn't any doubt that he was one of the greats since the first time I heard him pickin' on his aladdin recordings which I suggest over this. This is great though also. First off this is 40:00 minutes so it is a decent length. 2ndly it is a rare Electric Lightin'. It doesn't show his full guitar playing like his solo acoustic work often does like his use of playing bass lines and treble melodies at once. To hear his style of lead playing on an electric though is really an earful. It is serious and shows real roots of Rock Classics too. Sam could have easily been a Chuck Berry or the like, but this is better anyway. The amazing technical prowess overshadows the repetition. Look at it like Robert Johnson's songs where he uses certain rythms and leads frequently but only as a backdrop or a springboard [ And Robert never soloed much, so lightin' has him up there]. The rythm section is part of what stops lightnin' from showing his skills as a guitar player who can play rythm and lead at the same time, though the drums and bass on the slow tunes is usually neither a harm nor a hurt, the fast tunes I think Benefit heavily from the support. On the fast boogies Lightin' does show that he is not pure slow blues here: after all, Sam used to be an entertainer who made people dance. Some of these foot stompers are in such contrast to the slow blues it is pretty much what early rock boogies were based on and shows some mind-boggling playing from lightning with leads and chording. This record is great but then again I like anything I have ever heard by lightnin' and do suggest atleast 2 lightnin' records for all fans of deep down blues. The Complete Aladdin Recordings two cd set and Texas Blues. If you like and have those than I suggest this one too. Anyone that says that lightning isn't technically able because of some of the repetition in licks, is really not hearing what he's playing. Give it a chance. When he does play things over- the notes are so good that I just like hearing them again I don't get bored with it at all. They're tried and true things he repeats. Anyway I think this is very solid and also interesting is the song ''Life I used to Live.'' This is credited as an Eddie Jones [Guitar Slim] song. The music was taken from the song ' The Things that I used to do ' but Lightnin' changed the words almost completely. He made it about a man changing his life and going back to his religous ways. This is not what Slim's song was about but anyway, the melody is the same. Lightnin' even sounds like he's using the beginning of this song once or twice elsewhere. It was an interesting ''cover'' anyway. There's some odd reverb on Sam's voice in parts but overall an excellent set of blues music. Fast tunes, slow tunes, in the middle onces too, all perfect examples of what they are. I believe this was done in 1954. It says on the notes that if you had one of the original copies that it would be worth over 1,000 dollars. Impressive huh?

lightnin' flashes electricity
The legendary Herald sessions are (partially) presented here, remastered and sounding great.

These 1954 recordings have Lightnin' on electric guitar with bass and drums, something that wouldn't happen again for a while. The album that this CD reproduces, "Lightnin' and the Blues," didn't sell, incredible as that may seem now. The market for Lightnin's style of blues was disappearing among black audiences, and record companies were too dumb and/or shortsighted to really try to market the blues more widely than among that audience.

Fortunately for him, Lightnin' was "discovered" a few years later during the "folk blues" boom of the 1960s, where sanctimonious folkies looking for the "pure blues" recorded any bluesman they could find - as long as he was playing acoustic guitar. Lightnin', never one to pass up an opportunity to make a few bucks, pulled out the acoustic and obliged, to the tune of about half a million albums' worth of material.

Unfortunately, the vast amount of acoustic material Lightnin' cut tends to overshadow his electric guitar work, which is at the center of this CD. His electric guitar playing is raffish, offhanded, sly, sinister, and altogether engaging, exactly like his songs.

Lightnin' recorded with bass and drums subsequent to this, particularly for his Prestige/Bluesville sides, but the drummer and bassist on those recordings were altogether too polite and stolid. Here, his accompanists push him, and Lightnin' pushes back, distorted amp and all. This rocks, seriously, and bear in mind this was in 1954, when rock and roll music was largely pudgy white fellas with well-pomaded quiffs playing accelerated versions of swing music. Lightnin's hairy, rough, driven take on the blues here is years ahead of its time, probably one reason why "Lightnin' and the Blues," didn't sell like it should have in its day. In later years, listeners realized how great this album was, and collectors swooped in, soaking up the short supply of original albums, and keeping most people - even Hopkins fans - from hearing this important work.

Here, however, we have the entire album plus extra cuts, in terrifically remastered digital form. Even if you have every other Lightnin' CD out there, you need this one, and if you have never encountered Lightnin' before, this is a great place to start. ... Read more

Asin: B00005B1FN

Blues
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (26 April, 1994)
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Editorial Review

After the disorganized and often unlistenable Alan Douglas-produced reissues in the '70s and '80s, MCA has been releasing the vast Hendrix archives in an intelligent and methodical manner. Blues is a perfect example, making the case that--on top of everything else--Jimi Hendrix was one fine blues guitarist. Combining the fluid lines of B.B. King with the spikiness of Hubert Sumlin and the crying tone of Elmore James with his usual synapse-frying intensity, Hendrix manages to both honor the music tradition while remaining uniquely himself. These studio outtakes and warm-ups (plus one previously released track, the magnificent "Hear My Train a Comin'") include a playful "Mannish Boy," the slow burn of "Once I Had A Woman," and a metallic "Bleeding Heart." --Steven Mirkin ... Read more

Reviews (72)

Pure Blues and Still Unmistakably Jimi - Beyond Words
In all honesty, I have never heard anything quite like the guitar work on this album. Although most people start off with Are You Experienced?, I was fortunate enought to discover this gem about 14 years ago, and my life has never been the same. In recent years, compilations of Jimi's lost works have been released; as they should be. Blues is one of the "lost and found" set. His influences shine through here, but Jimi is the pilot of this journey through the power of the blues.

While Hendrix encompassed virtually all genres of guitar in his music - rock, jazz, blues, funk, and even slight signs of classical - it is his ability to keep from limiting himself to any certain style that makes this album beyond words. While staying true to the feel and history of the blues throughout, the guitar work on this album is completely individual. At times, this is my favorite Hendrix album. It captures the versatility of the blues from the heartwrenching "Once I had a Woman" to the skyscraping agression of tracks such as "Voodoo Chile Blues." Hendrix's greatest feat here is that he manages to recognise the blues greats, Muddy Waters, T-Bone, Robert Johnson, BB King, etc., and still shines through with his own personal style and signature licks such as the opener from "Red House." His ability to express himself through his instrument is virtually unmatched.

To truly appriciate the legacy and ability of Jimi Hendrix, this album is essential. If God was a guitarist, he would be a Jimi Hendrix clone.

Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest
I've been told that Stevie Ray Vaughan sounded a lot like Hendrix. I had never heard any Hendrix, and so I decided to buy a C.D. I was browsing through his vast sets of CD's, and my eyes fell upon this album: "Blues." So I bought the CD, and went home to listen to it. What I heard was possibly the best blues songs ever recorded. Hendrix was a master of the blues, and he proved this with songs such as "Red House" and "Voodoo Chile." Yes, Stevie Ray Vaughan sounds a lot like Hendrix, and I can see why SRV wanted to copy the blues great: because Hendrix had the blues, and he could express them better than anyone I've ever heard. SRV pales in comparison to Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix really was an amazing guitar player. Not only could he play great leads, but he FILLED the music. Most of the songs on this album consisted of just Hendrix, and a bass and drums. That's NO rythym guitar to fall back on when a solo doesn't work out as planned. He made that small number of instruments sound awesome. Any blues fan would love this CD. Any Hendrix fan would love this CD. It will hopefully bring the blues back.

Sacred
this is album was passed down to us by the gods. this is the greatest guitar album of all time. say what you want, but hendrix truly is the most untouchable guitarist of all time ... Read more

Asin: B000002OSK

The Real Thing
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (05 September, 2000)
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Editorial Review

Taj Mahal's been chasing the blues around the world for years, but rarely with the passion, energy, and clarity he brought to his first three albums. Taj Mahal, The Natch'l Blues and The Real Thing are the sound of the artist, who was born in 1942, defining himself and his music. On his self-titled 1967 debut, he not only honors the sound of the Delta masters with his driving National steel guitar and hard vocal shout, but ladles in elements of rock and country with the help of guitarists Ry Cooder and the late Jessie Ed Davis. This approach is reinforced and broadened by The Natch'l Blues. What's most striking is Mahal's way of making even the oldest themes sound as if they're part of a new era. Not just through the vigor of his playing--relentlessly propulsive, yet stripped down compared with the six-string ornamentations of the original masters of country blues--but through his singing, which possesses a knowing insouciance distinct to post-Woodstock counterculture hipsters. It's the voice of an informed young man who knows he's offering something deep to an equally hip and receptive audience.

Soon, Mahal turned his multicultural vision of the blues even further outward. The live 1971 set, The Real Thing, finds him still carrying the Mississippi torch, while adding overt elements of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music to its flame. But it's overreaching. His band sounds under-rehearsed, and the arrangements seem more like rough outlines. Nonetheless, these albums set the stage for Mahal's career. (For a condensed version, try the fine The Best of Taj Mahal.) Today, he continues to make fine fusion albums, like 1999's Kulanjan, with Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, and less exciting but still eclectic recordings with his Phantom Blues Band. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (11)

The Blues Rev Speaks
I completely wore out my original double LP album listening to The Real Thing. And "REAL" it is. This is my favorite Taj Mahal album and one of the top five of my favorite blues albums of all time, considering that my Blues LP and CD collection exceeds 350 albums. The ochestration of traditonal blues songs played with by a typical blues band coupled with the backing brass section of Mr. Howard Johnson and friends, is more powerful than a B-52 air raid. I'm going to purchase a second copy of this album for my archives because I know I'll wear out this CD before long.

The Real Real Thing
Here Taj revists some of the earlier blues classics he recorded on his first two Columbia albums, Fishin' Blues and Move Up To The Country and Paint My Mailbox Red. This time he brings along Howard Johnson and some of the baddest horn men on the planet, (these are the same guys who backed up the Band on their Rock of Ages album). The results are earth-shattering. Taj can truck and cake-walk, get down and groove, shake and bake and rip it up with the very best. This is the real, real thing. I've loved this album for more than thirty years and now I can finally enjoy it on CD. Thanks Columbia. This one's going to be sittin' on my CD player for a real real long time.

A-MEN, brother reviewer...
Yeah, man, the "official" reviewer just doesn't get it AT ALL. This is one of the best ROOTS recordings EVER - and I don't say that lightly. Remember...this is 1971...LIVE, a 2 LP recording, at the Fillmore...I mean, the Allman Brothers - WITH DUANE - did their recording that same year. Now, how many acts could have gotten away with playing a tune with nothing but a banjo and a TUBA, for cryin' out loud! ("Tom And Sally Drake")? Taj Mahal, that's who. Taj engages the audience as well as anyone ("Gimme some help...GIMME SOME! - You can do it...if you're jacked up to it...) and standouts here are the norm. "You're Goin' To Need Somebody On Your Bond" is the groover, with Taj 'gettin spiritual' with the blues, and doing the back and forth with the crowd. Also a highlight is "Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie No Mo'", where every band member gets a piece of the action, and my spine tingles at the thought of John Simon groovin' on the piano, and John Hall doing a GREAT guitar solo, and ending, with Taj whistling over the many horns. No, if you don't get it, you don't get it...but I was 15...and I got it. This is Taj's moment in Time, Live - History, I believe it's called - and he grabs on and holds tight. Any fan of blues, jazz, roots, gospel, or African-American music History has to consider this a MUST HAVE CD. Period. ... Read more

Asin: B00004XSUY

Don't Say That I Ain't Your Man! : Essential Blues, 1964-1969
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (10 May, 1994)
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Reviews (18)

totally terrific work by the great bloomer
listening to this cd make me an instant big bloomfield fan. it provides such diverse music from his career. his early stuff with his band is really exciting. i could listen to everything they ever recorded. but you can really trace his development as a guitarist on the following tracks, from butterfield on. the only bad thing is this doesn't include his work with dylan, which may have been his best ever (especially on tombstone blues - stinging, soaring, biting, etc). bloomfield truly fits the mold of guitar hero. he should be better remembered.

Blues guitar master. Simply a classic. Wonderful set.
Michael Bloomfield is probably the best pure Chicago blues guitarist to emerge from the 60's. Simply a master. This is a must for all blues lovers, electric blues in it's fines hour. Check out Michael's work with Al Kooper as well, classic stuff. Grab this one quick. I do miss you Mike, but you left us a legacy and a ton of wonderful work to appreciate. Mike can also be heard with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag, KGB, Al Kooper and many other solo projects. My advice, get em' all.

Mikey, We Miss You
If you liked Super Session, Electric Flag, or many other smokin' guitar WhiteBoyBlues bands, this CD is essential. B'Field is possibly one of the finest guitars of all time. This particular CD has a lot of incredible tracks, and very few mediocre ones. This one is a must for those of us who love a killer guitar.

John
The HardLuck Cafe Rockin' Blues Show,
Brownwood, Tx. ... Read more

Asin: B0000029FC
Sales Rank: 21256

The Fillmore Concerts
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (20 October, 1992)
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Features

• Live

Reviews (53)

Nobody plays the blues like the Allman Brothers!
Where to start? This CD set was my introduction to the Brothers and once I heard it, I was hooked. This is an expanded version of the "Live at the Fillmore East" album which is generally considered to be the crowning creation of their career. It also stands as one of the best, if not THE best, live records of all time. The music is brilliant! They play the blues like they've never been played before; Gregg's vocals, the kick-ass rhythm laid down by Barry, Jaimoe, and Butch; and the guitars - oh the guitars. I love good guitar playing, but this goes way beyond good. I'm a huge fan of guitar players from Charlie Christian to Jimi Hendrix, but there's something about Duane and Dickey that defies description. There individual styles blend as well as any jazz horn player team that I've heard. Duane Allman is without a doubt one of the greatest guitarists of all time. No matter what my mood, listening to the Allman Brothers, and this CD set in particular, makes me feel good. No respectable CD collection should be without this one!

The best gets better and better
Hey, I love "Live at Fillmore East," but here's why this remix is so vital -- for those of us who never got to see Duane and Berry together, we are now able to hear the entire classic Fillmore set in its entirety. Yes, different sets, different nights, but it's the TOTALITY of it that makes it so important.

And MOST importantly, to be able to hear Whipping Post and Mountain Jam as they were originally played, one to other, seamlessly...is astounding. That's 55-56 minutes of non-stop playing. How incredible is that by any standards -- then or now?

My only complaint, however -- the version of Hot 'Lanta used for this CD. The sax sounds so out of place and so intrusive.

Like the ads said when it came out -- the best live album ever just got better!

FE deluxe instead
This was released in order to put together the best of their Fillmore shows not to take the original Fillmore east and eat a peach songs and put them together. The sound is not that great and although the performances are obviously great, it is not the original Fillmore east. The DELUXE EDITION that came out in 2003 is the vital one to own. It has The original Fillmore East plus the Eat A Peach songs. (mountain jam, one way out, and trouble no more) The sound is of phenomenal quality as well. The booklet also has great photos and an essay. This a vital purchase even if you have the original. ... Read more

Asin: B000001E0D
Sales Rank: 15693

Slow Train Coming
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
list price: $9.98
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Reviews (46)

Perhaps Dylan's Best Album
This is one of Dylan's most mature albums, both lyrically and musically. I am not sure why one customer reviewer wonder "where are his clear critcial views?" They are HERE, and with force. Social/Religous commentary springs forth in prophetic tone on "When You Gonna Wake Up" (which is critical of religious hypocricy, disregard for the elderly, doctors-pushing drugs, and on and on), "Slow Train," and "Gotta Serve Somebody." My favorite song is "When He Returns," a moving and profound ballad, with beautfiul imagery: "Surrender your crown on this bloodstained ground, take off your mask. He sees your deeds, he knows your needs, even before you ask." From the slow to the grinding, this album is a powerful, moving, expression of Christian music. So-called Dylan fans who can not get past the 1970's and can not accept that Dylan has grown and matured and improved are really missing out on something here.

Slow Train Comin'
It is the truth that every one of us knows that there is a God and that we need him, but unfortunately we all supress that truth in one way or another because it tends to make us extremely uncomfortable. We like to at least feel like we are in control of our lives. This is the wrath of God, that he gives us over to ourselves. Well, Bob Dylan decided to recognize God's control over his life and he sings about it! The music is great, but I will admit that Dylan's lyrics do not measure up to the depth of many of his previous albums, which is unfortunate because knowing God reaches the very depths of the human heart and mind. But Dylan tends to sing giving his opinions, and this album is no different, except that hope is found throughout them.

Simply the best Spiritual Music I have heared.
Of all the albums I own,somewhere between 500-1000?
This is without doubt the most Spiritual.
I think if limited to just 5 albums on a desert island (or even on the 'island' we all live on)

Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love
Infidels

Would be my 5 chosen albums,outside of the Psalms themselves,i don't think there is a more spiritual and personal opening of the soul,Dylan's honesty for me is very moving.
Those who don't like it or don't see it (Dylan's Faith/Revelation),are missing out ,but you can't tell men that,they will throw stuff at you,they even through food at Bob when he sang this album to them,and I don't think Frank Zappa ever understood Bob's visit to his home,Zappa didn't even know him,but Bob has always been a man of conviction who takes risks!!
Slow Train Coming is the best out of the five I think.
Not just Lyrically ,the music is fantastic!!!Well done Bob. ... Read more

Asin: B0000025GW
Sales Rank: 65834

Houndog
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (16 March, 1999)
list price: $11.98
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Editorial Review

A collaboration between Los Lobos/Latin Playboys linchpin David Hidalgo (and what a year he had!) and vocalist Mike Halby, this self-titled debut is basically a blues album--albeit one that's a universe and several decades removed from the routine fare that dominates the blues market. Hidalgo is one of the most inspired musicians working today, and his foil possesses otherworldly pipes. --Steven Stolder ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Music to Read Bukowski By
Imagine if you combined the low-down, gritty, soulfullness of Tom Waits, the electric fiddle of Papa John Creech, some excellent bottleneck and slide guitar with some dark-alley, 2AM lyrics? The answer: Mike Halby and David Hidalgo's homage to weltanschmerz, Houndog. Houndog really is bare-bones blues, as unpretentious and honest as it gets. Again, like Waits, the musicians sound as if they are on the tail end of a three day heavy binge, but can muster just enough strength for one more song. This will definitely not appeal to all Hidalgo fans (not your daddy's Los Lobos fare here). With Waits afficianadoes, however, it is can't miss. It is definitely the type music listened to late at night. In fact, the later the better. Will probably move to five stars after I give it a few more listens.

Side Project or Side Show?
Houndog is a side project of David Hidalgo and Mike Halby consisting of all but one original tune. The CD has a distinct, slow motion quality to the sound with vocals often reminiscent of Tom Waits on Quaaludes. Whatever the duo sought to accomplish, it certainly was not to demonstrate their musical talents. Nevertheless, there are some relatively good songs here. In fact, arguably the two best tracks, "No Change" and "I Brought The Rain" were both covered by John Hammond in a little more tolerable fashion in his latest release, "Ready For Love". I would have liked to have heard this CD in its original form, before the engineer decided to slow it up on the playback. Interesting stuff.

30 1/3 RPM?
The first few times I listened to this, I wasn't sure if the recording was slowed down(I once had a turn table that played at a slightly reduced RPM, giving the same effect) or if that was just the way Mike Halby sang. After realizing that Mike Halby was the alto singer from Canned Heat, I knew something was messed with.
Anyway, it's a great effect. I imaging the real-time recording sounds a little less like the result of an all nite bender. ... Read more

Asin: B00000I5XX