How can the lost live recordings from a 1971 tour featuring: Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, George "Harmonica" Smith, J.B. Hutto and Bee Houston be anything but brilliant? Richard Chalk, president of TopCat Records, calls it "...the greatest audio collection of it's kind in existence; a goldmine of classic blues from the original Masters of the art form." This is the first in a series of releases that TopCat Records has planned. Volume 1 features 12 songs plus an interview for a total of 70 nostalgic minutes. J.D. Nichols (piano), Bill Potter (sax), Steve Wachsman (guitar), Bruce Sieverson (bass) and Todd Nelson (drums) comprised the Hound Dogs. They were Thornton's band and perform all songs.
Muddy Waters gets things rolling like a locomotive. His voice is center stage on his two featured cuts. Muddy's vocals are clear, concise and in command. An insightful interview with Thornton and Turner reveals the fact that her most famous song was recorded in one take. This one time Houston-based artist demonstrates her hearty throat on "Ball and Chain". Her signature tune ("Hound Dog") is up-tempo and seems to infuse energy into the band. Big Joe had a rumbling voice that depicted the early days of rock and roll. It thunders on "Hide and Seek" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll". On both tracks, his shouted words practically run into each other begging the listener to ask in shear amazement 'when does he catch his breath?' Harmonica Smith delivers chromatic harp intelligence on "Mississippi River Blues" and proves he had a tone all of his own. Slide master, Hutto, plays and sings ferociously on "Too Much Alcohol".
This epic disc accurately captures a glorious time from the past. The historical importance of these artists (not only for the material included here but for all their recordings) has rightfully captured the adulation of generations of blues fans. When is the next volume scheduled for release?!
