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Robert Cray says that Buddy Guy's guitar solos sound like laughter from space, but they can also peal like the cries of lost souls attempting to cross the River Styx. If these 47 songs on three CDs plus a DVD boasting a new 75-minute documentary and six performances from the Montreux Jazz Festival prove anything, it's that Guy is one of the most dynamic, diverse, expressionistic, and emotional guitarists--in any genre. The set neatly examines the 70-year-old Chicago blues legend's half-century career, starting with a ragged but soulful "The Way You Been Treating Me" cut in 1957 at a radio station in Guy's native Louisiana that finds him developing his searing, exploratory style. A year later, he's in Chicago working with tunesmith Willie Dixon, and the rest is history (chronicled in Anthony DeCurtis's excellent lines notes) that leads from the glory days of Chess Records to Guy's early breakout recordings for Vanguard to his modern-day mastery. The most recent recordings often find him working with acolytes: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keb' Mo', Jonny Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, and John Mayer (who duets with Guy on the unreleased "I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled & Crazy"). B.B. King, who along with Guitar Slim was Guy's most important early influence, also joins Clapton and Guy on a stirring acoustic version of John Lee Hooker's "Crawlin' Kingsnake."
This set makes the argument for Guy's ever-continuing growth as a musician--not only as a player whose frenzy, improvisational instincts, and tonal control keep stretching with age, but as a stylist who was unafraid to put aside his trademark electric approach in 2003 to make the acoustic Blues Singer (represented here by "Bad Life Blues" and the Hooker tune) and to embrace primal North Mississippi juke joint music with Sweet Tea, which lends this set a pair of Junior Kimbrough covers. Guy's sole artistic weakness is his songwriting. He's never been prolific, and even in the '60s his lyrics drew on well-established clichés. But, as these performances attest, his playing's never been less than daring--and his voice knows every nuance of heartache and joy. --Ted Drozdowski
Can't Quit the Blues (W/Dvd) Reviews
Can't Quit the Blues (W/Dvd) Reviews
| 41 of 43 people found the following review helpful  Can't Quit watching "Buddy Live", By Stephen Anthony "Keeping it simple" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Can't Quit the Blues (W/Dvd) (Audio CD) This package is advertised as a Boxed Set that includes a bonus DVD. For casual Buddy fans this may ring true, but for die hard Buddy fans it's all about the DVD. The documentary is the best ever about Buddy and His life. With extensive live footage throughout, you will sit in a state of awe as the "BEST GUITARIST" ever, frantically expels doses of raw emotion both vocally and with his guitar. The collection of songs on the CD's are great,but the price of the box set would be worth it, even if only the DVD was included. He's that moving "LIVE". 29 of 30 people found the following review helpful This Buddy Guy DVD is a Must!, By This review is from: Can't Quit the Blues (W/Dvd) (Audio CD) This Boxed Set is an excellent overview of Buddy Guy's career. It is well presented and has a comprehensive song selection but the absolute highlight is the DVD. Like Albert King, early B.B. King and just about everyone else, material on these legends is scarce! The DVD contains eleven performances from different stages of Guy's career. The first two are from Montreux in 1974 with Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins and Bill Wyman on Bass. This is a must because this set is not longer available in the States. Junior also plays his chromatic harp, in the style of Little Walter, on "Ten Years Ago" and they also do a slow version of Junior's "Hoodoo Man Blues" (a title, interestingly which came from a Louis Jordan tune). It is fantastic. Buddy plays through a solid state Japanese-made amp for the first time (they were the Montreux House Amps that year)and it has quite an unsual sound. It is similar to the one he had playing through the Leslie Speakers when his amp blew up while recording on... Read more 30 of 32 people found the following review helpful A Must Have For Buddy Guy Fans., By This review is from: Can't Quit the Blues (W/Dvd) (Audio CD) First of all, this box set is not perfect, mainly for what was left out of it, but if you judge it for what they did put in it, I think the only conclusion you can come to is that it's a tremendous success.Buddy Guy's career is going on 50 years, so for there to be only 13 tracks devoted to the first 25 years or so of his career is indeed leaving a lot out, but Silvertone has done a good job of cherry-picking the highlights of that era, including two tracks from Hoodoo Man Blues, on which Guy was a sideman to Junior Wells. Two discs would have been more appropriate for this pre-Silvertone work, but what has been crammed onto one disc does touch on the highlights of that time period. The remaining two discs cover his Silvertone work, but again, there is nary a scrap of fat to be found. This is all prime Buddy Guy, rippling with electricity and raw emotion. For completists, there are a few unreleased tracks scattered throughout, and you know what? They're all... Read more |
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