Where It All Began

Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters & Do Diddley :
Ooh, Baby / Wrecking My Love Life
taken from the album "Super Super Blues Band" on Checker (1967)

Bo Diddley : A Good Thing, Hey Jerome, & Take It All Off
taken from the album "Where It All Began" on Chess (1972)

Snooks Eaglin : Boogie Children, Lucille, & Drive It Home
taken from the album "The Legacy Of The Blues Vol. 2" on Sonet (1971)

Back from EUROPE! This time I really mean it when I say I'm gonna be getting back on track with regular posts. I SWEAR! My first proper Euro exploration (meaning I spent more than 4 days travelling) was highly rewarding, even if it cost me an arm and a leg (cottdamn EURO is beating the DOLLAR into oblivion right now). Also found some cool vinyl digs along the way - including a random reggae collection from an otherwise dead flea market in a tiny Austrian suburb - which will get posted soon. But TODAY, finally home and showered and in fresh clothes and feeling more happy than ever to be in The States (twisted, right?) I'm taking it back to some rootsy, funky and all the way American music.

The Snooks Eaglin - funkiest, rawest blues ever in my opinion - is a record I've had and treasured for many years, but these other two are new acquisitions, and total revelations too. I'd heard more than a couple people reccommend Bo Diddley but it wasn't until I scooped up the Super Blues Band LP that I first understood what everyone was raving over. In '67 these cats had a proto-wah-wah reverb (gotta be Diddley) and hard-as-bricks drum sound that would set the stage for funk to come. The looseness of the impromptu vocals and their sense of humor makes me feel like I'm sitting in the room with them (the panning of the vocals helps too) while they just play around on a single riff and shoot the shit.

Then most recently I picked up Diddley's "Where It All Began" and again I was flabbergasted by the funkyness. The subject matter has this simple warmth and humor (cue "Take It All Off") that is unmistakably blues, but the backbeat and the syncopated picking is all funk. I know he's got some other records I need to pick up as well including this new addition to the wants list.

Stay tuned, more posts coming VERY SOON.