Essential Johnny Winter Albums
Man I've thought about this a lot and I can never come up with a selection smaller than all of Johnny Winter's albums. But I must say that the Progressive Blues Experiment, the Black Album, and Second Winter are the most important to me, probably because I grew up with them in my high school days. You would also have to have (from a bluesier perspective) Nothing But the Blues, all three Alligator albums from the mid 80s, Let Me In and Hey Where's Your Brother (these two could have been a double album), and I'm A Bluesman! As for live albums, there are the two And Live albums (one recently released) and Captured Live, but I am very biased towards Live in NYC '97 for two reasons: one, it has some killer guitar work (especially the slide tunes Sun Is Shining and Sky Is Crying), and two, because there is no second guitar. As much as I like other live stuff, there is something extra special with Johnny in a 3 piece band. Hey, a lot of folks don't think about the studio And album, but it is excellent. Some hard driving riffs. Yeah man, gotta have it all, there is not Johnny Winter album that is not essential. Even get the Sonny Terry Whoopin CD because all the guitar on there is Johnny and it is killer blues. Get the MuddyWaters Hard Again CD because most of the guitar there is Johnny and it is some more killer blues.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rob Green on -
Hi Paul- I can't disagree with any of the album's you mentioned, they're ALL essential recordings! Everything Johnny's done over the years has been great music, no matter if it was rock or blues. He's a one of a kind musician, so well schooled in whatever he chose to play. There's one more album I'd like to see on your list, "Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down"(available through Legacy Recordings), a live show with Muddy, James Cotton, and Johnny. It was done just after the release of "Hard Again", and before Johnny did "Nothing But The Blues", so there's a historical reference, and Johnny's guitar and voice are heard throughout all the tracks. Everybody gets their turn to sing and play, but Johnny's guitar is always very present, sometimes Chicago style, sometimes very much Johnny Winter style. It's great to hear these three guy's sharing the stage together. Definitely blues we can use!!
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Permalink Reply by Paul Allerding on -
You are right, Breakin it Up, Breakin It Down, is great. You got me to pull the liner notes out and I see that the notes say Johnny even blows harp on one tune. There are three guitarists listed on the liner notes, so I guess you have to listen for when Johnny is playing. Johnny also had second guitars on other albums, which is great, but I really like when Johnny is the only guitar (other than bass). That's one reason I really love the Sonny Terry Whoopin CE. Johnny's guitar is killer on that CD and Sonny's voice and harp are great too.
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