Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 20:36:51 EST From: Spschn~ol.com Subject: Re: "Checkin' up on My Baby" and Rod's "Ghosting" & new CD
There's a cool live version of "Checkin'" on the Buddy Guy & Junior Wells CD Drinkin' TNT 'N' Smokin' Dynamite (Blind Pig PB71182) with a different groove than their studio version, possibly due to the presence of alleged Harp-L lurker Bill Wyman on bass.
As to "Ghosting" being the "Juke" of slow blues, I'd have to give that honor to LW's "Blue Midnight," recorded a few months after "Juke," particularly the complete version found on the Essential LW box. This is the slow blues that really showed what amplification and studio effects could do, and I would even argue that the apparently earlier alternate take on the Blues with a Feeling box indicates that LW composed the tune in the studio (or at least finished it) by playing to the strengths of the studio reverb. Proof? Play the song yourself, with deep reverb or delay and then totally dry. It doesn't work nearly as well played dry, and the final version makes better use of the reverb than the alternate does, what with the solo intro and the sustained tones, as well as being more focused structurally.
And you can bet your sweet Astatic that "Blue Midnight" was the inspiration for "Ghosting," because I started playing the LW tune after hearing Rod close shows with it. Rod does a killer version of "Blue Midnight"; in the old days he used to reach down and crank the digital delay pedal's mix way up and kick off the tune, and the band would recognize it and come in on cue. Jerry Portnoy also has a good tune inspired by it on his Home Run Hitter (Indigo IGOCD 2026) called "Blues in a Dream" that closes the CD.
Honorable mentions to LW's "Blue Lights" (especially if MCA ever issues a proper digital remastering--they're probably saving that to make us buy the next LW compilation); SBWII's "Mighty Long Time," which is a few months earlier but has lyrics; and BW's "Easy," which is a few months later.
The issued version of "Blue Midnight" is on the Hate to See You Go CD; it's about a half-minute shorter, as Chess faded the song out during the 4/5D warbles . . . and it still works--possibly even more yearning, but without the final peak that the complete take builds to.
BTW, I think Piazza's new CD is by far his best studio work since 1991's Blues in the Dark, and a much-needed departure for him. Instead of making the same record over again like he did the last couple times out, the new one has got a hefty dose of Red Devils-style west coast and Memphis-era Howlin Wolf rawness to it. Gnarly and more varied tones, quite an array of different song structures and grooves, couple songs sung through the harp mic, little of the lugubrious vein that Rod tends to fall into when left to his own devices, more input from Honey and Holmstrom from the sound of it. Some very discerning nonharp musicians I know are quite impressed with the CD. What I didn't like about the recent studio stuff was that the Mighty Flyers can pump up a nothing tune into something that sounds good by the time they get through with it, but you can't remember the tune after it ends, whereas the new CD sticks in my head and makes me think about covering some of the tunes, which is my litmus test for harp CDs. If you haven't bought any Piazza for a while, you might look into this one. Now if he would just start leaving the second Harp King at home and get his stage volume under control, he'd really be on the right track . . . .
