Tonight’s selections from R.L. Burnside’s 1994 LP, Too Bad Jim. Gutbucket blues from Mississippi’s Hill Country. Let’s kick things off with R.L.’s take on friend and teacher Fred McDowell’s signature song, Shake ‘em on Down.
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Shake 'em on Down [1994]
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Burnside is indeed the real deal. His blues tunes are true to the spirit of those old field recordings in that his blues is not confined to modern/commercial notions of how long each verse should be. In that he shares a sensibility with artists such as John Lee Hooker: Burnside uses the blues form more as a jumping off point than as a framework. He’s a bluesman, to be sure, but he bends the form to suit his needs. His electrified approach is supported on Too Bad Jim by the sparest of backing: this 1993 recording finds him joined only by guitar and drums. Not only is their contribution simple and basic – keeping the spotlight where it belongs – but it’s relatively low in the mix.
And by “mix” I don’t wish to imply that Too Bad Jim has the sound of a multi-track studio recording. The sound is crystal clear and uncluttered, but it very much has the feel of one mic hanging from the ceiling (alongside perhaps a lone, naked incandescent lightbulb). There’s a late-night feel to the ten tracks on Too Bad Jim; that vibe pervades Burnside’s mix of originals, traditional numbers, and a cover of Hooker’s “When My First Wife Left Me.” His original numbers – take “Short Haired Woman” for as good an example as any – could have been written ninety years ago, but in Burnside’s capable hands, the songs are timeless. His singing and playing is in turns heartfelt, impassioned, assured, and it’s always authentic. — Musoscribe
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Peaches [1994]
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Chaos, chance, charm and luck are a primary blues paradigm, of course, and a late twentieth-century scientific paradigm as well. The Chaos Theory of post-relativity physics tell us of Strange Attractors – inexplicable higher-order functions that provide a kind of boundary or shape or structural dynamic for chaos systems – and this model fits R.L.'s music as well. The essential character of R.L.'s blues is chaos-on-wheels; it rocks as hard as any music on the planet while spreading sonic waves of sex and mayhem far and wide. But it is grounded in an implicit order: the rhythmic and melodic deep structures of North Mississippi blues. — Robert Palmer
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Old Black Mattie [1994]
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WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Bob Odenkirk, Anthony Carrigan, Stromae
Jimmy Fallon: Zoë Kravitz, Al Franken, Sebastián Yatra (R 3/2/22)
Stephen Colbert: Hugh Laurie, Spoon
Seth Meyers: Ben Stiller, Rose Matafeo, Brooke Colucci (R 3/31/22)
James Corden: Haley Bennett, Sam Richardson, Sam Morril (R 2/21/22)
Trevor Noah: Rosie Perez
SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
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We lost another one this week. Chris Bailey, singer for Australian rockers The Saints passed way last Saturday. Cause of death has not been published. He was 65.
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The Saints :: This Perfect Day [1977]
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One more for the road.
Thanks Chris.
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The Saints :: (I’m) Stranded [1977]
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LAST WEEK’S POLL: GUESS WHAT?
What? 20% 7 votes
Chicken butt 63% 22 votes
Please don't start with that 17% 6 votes