Label: Alligator Records (U.S.), ALCD 4797
Style: Blues, Chicago Blues
Country: Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S. (April 29, 1934 - September 29, 2018)
Time: 47:35
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 276 Mb
Breaking
into the R&B Top Ten his very first time out in 1956 with the
startlingly intense slow blues "I Can't Quit You Baby," southpaw
guitarist Otis Rush subsequently established himself as one of the
premier bluesmen on the Chicago circuit. Rush is often credited with
being one of the architects of the West side guitar style, along with
Magic Sam and Buddy Guy. It's a nebulous honor, since Rush played clubs
on Chicago's South side just as frequently during the sound's late-'50s
incubation period. Nevertheless, his esteemed status as a prime Chicago
innovator is eternally assured by the ringing, vibrato-enhanced guitar
work that remains his stock in trade and a tortured, super-intense vocal
delivery that can force the hairs on the back of your neck upwards in
silent salute. If talent alone were the formula for widespread success,
Rush would certainly have been Chicago's leading blues artist. But fate,
luck, and the guitarist's own idiosyncrasies conspired to hold him back
on several occasions when opportunity was virtually begging to be
accepted. Rush came to Chicago in 1948, met Muddy Waters, and knew
instantly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. The
omnipresent Willie Dixon caught Rush's act and signed him to Eli
Toscano's Cobra Records in 1956. The frighteningly intense "I Can't Quit
You Baby" was the maiden effort for both artist and label, streaking to
number six on Billboard's R&B chart. His 1956-1958 Cobra legacy is a
magnificent one, distinguished by the Dixon-produced minor-key
masterpieces "Double Trouble" and "My Love Will Never Die," the
tough-as-nails "Three Times a Fool" and "Keep on Loving Me Baby," and
the rhumba-rocking classic "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)." Rush
apparently dashed off the latter tune in the car en route to Cobra's
West Roosevelt Road studios, where he would cut it with the nucleus of
Ike Turner's combo. After Cobra closed up shop, Rush's recording
fortunes mostly floundered. He followed Dixon over to Chess in 1960,
cutting another classic (the stunning "So Many Roads, So Many Trains")
before moving on to Duke (one solitary single, 1962's "Homework"),
Vanguard, and Cotillion (there he cut the underrated Mike
Bloomfield-Nick Gravenites-produced 1969 album Mourning in the Morning,
with yeoman help from the house rhythm section in Muscle Shoals).
Typical of Rush's horrendous luck was the unnerving saga of his Right
Place, Wrong Time album. Laid down in 1971 for Capitol Records, the
giant label inexplicably took a pass on the project despite its obvious
excellence. It took another five years for the set to emerge on the tiny
Bullfrog label, blunting Rush's momentum once again (the album is now
available on HighTone). An uneven but worthwhile 1975 set for Delmark,
Cold Day in Hell, and a host of solid live albums that mostly sound very
similar kept Rush's gilt-edged name in the marketplace to some extent
during the '70s and '80s, a troubling period for the legendary southpaw.
In 1986, he walked out on an expensive session for Rooster Blues (Louis
Myers, Lucky Peterson, and Casey Jones were among the assembled
sidemen), complaining that his amplifier didn't sound right and thereby
scuttling the entire project. Alligator picked up the rights to an album
he had done overseas for Sonet originally called Troubles, Troubles. It
turned out to be a prophetic title: much to Rush's chagrin, the firm
overdubbed keyboardist Lucky Peterson and chopped out some masterful
guitar work when it reissued the set as Lost in the Blues in 1991.
Finally, in 1994, the career of this Chicago blues legend began
traveling in the right direction. Ain't Enough Comin' In, his first
studio album in 16 years, was released on Mercury and ended up topping
many blues critics' year-end lists. Produced spotlessly by John Porter
with a skin-tight band, Rush roared a set of nothing but covers, but did
them all his way, his blistering guitar consistently to the fore. Once
again, a series of personal problems threatened to end Rush's
long-overdue return to national prominence before it got off the ground.
But he's been in top-notch form in recent years, fronting a tight band
that's entirely sympathetic to the guitarist's sizzling approach. Rush
signed with the House of Blues' fledgling record label, instantly
granting that company a large dose of credibility and setting himself up
for another career push. It still may not be too late for Otis Rush to
assume his rightful throne as Chicago's blues king. After another decade
performing and recording albums, Live and in Concert from San Fransisco
was released in 2006.
(sputnikmusic.com/bands/Otis-Rush/6680/)
01. Hold That Train (06:20)
02. You've Been An Angel (05:04)
03. Little Red Rooster (04:39)
04. Trouble, Trouble (06:48)
05. Please Love Me (04:17)
06. You Don't Have To Go (04:20)
07. Got To Be Some Changes Made (07:44)
08. You Got Me Running (04:27)
09. I Miss You So (03:51)
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