The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend

Baby Huey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 16, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Water
• ASIN: B00064VL9O
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,725 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

With a psychedelic brand of soul and a vocal style that drew comparisons to Otis Redding, the 300-400 pound Baby Huey was set to break out of the Chicago scene with the release of his debut album. Unfortunately, his weight and taste for drugs resulted in a fatal heart attack that prevented him from seeing the release of the disc. Featuring Curtis Mayfield's Hard Times and Mighty Mighty Children plus a cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come,Baby Huey's lone album (recorded in 1970 and released in 1971) has become a sought-after collectible among soul fanatics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A soul/blues.funk/psychedelic classic., August 7, 2005

By 

Ferguson "blahblah" (Evolving) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (Audio CD)

'Huey, a chicago native, was a protege of Curtis Mayfield (who produced this album and released it via his Curtom imprint) and somewhat of an eccentric. He was 400 pounds, had a huge afro, a King Tut beard and dressed flamboyantly. The picture on the back of this album is priceless : him in a pinstripe suit with a huge ankle length robe over it standing reading a cookbook. He recorded a handul of singles and died of a heartattack aged 26 before this album came out in 1970

He took his cues from Chicago groups like The Impressions (the group Curtis Mayfield fronted before going solo), Mayfield himself, the psychedelic blues albums by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf released on legendary Chicago label Chess Records in the late 60's and then mixed them with some raw, ballsy Stax soul via Booker T & The M.G's melting pot to create something that only Mayfield, Issac Hayes, James Brown, Funkadelic and Sly Stone managed to better.

You have the driving, gritty soul of "listen to me" & "hard times", the funked-up psychedelic blues of "mighty mighty" & "runnin'" (which Mayfield wrote and later recorded but the Huey original is the definitive version), instrumental jams like "mama get yourself together" & "one dragon, two dragon" and, finally, you have what have to be two of the greatest cover versions ever recorded : his funked up version of "california dreamin'" and his staggering 9 minute + version of Sam Cooke's "a change is gonna come" which has to be heard to be believed.

Rap fiends should definately check this album as it's been sampled to death over the years and "listen to me" was a party favorite back in the days of Bronx block parties in the 70's. If you're a fan of blues or Hendrix and would like to start investigating soul/funk but find James Brown too dancefloor friendly or Marvin Gaye too polished then this would a good starter along with the first 3 Curtis Mayfield studio albums.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars baby huey, January 2, 2008

By 

J. jones "DOCTORLUM" (MEMPHIS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (MP3 Download)

i bought this album when it came out, it was and still is a rare album, hard to believe it is on disc now. baby huey was a follower of curtis mayfield who signed him curtom. his version of mighty mighty is fabulous sixties soul. he was an enormous talent who unfortunately ate himself to death,(400lbs plus)but if like urban sixties soul you will love this album

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest soul singers that ever lived.!, November 3, 2007

By 

SOLOMON J NASSER "sol" (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (Audio CD)

Jimmy was his real name, an unbelievable performer. I had the pleasure of listening to him, and the babysitters back in the late 60s early 70s. I worked at a club in New York City I was the sound man for the club, where they were at the opening act for two weeks. The first couple of days was for James Brown, but Mr. Brown after listening to him perform. He refused to go on stage, because the four piece band that made up the babysitters sounded a hundred times better than the 17 piece band that Mr. Brown had with him at the time. If you decide to purchase this album, I assure you, you will not be disappointed. I am extremely happy to find this album on Amazon. I have purchased four copies of it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, because it has been a long time since I heard it. I lost the original LP on my one of my moves about 27 years ago. Thank you Amazon for having it. One more thing he used to have a rap on stage, that was. I may not be brother James Brown on my feet. But when it comes to taking care of business in the sheets I am an expert, the other was I am like Southern fried chicken I am finger licking good. He weighed over 400 pounds.