Customer Reviews

Burnside on Burnside

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Enjoyable as they all were, none of R.L. Burnside's previous Fat Possum releases were truly representative of the man's music. Thus, the raucous amalgam of Mississippi hill country drone blues(think Fred McDowell and Junior Kimbrough)and chicken scratch funk(think Syl Johnson and Johnny "Guitar" Watson)heard on "Burnside on Burnside" will probabally surprise fans who have yet to experience a real live R.L. Burnside performance. Burnside's two most recent(and biggest selling)releases were attempts to broaden his appeal by making all too overt the hip-hop and 70's R&B influences R.L had already assimilated on his own. The ham fisted production of "Come On In" and "Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down" obscured Burnside's art by reducing him to a sample source on the former and saddling him with a crew of alterna rock and mainstram blues session pros unfamiliar with the subtleties of Burnside Style on the latter. "Burnside on Burnside" counters those artistic misfires by presenting a live Burnside show in all its ragged glory. Backed by the slithering slide riffs of guitarist Kenny Brown and the slippery Dr. Dre meets Sam Carr beats of drummer Cedric Burnside(R.L.'s grandson), R.L. tears through his catalog with a piss and vinegar ferocity that will stun those who have yet to hear his real sound. While he'll probabally never get the respect or unit sales he deserves(already, his weak imitators get more press and sell more records than he does), Burnside's raw, yet wildly eclectic blues make him one of the most interesting and exiting musical talents alive. "Burnside on Burnside" stands as the definitive R.L. Burnside record and is a disc no self respectng fan of good music should be without.

This album wages war on pop radio. It's dirty, raucous, and offensive to the delicate ears the unworthy. Never has music so accurately represented a ride in the bed of a '78 Ford pickup down a washed out gravel road.

This album is a wonderful example of Burnside's true sound. It is free of the overproduction common in some of his latest releases. R.L. on guitar and vocals. Kenny Brown on slide guitar. Cedrick on drums. As it should be.

Burnside is the unmoving buddah of zen boogie whoopass. He leads his audience in a hard dirge death dance. His melodies are seductive like a woman whose beauty is difficult to understand. His rythms induce cardiac arrest and then beat you back to life. His voice is sour and sweet like whiskey and tomato juice.

Burnside accompanys his singing with good storytelling on this album. My only wish is that this CD had been made a double CD and more of his speaking been left on the recording. But that's just me---I'd buy a recording of Burnside playing scrabble if it were for sale.

What a great way to close out a rather dismal year of blues releases and who better to strike the high note than RL Bunside. This CD was recorded live in January 2001 on the West Coast and was not released until late October.

The CD itself does not contain any new material except for the joke told on "He Ain't Your Daddy" however, the performance and sound quality are simply outstanding. Like other reviewer's, I placed this CD in my changer and turned up the volume. It wasn't long after that I selected the single disc play feature and pushed the repeat button. The only thing disappointing about the CD is that it ends far too soon for me even though it is 52+ minutes long. If you have not experienced RL Burnside, I can think of no better place to start.

Fat Possum is putting out the best blues albums in the industry right now, and R.L. Burnside is one of the reasons why, along with Elmo Williams, Model T, and Paul Jones.

Despite being a fan of the Mississippi country blues exemplified by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and John Hurt during my teens, I got sick of blues during the Nineties, when a well-deserved resurgence in the music became dominated by this Yuppified, sterilized, Good Morning America mood music crap with a bunch of sell-out albums by a lot of artists.

But after coming across Fat Possum's stuff, it's clear they know what's going on, and are putting out albums that about end up make you willing to drink warm JD cut with turpentine or something. The stuff is nasty, gritty, deserves no apology, and asks for none.

BURNSIDE ON BURNSIDE is already becoming a classic, because it takes these qualities and makes them live. It gives us the modern psycho-punk blues that are the only contemporary blues worth listening to, and brings new life to the traditional country tunes that every over-produced pseudo-blues hack with a drum machine has spent the past fifteen years killing off.

Burnside's grandson, Cedric, plays drums, and that's partially what gives it the unrelenting punk feel, as this old blues man yells and laughs along. It's great. It's unbeatable. And will give you back a passion for blues jamming.

To be honest, the stuff I'd previously heard from R.L. left me unpersuaded. Now I know why - some blues guys just have to be heard live to do them justice, and R.L.'s live CD is so much better than the studio efforts that I'm seeing him in a whole new light now.

To me, Burnside On Burnside sounds like a dial turned halfway between Mississippi Fred McDowell and Hound Dog Taylor (another great bluesman who was much, much better live than in the studio). R.L. sounds more comfortable going electric than Fred ever did, but there's a lot more of the Delta Blues sound than the South Side Chicago-electric 'Dog. If Fred had taken the sidemen from the "I Do Not Play No Rock & Roll" sessions on an extended tour up North, he might have sounded like this by the time he got back.

There is so little out there that treads the line betwen these two seminal styles, that this is really a must-buy for anyone who is fond of both Delta and Chicago blues.

This is the genuine article here: Blues that 'rocks the joint'. Like Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Hound Dog Taylor, and even Johnny Winter on his better nights, Burnside can tear-it-up as well as anyone.

More than anyone else, the set here sounds like what I imagine Lighning Hopkins would have sounded like playing an electric guitar (when he was sober).

There's not much good blues being produced or recorded these days, but this CD is a must-have for any serious fan. The tunes here are not just pro-forma run-throughs, Burnside gets into the music here and makes his guitar sing the blues.

Oh sure there are a lot of old familiar tunes from the standard repetore for blues musicians. But 'Rolling & Tumbling' sounds as good as it ever did anyhwhere, and the same can be said of the other old standards as well.

The only flaw I'd cite here is that because it's a live recording, the audio engineering is good, but not the sound is not as clean as it would be in a studio. Of course for blues, that is not necessarily a drawback. A really grungy guitar sound, with smoking bass-lines and a pounding drum beat is what live blues is all about. I also suspect that the playing in front of a live audience got R.L. Burnside & company to play with more energy and emotion than they would have given listeners from the more sterile environment of a studio.

Longtime blues fans, and people who are just "discovering" blues, alike, will be glad they have this in their collection -- for parties, or rockin' down the highway. This is one of those "Too cool for Rolling Stone Magazine CD's" .

Finally! After the dreadful "Come On In" and the only-just-marginally-better "Wish I Was In Heaven..." RL's record label have sussed that the greatest forum for one of the finest blues players around is the live LP. Hoorah...well I think all of RL's fans could have told them that a long time ago, but still - I'm just glad they got round to it eventually.

This is a superb blues album - raw, ragged and absolutely all over the place, which is exactly as it should be. It's an absolute joy right from the opening bars of "Shake 'Em On Down", and it just gets better, with superb renditions of "Rollin' And A Tumblin'" and "Snake Drive" amongst others.

When you leave the studio polish off this is the result - a pretty wild ride! All I can say is - more please!

RL Burnside is making a case for the best bluesman that nobody knows. He's been around forever, but it's only been the last few years that his music has received the recognition that it deserves. He has several outstanding studio albums but the raw power of his music is at its best on this live recording. RL is the blues.

I've listened to all the great live blues recordings... BB, Buddy, Son House, Muddy, you name it. But there's something about Burnside that sets him apart from all of them. He is a truly great musician.

The measure of a great album is how quickly you listen to it a second time. With this one, I didn't take it out of my CD player for a week.

Powerfull, driving and gets under your skin. Buy it and play it loud.
My favourite blues album in my collection.

This cat is good. Mesmerizing beat and tempo, he has the blues in his voice and his soul. A "must buy" for the down home blues lover. This is what it's all about.