Customer Reviews

Essential Magic Sam: Cobra & Chief Recordings 1957-1961

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recycling?! Yes, well, there is some really great, energetic blues and R&B here, and some sizzling guitar playing, but you also get the feeling that Magic Sam only knew three or four songs at this point in his career, and he keeps doing them over and over with slightly different lyrics.

"The Essential Magic Sam" is not a career-spanning compilation; it chronicles Sam Maghett's earliest recordings for the Cobra, Crash and Chief labels, and while this material has been available for a long time, this disc probably has the best fidelity of any collection of these songs. Nice annotation as well, by the way.

Sam was only in his early twenties when these singles were recorded, and some of the songs show up many years later on the excellent LPs "West Side Soul" and "Black Magic". And while the classic "All Your Love", the passionate "Every Night About This Time", and the swinging "Look Watcha Done" are certainly great songs, the Cobra, Chief and Crash singles lack some of the variation of Sam's later recordings. "Everything Gonna Be Alright", "My Love Is Your Love", "Love Me This Way", "All Night Long", and "Easy Baby" are simply carbon copies of the 1957 single "All Your Love", and this compilation would actually benefit from being cut down to perhaps fifteen songs.

Still, fans of Magic Sam will certainly want this one in their collection. Casual listeners should start with "West Side Soul", though.

Because he died young thanks to a life of hard and fast living, Magic Sam is sometimes forgotten when compared to his contemporaries Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, with whom he put a little high octane into Chicago's West Side blues scene of the late 1950s. Sometimes, but not all the time. In due course, his "West Side Soul" album would be seen as the landmark set it is, but the remastering and reissue here of his Cobra recordings from 1957 through 1961 lets you hear that, unlike the inconsistent Rush, Magic Sam started at a strikingly high level and built from there (Rush, by contrast, has rarely equalled the soulful fire of his Cobra sides). Like Rush's similar set, this one cleans up and improves a very similar collection issued on the Paula label in the mid-1990s, though it excises a cut or two - it would have been made fun to hear a cleaned-up "Roll Your Moneymaker," Magic Sam's delightful ripoff of the Elmore James classic. Still, this set gives a vivid idea of just where Magic Sam earned his reputation in the first place, and he gets some stellar support from the likes of such Chicago session stalwarts as pianists Little Brother Montgomery and Otis Spann, bassist/producer Willie Dixon, drummers Odie Payne and S.P. Leary, future soul legend Syl Johnson on guitar and bass, and harmonica player/vocalist Shakey Jake, among others. Here's where the case for Magic Sam as one of the best of the second-generation Chicago blues guitarists begins.

There are NO fillers here, just 100% pure jump blues. This is an outstanding colelction of great blues, infused with soul, jazz, swing, and r&b. A great vocie, and most of the songs have boppin' or shufflin' rhythms that are great for dancers(strolelrs and boppers). A wonderful cd, and an essential for fans of greasy blues singers. If you like Junior Wells Cobra sides from the late 50's, you'll like these too!!!

The singles just don't compare to his later work. A lot of the songs are in keys that don't work for the vocals. If Magic Sam's reputation had to stand on these recordings alone he'd be remembered as a journeman at best.

If you're looking for your first Magic Sam recording get "West Side Soul."

Five and a half starrs, NOT just five!!! This is awesome jump swing blues(from the Lousi Jordan class of vocalists), and it all has that shuffle boogie beat. This music is ALL great blues, no fillers, and a lot of boppers and jivers for all you dancers. Exellent cd weather you are a rockabilly jitterbuggin' dancer or an urban blues fan. It doesn't get much better then this. Magic Sam's groups styles cross many boundries sounding at times like Gene Vincents Blue Caps, BB King, Louis Prima, and TBone Walker!

Cobra released a great cd here in The Essential Mahic Sam, covering his early recording(which are the only ones you really need). These songs from 1957 to the early 60's are awesome. Perfect msuic to play while cruisin' in your 57 Chevy. This music shows how closely related rockabilly and 50's rock'n'roll really were to urban blues, becaue you can hear a little Magic Sam style in Elvis' recordings of the period, and some of the backup bands on thsi cd sound similar to Gene Vincent's backup band The Blue Caps, and some of the palying here sounds like Bill Haley's backup group the Comets. In any case all the music here jumps and swings, and shuffles. And as far as dancers are concerned there are boppers, jivers, and plenty of strollers!!! Exellent comp.

THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL MAGIC SAM RECORDINGS FROM THE SHORT-LIVED CHICAGO BASED COBRA LABEL IN THE LATE 50'S. I HAVE READ SOME OF THE OTHER REVIEWS HERE AND I HAD TO LAUGH. ONE SAID THAT HIS LATER RECORDINGS WERE BETTER, AND SOMEONE ELSE WAS COMPLAINING ABOUT HIS SINGING. THOSE ARE BOTH BOGUS REMARKS, AS HIS LATER STUFF (ON THE DELMARK LABEL) ISN'T QUITE AS GOOD AS THESE ORIGINAL RECORDINGS, AND HIS SINGING SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A CONSIDERATION, SINCE YOU ARE BUYING THE CD TO HEAR HIS GUITAR PLAYING, WHICH IS GREAT (ALTHOUGH SOME SONGS ARE MUCH BETTER THAN SOME OF THE OTHER ONES). HE OPTIMIZED THE USE AND APPLICATION OF ELECTRIC GUITAR FOR HIS TIME, AND THAT IS WHY YOU BUY THE DAMN RECORD, NOT HIS SINGING!

This CD features Magic Sam with his earliest recordings but not raw at all. Magic Sam always seems to be in fine voice and guitar playing. His debut single "All Your Love" is featured here along with a cut he did with the late great Earl Hooker.

The Cobra and Chief were small recording labels based in Chicago, although not as famous as Chess Records they both played an important part in the history of recorded Chicago blues. This CD is a remastered version of an earlier release too.

These recordings find Magic Sam produced and backed by the great Willie Dixon on bass (Dixon had a falling out with the Chess Brothers and moved across town for awhile).

I wouldn't call this an essental set but one to have after you've listened to Magic Sam's "West Side Soul" or "Magic Sam Live" CDs.

Wow, if you've only heard 21 Days In Jail from various blues compilation cd's or lp's, then you'll wan this cd. He puts that much energy, swagger, jump, and swing into every performance. Although 21 Days may be his difinitive performance and it sums up his career and style, all the songs here are i na similar vein, and this entire cd if full of 50's r&b and jump blues. Sam is the GREATEST jump blues singer of all time, he's so cool, HIP, riugh, edgy, and urban. The dude is awesome from the wy he soulfully shout and jump the blues right up to his cool rockabilly pompadour hairdo! Every cut on this cd rocks and jumps, and his vocals are as smooth and in control as they are wild and reckless. Great cd to liven up any party or BBQ.

Tragically, Magic Sam wouldn't live to witness his effect on Chicago blues. But despite his truncated career, the blues singer/guitarist was prodigious in the studio, with an impressive library of music put to tape before his death at age 32. This compilation cherry-picks essentials from his time on three labels - Cobra, Chief and Crash (1957 - 1961) - the choice of many Chicago bluesmen who followed in the wake of elite like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. This one works great as an early career overview, with 25 tracks of swaggering West Side blues stitched unmistakably with Magic's tremolo-effected picking style, solos and sharp-dressed man braggadocio (All Your Love, Everything Gonna Be Alright, Easy Baby, 21 Days in Jail, Out of Bad Luck), with alternate takes for true junkies. But it's far from his `essential' work. Not only does the set illustrate Sam's dwindling fortunes during his time at Chief and Crash, it ignores his premier albums - 1967's West Side Soul and 1968's Black Magic (released by Delmark and long considered his best work) - recordings made shortly before he died in 1969. Which makes this a perfect introduction, rather than an essential summary of the king of the West side blues.