Extremely Cool

Chuck E. Weiss | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 1999)
• Original Release Date: February 2, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Slow River Records
• ASIN: B00000I04N
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,418 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Immortalized forever in Rickie Lee Jones's 1979 hit "Chuck E.'s in Love," Chuck E. Weiss has had his own career playing the drums and singing in a craggly blues voice that recalls his more famous buddy Tom Waits, who provides production, vocal, and songwriting assistance. For years, however, he never made it beyond the confines of Los Angeles nightclubs. Here he's assembled an album of freewheeling bar tunes and jump blues that recall the music of his youth with fresh irreverence. "Devil with Blue Suede Shoes" is ramshackle back-alley Chicago blues. "It Rains on Me" offers Waits and Weiss singing like old drunken buddies after closing time. It's what you'd expect, yet couldn't conceive. --Rob O'Connor

Product Description

Japanese Version featuring Two Bonus Tracks. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Infamous Chuck E. Weiss, May 2, 2000

By 

Eric Fick (Holland, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Extremely Cool (+2 Bonus Track) (Audio CD)

We have heard his name before in the many early tracks by the amazing Tom Waits, and here we are introduced to the mysterious man, who goes by the intriguing name of Chuck E. Weiss. If you enjoy listening to good music, and have fancied calling yourself a fan of Tom Waits, then it would be a great injustice to not add this disc to your collection. It is, if not anything else, extremely interesting to see the other sides of music, the sounds and influences of the greats, including Willie Dixon. A perfect an approachable collection of songs, a touch of the wild, found in such artists as Tom Waits himself and Captain Beefheart, and yet there are the jazzy less savage tracks that you find yourself bound to. There is a cleverness here, something that can be related to, classy sounds with great beats, lyrics, and song structures. The vocals too are performed with a mastery we rarely see, and should be rejoicing to recieve in such an enticing a list of songs, and a Tom Waits collaboration to boot. A fatatic range of sounds and songs, an album to buy and appreciate.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Cool indeed!, January 10, 2001

By 

Richard R. Johnson "r-squared" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Extremely Cool (Audio CD)

Chuck E. Weiss can boast amazing credentials. Back in the 60s, he toured with Lightnin' Hopkins as a drummer. He later performed or recorded with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. During the 70s, he lived in Hollywood's famed Tropicana Motel, which was home to his best friend, Tom Waits. In fact, he is immortalized in a Waits song - "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and The Mug and Artie)" on the Spare Change album.

This is Chuck E. Weiss's second album (the other was back in 1981). The line-up of supporting musicians and guests is impressive, including Tom Waits and Tony Gilkyson (Lone Justice, X). The album is strong from start to finish, and conjures the same sort of film-noir, gutter-room images and characters as mid-70s Tom Waits.

The first song - "Devil With Blue Suede Shoes" - is a bluesy, swampy, devil-chasin' rocker that kicks like a rodeo bull. The following track - "Deeply Sorry" - is laced with burlesque horns and some very twisted lyrics. These tracks are the true standouts on this fine album. Let's hope Weiss finds his way back into the studio a little more quickly next time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chuck E. is extremely cool. I love the rascal., June 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Extremely Cool (Audio CD)

Picture yourself on a warm humid night in the corner booth of a dimly lit bar in the French Quarter with your arm around your baby and the rest of your troubled life ahead of you. As good as this is ... Chuck E. makes it better.