Customer Reviews

Hollywood Fats Band

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HOLLYWOOD FATS WAS THE GREATEST BLUES GUITARIST OF HIS TIME.
THIS DOUBLE CD SET INCLUDES 13 UNRELEASED CUTS THAT WILL
ASTONISH THE LISTENER. TOGETHER WITH AL BLAKE,LARRY TAYLOR,FRED
KAPLAN,RICHARD INNES,HOLLYWOOD FATS THIS CD SET IS IN A CLASS
OF ITS OWN,TRACK 12 ON CD 2 IS A MASTERPIECE. FOR THE STARVING
BLUES FAN THIS WILL HAVING YOU COMING BACK FOR MORE.

This a fantastic album from the late great Michael "Hollywood Fats" Mann.

Buddy Guy gave him the HF name and he was a major pioneer of the West coast blues scene. He was also in a later version of Canned Heat and then the Blasters but his key work was with the legendary James Harman Band with Kid Ramos on guitar also.

This double CD set from 1979 captures the pure genius of Fats sound.

Anyone who likes the West coast blues sound should have this. Excellent!

The one and only LP from the Hollywood Fats Band is a must for all Blues lovers. This band had the corner on several different styles and deserve to be known by more than the only the true "Blues Diehards". If you already own this, give a copy to a friend and help keep the memory of this great guitarist alive.

1979? I had been chasing all these cuts ever since Gary Waggoner slipped (the late) Hollywood Fats into his weekend shows in the late 90's on what is now KJZZ, Long Beach. It's almost impossible to underestimate how stunning these cuts are. Yeah, the 60's English groups had re-introduced the "lost bluesmen" to white America with some straight and some weird covers. But the late 70's were not the mecca for serious blues.
Apparently the perfect storm of amazing musicians came together arround 1979 and created what I now consider the most perfect west coast electric blues ever recorded. Because this collection contains several studio cuts on some tunes, we can witness the processes and stylistic choices resulting in tighter or a more rough arrangement. If you dig rock style electric blues you MUST have this music. I burn out on almost anything after a few weeks, but these 2 CD are as fresh to me after two years as anything I own.

I met Fred just by accident one day. I was moving into an apartment across the hall from his and we got to talking about music. I found out he was a pianist with a local band and after futher discovery, I found out Larry Taylor, the bass player from my favorite Blues/Boogie band,Canned Heat, was playing with him. I asked the name of his group and he told me it was the Hollywood Fats Band. I thought, wait a minute...I saw Hollywood Fats play with Jimmy Witherspoon at a Tower of Power concert. It was the same guy! Then, at Fred's request, I saw HFB at the famous Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach as a back-up to Big Joe Turner then again in Laguna Beach [twice] at the White House. The album sounds just EXACTLY like they did back then...no kidding. If there is only one Blues CD you buy this year...go no farther. You have found THE one. Buy it, then tell a friend. You won't be disappointed.