Customer Reviews

Hoodoo Man Blues

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Junior Wells isn't my personal favorite as a harpist (Sonny Boy is), but this album is one of my absolute favorites in the blooze. This album is really HOT, with Junior struttin' his stuff with his mates from Chicago, including the one & only Buddy Guy. Buddy really gels with Wells on this album, not by taking solos, but by accompanying him & the actual song being played. His presence really steps up Junior, & brings out the best in him here.

While Junior is a terrific blues harpist & singer, he has a real funky style that resembles James Brown. You can really hear it from the get go in "Snatch back & Hold It". The cover of "You Don't Love Me" from this album will influence a bunch of guys in Macon, GA. a few years later.

I believe this was also one of the earliest "full" blues albums released, rather than a collection of singles from vinyl. Hence, the greatest blues "album" ever recorded. Yes, that is my personal opinion, but the Chicago blues rarely gets better than this. Essential for any blues collection!

The appeal of Hoodoo Man Blues is that it was conceived as an album instead of a hodgepodge of singles and other tracks. When Junior Wells took his backing band with him into Bob Koester's Delmark studio, he had an LP in mind. Hoodoo Man Blues sounds as if it had been recorded in at some dingy nightclub in downtown Chicago at midnight. No particular track on the album stands out above the rest. What there is here is wall-to-wall classic blues. Wells makes no apologies to the purist crowd and throws a little James Brown-esque funk into the mix. He was a harp-toting gangster. He may not have been technically as good on the harp as Little Walter, but Wells had the attitude. Wells employs ace musicians to back him up like Buddy Guy on guitar, Billy Warren on drums, and Jack Myers on electric bass.

This is easily one of the best studio blues albums ever made. Not only is the album great, but it is also a historically significant in that it was one of the first true blues 'albums'. This is not a collection of singles, but a front to back great album. Junior is in top form and the the interplay between Junior and Buddy, the blues best combo, is amazing. A must for any blues fans and in particular Chicago style blues fans. Also check out Buddy Guy's great 'I was walking through the woods'. If its not in your collection buy it now. You will not be disappointed.

Chuck Berry was the proto-type for blues-inflected rock, James Brown popularized funky blues, but Amos Blackmore aka Junior Wells perfected both. This is, without question, one of the essential blues records of all time. Kicking off with the lethal "Snatch It Back and Hold It", Wells and company (including Buddy Guy) unleash a set of tunes that are yet to be surpassed by any other recorded blues work. During "Ships on the Ocean" Wells prompts Guy to lay down some nasty guitar by joyfully exclaiming (practically preaching) "this is the blues, baby". This album documents to perfection (and better than any other) what was going on in Chicago blues clubs in the 1960's. This belongs on your short list of cds to purchase.

I have been hearing about this album for 20 years, but only got it recently. So naturally I compare it with what I have listened to in the past 20 years.
Earlier Wells albums featured a larger group - with horns, piano etc... The sound was heavy and I loved it. This CD has Wells, Buddy Guy on guitar, plus bass and drums. The sound is lighter, and the band goes for jumping, funky kind of blues. Wells' harmonica gets much more room here than it did before.
As a Chicago harpist, I rate Wells second only to Little Walter, but Wells is a better singer ! Wells is a great singer and performer, and deserves the showcase this CD affords him. He was young and fresh, and felt like jumping much more than laying back. As a result, the best tracks are the fast ones - Chilli Con Carne, Snatch It Back etc...
I love Buddy Guy's playing on the CD - he lets Wells have the main stage, and behaves like a true friend and musician - thinking only about the overall result.
To conclude - this is a great blues CD, worth having to any blues fan.

Ever wonder how those skinny white guys from England learned to wail, like Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green or John Mayall or Eric Clapton ? This electrified blues glory features a young Buddy Guy on guitar and Jr. Wells on harp and vocals stepping up to the mantle of Muddy Waters. Simple, direct-in-your-face blues with nary an extraneous note or add on, every song reeks of mid 60's South Side blues. One of the best examples of urban Chicago blues before the commercial slickness of the 70's took over, "Hoodoo Man Blues" is what I put on when I break out the good bourbon.

Junior Wells could easily be mistaken for a reincarnation of James Brown with his opening song "Snatch It Back And Hold It" but the energy does not stop there....it is found on nearly every song on this CD. Other songs on the CD have a more "traditional" blues feeling such as "In The Wee Hours", a slow grinding blues song, which makes you just sit back and appreciate life. "Good Morning Little School Girl" is one of the best versions of the song I have ever heard......Wells brings an effusive style to his music, an unrelenting energy rarely found. What is most impressive is that this was Junior Well's first recording, after playing for many years in other bands, the most notable among them being Muddy Waters' band. Junior Well's energy and fantastic harp playing, along with Buddy Guy's superb guitar playing, make this easily one of my all-time favorite blues CD's.

I grew up a blues fan. By that I mean I grew up a fan of Mississipi Delta/Southside Chicago Blues such as Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, and the unmatched King of the Delta BLues, Muddy Waters, whose seminal seventies album, Hard Again, was my first "pure" (as opposed to "blues rock"--how I hate these categories!) blues purchase in my late teens. Well, of late, inspired by Little Walter's edgy vocals and postmodern harmonica sounds, I've been moseying over (in a matter of speaking) to the West side of town to check out the action there. Such giants as Magic Sam, Freddie King (by way of Texas), and Otis Rush feature spare, clean guitar lines and a more urban, funkefied feel to their down-home music. But the best, the absolute giants of the West side scene were none other than Buddy Guy and his harp partner, the late, great Junior Wells. Buddy's fat/fabulous lead/rhythm lines have lately made him a superstar in his own right, but it must never be forgotten that he was once a sideman to the great Junior Wells before he became full partner, and, much later, out on his own. Buddy's unmistakeable presence is felt here, but more subtle, bubbling under the surface in the cauldron of the blues stew. His driving work propels "You Don't Love Me" (later a memorable cut on The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East), "Chitlin's Con Carne", "Ships on the Ocean" and, most memorably, "Snatch it Back and Hold It" with superfunky rhythm lines straignt out of James Brown. For his part, Wells fills out "Snatch it" with boss vocals and a great solo, and similarly works his magic on "Good Morning, Little School Girl", "Early in the Morning", and the marvelous title track, where "somebody done hoodooed the hoodoo man"! The driving beat and super instrumental work are sure to put you in funky blues heaven! So don't delay, get Hoodoo Man today! Walk over to the West side of town and get funked up right away!!!

This is for the expanded version, so I will concentrate on its strengths.

First, this is a great recording in ANY format and belongs in any blues collection, great or small. The basic part has been reviewed to death, so I will simply state that it is loose, raw, and unique. I would say it was a magic moment in the blues and fans can grab the "It's My Life, Baby" for further adventures.

What does the new edition offer?

Sound. The sound has always been good, thanks to an excellent recording from the get-go. Now it is both warmer and more transparent with a you-are-there feel. Were there no bonus tracks, I would still suggest buying this.

Bonus Tracks. While a couple have been out before, there are new ones and they are great. Maybe too many takes of "Yonders Wall" but it's worth hearing. The chatter is one of those things you either like or don't - it's not long-winded so if you are not a fan of chatter, it does go by quickly.

Packaging. I would have liked more notes. There is a new essay, and there are photos. I like the two where you see Jack Meyers using three metal strings and a black tape one. That's hardcore blues. The studio set up is interesting too - apparently the bass played through a tweed Fender Bassman just like Buddy's.

Price. Reasonable. I paid that much years ago for the first CD issue.

So there it is in a nutshell. Again, I have concentrated on helping you decide about upgrading. I am glad I did!!!

First, I ask everybody to forgive me for my poor English (I'm from Italy)...

I think that if I had to choose ten CD to take with me on a desert island Hoodoo Man Blues would be one. In 1965 Jr. Wells began a fantastic career that reached the top in 1975 with Live at Theresa's. The stuff recorded after this year I dont think it's that good except for few numbers. The best of Jr. Wells I think it's included in these 10 years, included the very first recordings of the 50's (Blues Hit Big Town is a fantastic Chicago blues album). Hoodoo Man Blues is what a Chicago Blues harmonica fan asks for. In this album you can imagine to be in a club in the West Side or South Side, close your eyes and enjoy the atmosphere... Junior has that dry, raw, direct sound, so simple and so exciting... Well, my favorite harmonica plauer is Rice Miller, I'm cray about Big Walter Horton and I also like Little Walter, and Junior Wells is the heritage of all these dudes... I love his way of using the throat when he gasps through the mic... It reminds me Sonny Terry's and Peg Leg Sam's whooping and yelling between a note and another one. Junior "translates" that old time way of playing into a modern context. I know very well that old time players: Jaybird Coleman, DeFord Bailey even the less known ones like Horace Sprott or Rich Amerson and all that could recorded in the 50s and the 60s, and if I feel the blues when I listen to them, I don't think the feeling is changed with Junior, even the times had changed. Junior is a today's (I mean in the 60s and 70s) man who brings us the same old blues feeling, and I think this is what a blues player-singer should do. I don't like that today's monsters who plays thousands notes a minute but don't tell me anything... Well, listen e.g. to Ships On The Ocean... it will tell you EVERYTHING! Junior plays THE REAL DEAL: no real bluesman would play a note if it's not necessary, and that funky minded bad boy can play the blues... nothing but the blues! Other terrific album by Junior Wells, on my opinion, are:

>BLUES HIT BIG TOWN (the very first Junior Wells, 1953-'54)
>IT'S MY LIFE, BABY! (a fantstic live/studio album, I love it!)
>ON TAP (An overlooked but excellent CD)
>COMING AT YOU (other Vanguard numbers with too many horns on my opinion. Anyway, a must for Jr. Wells's fans)
>SINGS LIVE AT THE GOLDEN BEAR (An other overlooked beautiful CD with a lot of classic blues, a tribute to Little Walter, Sonny Boy II an others)
>LIVE AT THERESAS'S (highlghts: JUKE, COME ON IN THIS HOUSE, KEY TO THE HIGHWAY)
>THE BEST OF THE VANGUARD YEARS (with some of the stuff you can find in IT'S MY LIFE BABY, and COMING AT YOU, but worth the purchase: here you can find the best Junior's versions of MESSIN' WITH THE KID, SHOTGUN BLUES, ALL NIGHT LONG, IT HURTS ME TOO and HELP ME)
>DRINKIN' TNT & SMOKIN' DYNAMYTE (a killer live album in Europe, 1974)

There are also a few bunch of recordings from "18 TRACKS FROM THE FILM CHICAGO BLUES" (Red Lightnin') that are some of Junior's best live performances: IN MY YOUNGER DAYS, COUNTRY GIRL and perhaps the best version of HOODOO MAN BLUES I've ever heard.
Forgive me for the long review, but the blues is something that blows up my mind!

Cheers,

Bert