Johnny Shines

Johnny Shines | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hightone Records
• ASIN: B0000005PC
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,064 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When his friend the legendary Delta bluesman Robert Johnson died, Johnny Shines decided to visit Africa to see if everything he had heard about it was true. He got sidetracked and ended up in Chicago where his musical career languished for two decades until he was rediscovered in the '60s. This 1970 recording catches Shines at his best as he alternates between traditional Delta-styled acoustic blues numbers and hard-rocking Chicago-flavored tunes. The haunting "My Love Can't Hide," with its baritone sax moaning in background, provides but one highlight. --Percy Keegan

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD

No less than a founding father of modern blues, James 'Johnny" Shines was a valued singer/slide guitarist whose creative impulses, technical command, and expressive candor were at an extraordinarily high level in the decade or so following his mid-1960s "rediscovery." This 1970 session includes several inspired solo performances that hark back to his prewar Delta and Memphis country blues years, another elevated period in his venerable career. Of the five songs made with a tipsy West Coast ensemble, "My Love Can't Hide" drops your jaw for the ardency of his heartsick vocalization. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatly Underappreciated Johnny Shines, August 3, 2006

By 

D. B Pepper "neonx83" (Plainview, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Johnny Shines (Audio CD)

Johnny Shines is a greatly underappreciated musical artist. His recordings from the '60s and '70s contain a variety of musical styles. Though he seems most comfortable playing acoustic Delta Blues, this disc contains amazing songs with tons of soul, such as "Just A Little Tenderness" and "Just Call Me." "My Love Can't Hide" resembles Otis Rush's "My Love Will Never Die", but Shines manages to put ten times more emotion and stark vocalization into the song (despite Rush's recording being excellent). This disc is a great mix of acoustic Delta Blues, electrified Chicago tunes, and Shines' successful attempt at the then-popular Soul music. Out of Standing At The Crossroads, Too Wet To Plow, Worried Blues Ain't Bad, and this record, his singing is at its earth-shaking best on this record. I look forward to purchasing Traditional Delta Blues and Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop. The only drawback to this disc is the unimpressive presentation of the liner notes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SHINES SHINES SHINES !!!!!, March 9, 2010

By 

Lonnie P. Fredette (PLATTSBURGH, NY, US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Johnny Shines (Audio CD)

This was my first Johnny Shines album, way back in 1974, and I was instantly HOOKED!!! Everyone whose read my reviews knows I LOVE this man! He's never made a bad album, there's just NOT ENOUGH OF 'EM!!! This has both band and solo numbers done with Johnny's typical POWER and VIRTUOSITY!!! Check it out and you'll want MORE!!! 'Nuf said!