Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Original Recording Remastered) [Original recording remastered]

Johnny Winter | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Friday Music
• ASIN: B001NOMOD8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,249 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Introduction

2. Okie Dokie Stomp

3. Looking For Trouble

4. Serious As A Heart Attack

5. Blue Mood

6. Sugaree

7. Ain't That Just Like A Woman

8. Shake That Money Maker

9. Mad Dog

10. Rollin' and Tumblin' (Acoustic) Bonus Track

Editorial Reviews

2009 release, yet another mind blowing installment in the extensive Johnny Winter Live Bootleg Series, Mr. Winter himself went back through his 40+ year archives, and has developed one of the finest collections of Blues and Rock music fit for a king. This volume contains nine incredible tracks including the definitive versions of 'Looking For Trouble', 'Shake Your Money Maker' and the stunning 'Blue Mood', as well as a very rare bonus track: the acoustic version of Muddy Waters' 'Rollin' and Tumblin''. Features rare artwork hand picked from the Johnny Winter archives, as well as new liner notes from Vintage Guitar's Tom Guerra.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smoking Hot Blues, February 12, 2009

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Art and Music - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

This CD is typical of what we have come to expect from Johnny Winter-a great selection of (mainly 12-bar blues) songs; strong, gritty vocals, and smoking hot guitar.

Johnny is equally skilled at slide and non-slide playing. In fact, there aren't many people who can match him on the slide guitar. Listen to "Serious as a Heart Attack," and you'll hear what I mean.

Other than "Just Like a Woman," the songs are mostly in the traditional urban blues form, but played with a hard edge. These tracks are very close to what Johnny did on his trendsetting "Progressive Blues Experiment" LP back in the late '60s. It's Chicago blues spiced with a dose of rock and roll.

This CD will be appreciated by anyone who appreciates expert guitar playing. If you are a rock fan but haven't listened to much blues, I encourage you to listen to Johnny Winter to see what you've been missing.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "Bootleg" series keeps on givin', March 11, 2009

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Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

This fourth volume in Johnny Winter's much-lauded "Live Bootleg" series differs from volumes two and three in particular in featuring no less than nine songs (vol. two had six), and several of them are less than five minutes long! Now that's pretty tight for a live album featuring John Dawson Winter III.

"Live Bootleg vol. 4" is a terrific mix of blues and R&B, with a little bit of rock n' roll sensibility here and there. But it is mostly a blues record, a pretty tough and gritty one, and Winter's playing is sharp as some or other cliché about cutting or sharp stuff or something!
Sure, there are one or two lesser numbers here, but this is still a most rewarding listen with some wonderful, smouldering slow blues and a few fast ones as well. And bassist Jon Paris' occational harp playing complements Winter's guitar wonderfully, adding extra grit (and a very authentic rootsy atmosphere) to the lean and mean sound of the three-piece band.

"Live Bootleg vol. 4" opens with a fiery up-tempo instrumental, Pluma (not "Plummer") Davis' "Okie Dokie Stomp", before moving on to a swinging, swaggering "Looking for Trouble", a grinding mid-tempo blues with some terrific soloing, and then to the first Johnny Winter-original of the entire Bootleg-series, the hard-driving eight-minute R&B of "Serious as a Hard Attack". It's total blues cliché all the way, but it's supremely well delivered, and the solos burn!

Jessie Mae Robinson has been credited as "Jesse", which she probably wouldn't have appreciated. She was a prolific songwriter in the 50s and 60s, and she is the lady behind blues and R&B numbers like "Black Night (is falling)", Wanda Jackson's "Let's Have a Party", B.B. King's "Sneakin' Around (with you)", and "Cold, Cold Feeling", which was recorded by T-Bone Walker. Her blues ballad "Blue Mood" is perhaps a little bit at odds with the rest of the somewhat grittier and rather more edgy material gathered here, but Winter plays some excellent, low-key guitar, and he does well by the song all around. It's not a major highlight, though, and neither is the up-tempo R&B trifle "Sugaree". Sure, it's good enough, but it's really not a major song. And "Rushy" York didn't write it, either, Marty Robbins did and Rusty York recorded it.

I don't know quite how to feel about this rendition of the old proto-rock n' roll-chestnut "Ain't That Just Like a Woman", a staple for Louis Jordan and Fats Domino. The band powers along, and the live audience must have been thrilled, but to me Winter's vocals are sub-par. He yells out the lyrics rather than singing them, robbing the song of much of its original melodic appeal. But that's a matter of taste, of course.

This take on Elmore James' "Shake Your Moneymaker" is a pure gem, though. Again, Winter's vocals aren't the best you'll ever hear him do, but he gets the job done, and his screaming guitar completely dominates the song anyway. Sure, nobody out-Elmores Elmore James himself, he had the style, the voice, and all the feeling, but this is a tremendous cover nevertheless. And the equally explosive "Mad Dog" is another highlight...I don't think there are many people who doubt Johnny Winter's talents and versatility as a guitarist, at least not among those reading this, but if there are one or two out there, their doubts ought to be laid to rest after listening to this one!

The album winds down with an acoustic solo performance of the ancient 20s blues "Rollin' and Tumblin'", all clanging slide guitar and a powerful, focused vocal performance by Winter. It's not live, but it's a wonderful performance all the same. And that's it, a not-very-generous 49 minutes of music. But with performances like these, I suppose it can be forgiven!

Half of the songs are credited to the wrong composer, mis-titled or misspelled or something, and the sound isn't really 21st century state-of-the-art fidelity - obviously, since these performances were recorded decades ago. But once you are grooving to "Shake Your Moneymaker" or "Rollin' and Tumblin'", I doubt if you'll care.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bootleg Series is a winner, March 13, 2009

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K. Chapel (Aurora Co) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

Smokin' performance,the sound quality is very good though not perfect but that should be expected from a 'boot'.I've got all 4 vol.s of this series released so far and have not been disapointed with any of them.