Customer Reviews

Sad Days Lonely Nights

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw Junior open for Iggy Pop in about 1996. He sat in his chair, unmoving, for 45 minutes and played what seemed like one single, endless song. When he finished, I couldn't remember how he'd began, but I knew I'd been taken someplace far, far away, and I was sad to be back. This album conjures that same feeling for me. The word "groove" has been poisoned by association with post-hippie jam-band idiocy, but Junior's music grooves. It will move you in ways you didn't think possible. It will burn tracks into your brainpan and it will never leave once it's in you. Yes, you've lived this long without this album, but once you hear it you'll wonder how that could have been possible. Junior Kimbrough changed my life. Let him change yours.

Half mountain holler, half strangled cry, Junior Kimbrough's was a music in which the elementary components dripped with something deeper. He didn't just restore the hypnotic ramble and hum of classic north Mississippi blues, he gave it a steroid shot with his slow-boiling style and his wide groove. This is a far cry from the shred-manic, soul-deprived garbage which is being passed off as the blues most of the time today. And it's as close to the core of humanness as contemporary blues will ever get without yanking Robert Johnson or Fred McDowell up out of their graves, fitting them with electric guitars, and urging them to let it loose right there with the elder upstart.

If the original members of Black Sabbath had grown up deep in the Delta swamps, cutting their musical teeth on the slide guitar wizardry of Fred McDowell they might have sounded something like Junior Kimbrough & the Soul Blues Boys. This collection culled from live performances at Kimbrough's Juke Joint in 1993 offers over an hour of lengthy, grinding blues dirges with Junior & friends churning out their signature brand of whiskey-drenched Mississippi grunge...the playing is the antithesis of urban contemporary blues polish with lots of wrong notes and missed cues, but all of the imperfections simply add to the end result, some of the most truthful and moving blues waxed to disc. Kimbrough's death in early 98' was a serious blow to the longevity of this kind of music; all we're left with now are a handful of documents such as this as testaments of his brilliance.

As you may know, most follow-up albums suck. This is mainly do to the fact that the main surprise that makes the artist so special has already been exposed, so when the second disc comes out it, the artist has nothing new to offer. Or they have taken there music in such a radicly different or over-produced direction, that it doesn't even sound like that artist. Well this CD is different. Even though Kimbrough keeps the sound that you're probably familiar with, he still has some new tricks up his sleave, like kenny brown's slide playing. It even has a verson of "Crawlin' Kingsnake" on it! This is the kind of album that makes you realize that I'm not crazy to like blues.

I don't listen to Junior Kimbrough's music as often as I might but when I do, I binge. And Sad Days Lonely Nights is the one I start playing when I do. No one can get his tone. He was a stunning artist, one of the great under-recognized bluesmen of our time.

...THIS IS THAT ALBUM! YOU WANNA GET DRUNK AND REMINISCE ABOUT A LONG LOST LOVE, FUSS ABOUT HOW YOUR OLD LADY IS DOIN YOU WRONG, FLIRT WITH THAT NEW GIRL WORKIN DOWN AT THE DOLLAR STORE OR GET UP AND GO GET BACK WHATEVER IT WAS THAT WAS TAKEN FROM YOU...THEN THIS IS THAT ALBUM TO GET YOU IN THE MOOD FOR ALLA THAT!
THIS MAN IS SERIOUSLY SLEPT ON, BUT MR. KIMBROUGH HAS BROKEN THRU TO MY TOP 5 OF FAVORITE ARTISTS...JUST BEHIND ARETHA FRANKLIN, ISAAC HAYES, THE O'JAYS AND OUTKAST!
THIS MAN IS PURE AND HIS CARRYIN' ONS WILL GET YOU CLOSER TO YOURSELF AS HE REACHES IN AND PULLS YOUR SOUL OUT!

Fat Possum is not known for their pristine careful pressings, my most recent order of thee LP's turned up two with some pretty bad pops. Sad Days, Lonely Nights is an exception; at least my copy is pristine and perfect.

It's possible The Black Keys fans might just stop by here looking at Junior's albums. It's pretty safe to say, if you love The Black Keys - this album will be right in your zone. The Black Keys are heavily influenced by Junior's music. By the same token, if you are a Junior Kimbrough fan, The Black Keys Chulahoma album is a must have.

Junior Kimbrough is a magician on guitar. I love his brilliant quick notes on the electric guitar. He plays a beautiful straight electric guitar, no slide, no effects pedals, just good solid beautiful playing. He takes the traditional Delta Blues of David Honeyboy Edwards and moves it forward many years with the electric guitar. The beat is a little faster, more jazz like in that he does more variations on a theme. The music is complex and he does incredible things with his guitar.

The sound is more like John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters (trying to place Junior in the more mainstream blues players) than B.B. King or Eric Clapton. Buddy Guy might be close also. Junior sings about good things, his blues are the kind everybody can listen to. Unlike RL Burnside with a somewhat similar guitar style, but with the foulest dirtiest grungy lyrics ever written.

Junior has a perfect blues voice. A little bit raspy, a little bit tired, but oh so clear and middle toned. This is one of the better, cleaner recordings of his work. It was recorded in 1993 at his studio in Chulahoma, MS. Not far from Fat Possum records. Fortunately they didn't make this a pristine perfect recording, some of the grit and energy that is the blues is still there.

Junior is an amazing bluesman. This is an excellent example of his work. If I were buying one single album by him, this would be the one.

The Black Keys:

Chulahoma

RL Burnside:

A Ass Pocket of Whiskey

Another excellent Junior album, the vinyl pressing leaves a bit to be desired, and the recording is a bit spottier:

God Knows I Tried

The late great Honeyboy Edwards:

Mississippi Delta Bluesman

You can listen to this album all night long. The dronning tracks will put you in a transe, the very deep mississippi blues can be felt through every song on this disc !

Junior Kimbrough has been called "The Beginning and End of Music." Only a fool would disagree. This CD stands as proof. As a college classmate of mine was once wont to say, you CAN'T listen to it before dark. "Go moan for man," Jack? Junior got the news.