Customer Reviews

Otis Rush - Live at Montreux 1986

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is really, as someone has already pointed out, a great live recording. Surely one of the best live electric blues album that I own. Recorded at the Montreux Blues and Jazz festival in 1986 this CD is packed wall to wall with extraordinary feeling and great playing from all the musicians present on the stage. It appears immediately evident from the first note of the first track that Otis Rush was in a great form that night, and his singing and guitar playing is simply superb through out the entire concert. If you add to the mix an inspired Eric Clapton (that when plays the blues is second to none) sharing the centre of the stage on 4 songs and "dulcis in fundo" even the great Luther Allison for the closing act, you may start to have an idea of the final result. As a plus, and not a minor one, the quality of the sound is excellent and all the instruments sound clear. Very difficult not to mention the killer version of the classic "Crosscut saw" and an even more intense "All your love (I miss loving)" with Otis and Eric jamming together. In conclusion a five stars plus record that I suggest you should add to your collection if you are a blues fan and you like your blues very much guitar driven.

This is one of the best live albums i've ever heard.I'd put it right up there with BB King's Live at the Regal and The Allman Brother's live at the Fillmore.
Otis is in rare form himself but then add Eric Clapton for five songs and Luther Allison for one and you've got magic.And the sound quality is great.Too bad the rest of Otis's live albums didn't sound like this.Buy this,you'll never hear guitar jams like this anywhere.

that takes this record to places it never would have reached otherwise. Otis Rush is a major force compositionally and stylistically in contemporary electric blues, and he has the voice of genuine authority when he sings. What you get on the first five cuts are a sampling of just how strong those talents are. When Clapton comes on to join him, Rush pulls out of Clapton some of the very best work Eric has committed to recording ever. For my ears, it would be until THE CONCERT FOR GEORGE and the Robert Johnson discs that Clapton would be this incendiary again. And that's odd about Clapton: on his own, he is not his best advocate. Put him in a context like this, where he is working within the blues, and he is a very different beast altogether. Clapton tears up his counterattacks to Rush and they clearly are intensely focused on wringing everything out of each song.
That alone would be enough for any record to aspire to, but wait. Luther Allison arrives for the closer, at first without a guitar, and whips not just the audience, but Rush and Clapton into a frenzy. Strapping on his Strat, Allison takes this recording to heights clearly unaniticipated by everyone else in the room. It is a performance for the ages. But Luther was always like that. For my money, there was and remains no finer or more exciting guitarist in any discipline of music. So, as stunning as the first 8 tracks are, number 9 blows them all away.

And the best part is, the DVD is even better!

I bought this CD only after a reviewer reported below that "the sound is excellent." The sound is not excellent. It reminds me of Albert King's 1967 Fillmore West recordings. The sound is very bright. Fred Barnes's cat quick bass licks lack any low end. This CD sounds best played in my car where the recording's high frquency bias isn't as noticable.

That being said, it is a satisfying performance. Especially with Eric Clapton featured on three of the nine tracks and Clapton and Luther Allison on a fourth.

Otis Rush is one of the best Bluesman of all times. He is a great singer, guitarist and composer, on the same level as the late Magic Sam and the current leaders of the Chicago Blues, Buddy Guy and the really magic Magic Slim, all of them creators of the sound known as West Side. I find this live record a jewel with only one defect, which is its sound. The bass guitar practically is nonexistent, particularly in some themes as for example the one that opens the LP, "Tops", or the one that closes the record, the brilliant Memphis Slim's "Every day I have the Blues". Nonetheless it is an extraordinary record, one of the best live records I have heard. Otis' way of playing and singing is absolutely superb and all the musicians do a great job, with powerful contributions by an inspired Eric Clapton, aka Slow Hand, in four themes, in the last of which coinciding with another top figure as Luther Allison, a great admirer of Otis Rush. The record contains several extraordinary original themes as well as versions. I want to highlight the intensity of the version of the classic Albert King's "Croscut Saw", and one of his great compositions, "All your love (I miss loving)". I'm also partial to "Double trouble", a great Blues with that Otis' feeling, and the blues which closes the record, Memphis Slim's "Every day I have the Blues", with Clapton, Allison and Rush showing their mastery, even though towards the end of the theme the sound loses some clarity. Highly recommended for all the blues and guitar lovers. I give it 5 stars in spite of this somewhat flawed sound and long live to Otis Rush.

This is a "new" release, 20 years after the actual performance. I suppose one of life's unknown questions, along with what went on in Area 51, is why is Otis Rush's "Live At the Wise Fools Pub" (See Shaq's previous review!) recorded 30 years ago, louder and clearer than this one! Oh well! Back to the musical review. Part of my reason for rating this a 4 star as compared to "Wise Fools Pub" 5 rating, is due to the clarity and sound volume. Other than that, this is still worth purchasing. Starting with the 6th song Eric Clapton, joins Otis on stage, and that was probably the last time; Clapton ever did anything positive in the electric blues arena. His guitar playing does pick things up a bit. To me, the pinnacle, of the CD, emotionally, as well as physically, is on the last song #9, when Luther Allison, comes on stage, and gives a speech to the audience, stating (What Shaq already knew.) for the record, that Otis Rush was his idol! The fact that, that declaration of thanks and admiration, was recorded for posterity, to me was a singular point in time, emotionally. How many times in everyone's life, does just praise, come when it's too late? When the person deserving the recognition is gone! I'm happy, for Otis, and Luther, that it was stated for the record, with witnesses, for time, in- memoriam!

Otis Rush, Eric Clapton, and Luther Allison all on the same album ? Are you kidding ? Not the best Otis Rush "live" album (that title goes to Live in San Francisco" from 1997, which is great), but very good.

This is the Otis Rush CD to get. It has great songs, and captures him live very well. The guests actually play with Otis and don't just hang out and have fun. He has a great version of Crosscut Saw. If you don't have any Otis, or much live blues this is a great place to start.

I was blown away and at the same time disappointed in this cd. The music and performances are stellar. This is superb blues, my foot never stopped tapping. The problem is and I agree with the reviewer Somebody, the sound is not excellent by any means. I have an expensive stereo sytem and it reveals the recording as very sub par. Bass lacks and the guitars are not all that clear. Albert King and SRV In Session is a notable example of a great recording. If this cd sounded as good it would be tough to beat.

I must admit,I owned the Otis Rush - Live at Montreux DVD quite awhile before I decided to buy the CD. Once I was able to find it (on Amazon.com) I was a little disappointed that the CD omitted some tracks that were on the DVD. Nevertheless, Otis is still on fire and playing at the peak of his prowess on this live disc. His back-up band for this gig, Professor Edddie Lusk and crew, along with special guests Eric Clapton and Luther Allison make this recording worth listening to over and over again. Rush and all of the musicians are "in the pocket" on every track. If you have to buy an Otis Rush live CD (or DVD), make it this one. Chicago blues at it finest!