Shuggie's Boogie: Shuggie Otis Plays the Blues

Shuggie Otis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 10, 1994)
• Original Release Date: May 10, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029K0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,993 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This CD can be considered somewhat rare now.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shuggie is the Real Deal, November 2, 2000

By 

Ibochild (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shuggie's Boogie: Shuggie Otis Plays the Blues (Audio CD)

Shuggie Otis, perhaps best known as the son of legendary bandleader, Johnny Otis plays some mean guitar on this CD. Shuggie is also the composer of "Strawberry Letter #23," which was a Top 5 Pop and #1 R&B hit for the Brothers Johnson in 1977. In this varied twelve track set, Shuggie shows his mastery of traditional blues guitar. He has clearly been influenced by the best including B.B. King, Elmore James, Son House and Robert Johnson. The extensive liner notes on the CD give you a nice track by track breakdown as well as background information on Shuggie himself. It's hard to pick a favorite track because they are all first rate. "Shuggie's Old Time Slide Boogie" which closes the set, has been processed with crackling pops to sound like an old 78 rpm recording from the late 1920's. It's so good, that it leaves you hungry for more. The mostly instrumental set features vocals by Sugarcane Harris on "I Can Stand to See You Die." If you like that down home blues, you'll love this CD. That said, let me also mention that the earliest of these tracks were recorded when Shuggie was only fifteen years old. Simply amazing.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original Blues Wunderkind, February 17, 2000

By 

Sir Douglas (DC Metro) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shuggie's Boogie: Shuggie Otis Plays the Blues (Audio CD)

Kenny Wayne and Johnnie Lang are great, but here is the original real-deal teenage blues guitar powerhouse. Shuggie was only 15-17 when he cut the tracks on this record from '69 to '71! Amazingly fluid and accomplished in his guitar stylings, Shuggie draws on Mike Bloomfield, BB King and other greats of the era but uses this to craft his own visionary approach. He didn't have Stevie Ray to cop licks from and therefore plays in a style that is far less derivative then todays young blues-rock guitarists.

I often wonder what Shuggie's been up to over the past three decades. He certainly deserved a lot more attention and esteem than he got way back when. If you like funky blues guitar and are looking for something apart from the usual Hendrix/SRV template parlayed today, check this out.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things That Could Have Been!, January 9, 2003

By 

deepbluereview "deepbluereview" (SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shuggie's Boogie: Shuggie Otis Plays the Blues (Audio CD)

Shuggie Otis or Johnny Otis Jr. is somewhat of an anomaly. Shuggie's dad, Johnny Otis senior played guitar and sang with the best of them for many, many years. In 1968 Johnny introduced his 13 year old son to the world on Johnny's comeback CD, "Cold Shot" and the kid was hot. So hot in fact that he was courted by the Rolling Stones and hailed by fans and media alike as a new guitar hero. But it seems Shuggie had other plans and, after releasing a couple of CD's and playing with Frank Zappa on a couple of tracks on Frank's "Hot Rats" CD, Shuggie just quit playing. He retired from the music world at the ripe old age of 22. This compilation pulls from the blues songs he actually recorded and shows us what might have been. The guitar playing is fantastic although the recordings seem a little weak causing you to turn up the volume just to get a decent tone. The material is a little dated but it's a valuable addition to any collection.