Customer Reviews

Stone Crazy

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Buddy Guy is arguably the most distinctive, electrifying guitarist in Blues history. On a good night, there is no player in the world who can match him. But for all of Guy's talent, unfortunately there are few studio recordings that document his genius. Producers have always wanted him either to sound old-fashioned (i.e., the '50s Chess Chicago Blues sound) or too modern (i.e., some abberation of Jimi or Clapton).

Buddy was only produced properly one time: and the result is this album "Stone Crazy." After several mediocre albums in the '60s and '70s, someone finally let Buddy play in the studio with the creative, reckless abandon that, when playing live, has ignited every building in which he has ever played. Buy this album now! This IS Buddy Guy!

The original French issue title, the Blues Giant, more accurately reflects the greatness of this recording, which I would have to rank as one of my favorite blues recordings. All of the six tracks are superb, though over the years my favorite came to be the concluding slow blues, When I Left Home, which is startling in its passionate ferocity. I Smell a Rat is actually Damn Right I've Got the Blues, in another guise, by the way. Apparently blues purists often dislike this recording, but if you love electric blues guitar, don't listen to them. When Buddy is at his best (and he is pretty near so on this recording), only Hendrix can compare. Lovers of this recording might also want to pick up Pleading the Blues, an excellent Junior Wells recording featuring the very same band and recorded on the very same day. Two classic albums recorded in one day, no less.

I recieved this Buddy Guy cd when I was moving away from popular music and goin to classic rock, blues, and jazz. This cd still is constant rotation after owning it for over 6 years. All the songs on here are impressive and makes one wish that Buddy Guy payed less attention to the crowd and more attention to his guitar. If you prefer more hooked oriented, pop sounding contemporary blues than this isn't your thing. But then again blues isn't suppossed to sound contrived and too radio friendly. When I listen to this cd I wonder where Buddy Guy gets all this energy...it's almost like straight ahead Chicago blues with the energy of Hendrix....lotsa funk, random jazz type phrasing and interaction, tons of jamming. This is one of those cds you listen with your mouth wide open in full attention of his crazy guitar. Five years ago I picked up my Fender strat with this cd in the background. There are very few things that will make you break your guitar strings as much as trying to recreate the sounds and intensity on this cd. This is the over-the-edge style of playing that only Buddy Guy can create.

Imagine being in a London nightclub in 1966, when an unknown man with a guitar named Jimi Hendrix climbs onstage from the audience. He plugs in his instrument and begins to play with the headliners - Eric Clapton and Cream. Minutes later he's gone, leaving the musicians, critics, and the audience gaping in awe. From that moment forward, everyone who witnessed this spectacle knew that rock guitar playing had been forever changed. Hearing Buddy Guy for the first time can be equally momentous. Buddy and Jimi heavily influenced each other, and the results speak for themselves. When Buddy's at his best, as he is on Stone Crazy, practically no one can stand toe-to-toe with him without getting burned or schooled. His self-taught mastery, unbridled creativity, and berserk ferocity on the electric guitar make lesser players seem impotent by comparison.

George "Buddy" Guy had been working professionally as a musician for more than two decades when he recorded this album. But, it was his performance on Stone Crazy that firmly established him among the pantheon of electric guitar gods in the minds of rock aficionados. His playing on this album undulates sensually, laughing, crying, sighing, teasing like a faint tickle one moment, and then thrusting like an ice pick in the gut without warning. Plainly speaking, listening to this CD is like having hoalistic sex with reckless abondon - passive participation is simply impossible.

As he nears seventy, the flashes of brilliance and moments of astonishing prowess on the guitar are now fewer and farther between. But on a good night, he can still let loose a jaw-dropping, blistering solo that will sonically assault your senses.

If you like Stone Crazy, I'd also recommend his 2001 release, Sweet Tea. While it lacks the guitar pyrotechnics of Stone Crazy, this album cooks with a slow burn like Mississippi mulligan stew. On one incredible tune, Baby Please Don't Leave Me, Buddy conjures up some fuzz-tone mojo with reverb that would make the Voodoo Chile himself shiver in his grave.

I'm not a blues expert. I'm a born and bred south Chicagoan, and a blues fan for over thirty years. Purists be damned, this IS a blues album.
I bought this album on vinyl when it was released. I saw Buddy playing live a lot around then (and many times since) and if you want to get an idea what kind of a pounding show he played in small clubs at that time listen to "You've Been Gone Too Long".
Although this is a studio album, it feels "live" and has none of the over-produced slickness that mars many of the albums on the Alligator Records label. Buddy and the band are loose (not sloppy though, the chops and grooves are tight) yet intense. Phil Guy, Buddy's brother, is also on Stone Crazy and is a phenomenal blues guitarist as well (I'm not sure, but I believe some of the solos on this album may be his).
If you are in a Son House / Robert Johnson kind of mood this isn't the album for you. But if you'd like to know what it was like at small, smokey blues clubs in Chicago when this album came out, buy this.
If you like this album I also recommend "Son Seals: Live and Burning". Both are rough, raw, powerfull, and "sloppy-tight" I never play Stone Crazy without it...and a shot of whiskey.

A blues album for the hard rocker. This is the way blues should be played-raw,reckless and loud. In an era when most music-even the blues is watered down, it's great to go back to this jammin' album and listen to one of the true masters play his craft to the hilt.

If you prefer happy, slickly-produced blues records, I suggest you pass on this one. If, however, you don't mind things a little loose and close-to-the-edge, I suggest you make the purchase immediately. I bought this record because it was described as the only Buddy Guy studio album that captured the passion and spontaneity of his live shows, and I think that's a fair assessment. This isn't a by-the-numbers groover: it's something darker and more explosive. Buddy really loses himself on these performances, but while going very near the deep end, Buddy is able to keep it remarkably coherent and deeply groovy. Occasionally, he solos with such explosive energy that he loses the tempo, and there are certainly plenty of stock phrases here, but it doesn't really reduce the enjoyment. It's certainly not his best collection of songs, but you won't hear many of these anywhere else, and I think it's indispensable.

Make no mistake about it: this CD demonstrates Buddy Guy's amazing talent for improvisation. Nothing soft about this CD - it is hard felt blues at Buddy Guy's best. I consider myself a full-fledged, hard-core Buddy Guy fanatic. While I consider this CD a must for any serious Buddy Guy fan, you may want to start with some of his other stuff and work your way up to this if you are not very familiar with Guy. By all means, Buddy is not playing to a mass-market crowd in this CD; and that is the strength of "Stone Crazy!".

While Guy's last album was an all star jam recorded with long time musical partner Junior Wells, featuring Eric Clapton, Dr. John and the J. Geils Band, this album returns the focus to Guy's raw, nearly out of control guitar playing and soulfully gutwrenched vocals, without any studio musicians or special guests, garnering it his "cut loose" album. Guy displays his brand of Chicago blues with the rhythmic force of his own touring band including brother Phil Guy on rhythm guitar.

This album finds Guy in top form as he performs hard hitting blues numbers with a live feel, like the thumping "I Smell A Rat", where he vents his frustrations with relationship infidelity; i.e: "I smell a rat in my house, I believe he's walkin' round' on just two legs." As well, Guy delivers a feverish rendition of "Stone Crazy", a song which he recorded for the Chess label in 1961, though on this album is re-titled "Are You Losing Your Mind?." Additional tracks like the upbeat funky rock of "You've Been Gone Too Long" and the sorrowful vocals of "When I Left Home" are some of the best on the album. Throughout the album Guy yells and moans, seeming to fly into fits of joy and sorrow between guitar breaks, leaving one with the impression of a man possessed, or totally consumed by his music. Maybe both.

"Buddy Guy, Stone Crazy!" captures everything Chicago blues is supposed to be - raw, soulful, and energetic - proving Guy to be one of the most charismatic and passionate performers of the blues genre.

The passion and outright blues savagery are unparalleled in any studio blues recording i have ever heard! I have actually shed a few tears while driving alone and getting sucked into the blues played here!