Too Bad Jim

R. L. Burnside | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fat Possum Records
• ASIN: B000001ZV6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,388 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 23-SEP-1997

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but there's better..., December 5, 2003

By 

Redgecko (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Bad Jim (Audio CD)

This is a good CD but it weights in at only 41 minutes which is inexcusably short for a "live" CD; I mean, this guy probably jammed all night! And, though it was recorded live at Junior Kimbrough's Juke Joint, it was subsequently cleaned up at Fat Possum Studios which is why it doesn't have much of a "live" feel--there's hardly any audience or background noise which can add to the excitment of the recording.

A much better, and longer (53 minutes), Burnside CD is "Burnside On Burnside", which was also recorded live but has all of the electricity of a live peformance. If you can afford only one Burnside CD then "Burnside On Burnside" is the one to get.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Deep Blues, Bubba..., December 6, 2003

By 

Steven Hildebrand "Connoisseur of Chaos" (SW Suburban Chicago, IL (USA)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Bad Jim (Audio CD)

In his documentary "Deep Blues," eccentric producer Robert Palmer introduced us to a brand of blues that comes not from the Delta, but from the hill country region of northwest Mississippi. While it bears a vague resemblance to its lowlands cousin, Hill Country Blues is a whole 'nother critter altogether. It is, as Palmer describes in the liner notes of this CD, a "slashing, droning trance-blues," a "churning, jamming one-chord exercise in stamina and mass-hypnosis."

Too many recordings these days suffer from excessive post-production, processed until they've been homogenized, sterilized, or just plain castrated, but this ain't slicked-up big city blues, Bubba. Uh Uh. Robert Palmer is a blues bloodhound; he knows where the Real Blues live, and on this CD records them in their element as they happen. The results are, in a word, profound.

Burnside plays a wicked, ratty slide over the top of a hypnotic backbeat laid down by backup guitarist Kenny Brown, bassist Dwayne Burnside and drummer Calvin Jackson. Recorded live at a jukejoint owned by fellow bluesman Junior Kimbrough, "Too Bad Jim" is raw, nasty & compelling, coming through with all the fevered urgency of a jukejoint jam session.

".44 Pistol" is a raucous and swaggering counterstroke to the haunting cover of Lightnin' Hopkins "Death Bell Blues" which follows. Two other Hopkins tunes, "Short Haired Woman" and "Miss Glory B." get the Burnside treatment. "Fireman Ring The Bell" seems to borrow much from Bill Broonzy's "Rollin' & Tumblin'."

This is Deep Blues as it should be heard, bare and honest without any fancy production tricks to spoil it. Just buy it.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupendous., February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Too Bad Jim (Audio CD)

Old style country blues cranked up to hard-rock volumes. No generic Chicago shuffle here, instead a truly strange and hypnotic Fred McDowell meets John Lee Hooker boogie. Brilliantly played and sung. Extremely raw and well produced blues. If you crank up this album it sounds like the band is in the room with you, making it up as they go along.