Ain't Enough Comin' In

Otis Rush

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 1994)
• Original Release Date: April 5, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001E2F
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,499 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Otis Rush and Buddy Guy were hot young Chicago guitar slingers in the 1950s, when legends like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf ruled the Second City. Rush was renowned for his nasty, over-amplified guitar sound, and songs like "All Your Love" and "Double Trouble" were seminal touchstones for such `60s British guitarists as Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Rush has lately been known more for live shows than records, and 1994's Ain't Enough Comin' In succeeded because it was programmed like a great concert set, with fat guitar solos that suggested Albert King in a sweat, and songs that drew from both the blues and soul songbooks. Rush sounds great singing Sam Cooke's good-news gospel ("Somebody Have Mercy" and "Ain't That Good News") and pays his propers to Ray Charles on "A Fool for You." Exciting takes on epic tunes associated with B.B. King ("It's My Own Fault") and Albert King ("As the Years Go Passing By") also leave no doubt that Rush hasn't forgotten how to burn down the house. --John Milward

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great comeback, April 7, 2004

By	Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a really fine album...I just can't give it all five stars, because it isn't quite the equal of Rush's phenomenal late-50s singles.

But judged on its own terms, this is one fine blues record, one of the finest of the 90s, and a worthy addition to Otis Rush's erratic discography. His vocals are still strong and soulful at 60, his Fender Stratocaster sizzles, and he is backed by a fine band which includes former Faces pianist Ian McLagan and the Texacali Horns (Joe Sublett is the tenor saxist).
Okay, so there is a little too much organ for my taste, and not quite enough of Rush's guitar, but perhaps that's just me...I'm an organ-hater, I only like Hammond B-3, preferably played through a Leslie speaker!

This album is about equal parts blues and straight soul tunes, including two songs by Sam Cooke, and Percy Mayfield's "My Jug And I" and Ray Charles' "A Fool For You" are more soul than blues as well.
That may not be to the liking of some fans, who would prefer to hear Otis Rush playing the blues in the gritty fashion of his 1950s Cobra recordings. And it is true that this album doesn't quite have the smouldering intensity of those early singles (partly because of the arrangements), but Rush does come very, very close to recaptureing the old fire with a great rendition of B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault", the sizzling "That Will Never Do", and the fine title track.

The laid-back but muscular R&B-classic "Homework" is another highlight, and the thumping soul stomper "Somebody Have Mercy" shows what a great soul singer Otis Rush is. And he also matches Albert King every step of the way (and perhaps a little further) on "Don't Burn Down The Bridge", and revisits his own "She's A Good 'Un" in an updated version with some riveting guitar playing and a supremely confident vocal performance.

All in all, this is a very, very solid West side blues record with some excellent, tasteful guitar playing, and while Rush's early Cobra sides remain his definitive statement (and the place to start for anybody just getting acquainted with his music), "Ain't Enough Comin' In" is not one to pass up, either. Nobody plays a slow blues guitar solo like Otis Rush.

4.0 out of 5 stars Blues classic, July 11, 2008

By	S J Buck (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This cracking mid 90's album from blues master Otis Rush is well worth getting. His first album for 16 years (and his penultimate to date) it features all the hallmarks that will make a good contempary blues album. Plenty of Hammond Organ, a great brass section and best of all Rush's distinctive blues guitar and vibrato laiden vocal, which have a real soulful edge to them.

The songs are nearly all written by established masters of the genre:
Albert king
Sam Cooke
Ray Charles
BB King

as well as few classics like 'Homework' by Rush himself.

Although Otis Rush is still alive at the time of writing his recording legacy really finished in the 1990's and this is as good a way as any to introduce yourself to the man's considerable blues talent.

5.0 out of 5 stars Album of the Year, January 7, 2005

By	Timothy G. Niland (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was my album of the year for 1994, so revisiting it brought back fond memories. Otis Rush hadn't recorded in nearly ten years when this album was cut, and there were whispers that he was past his prime. Not so by a long shot - Rush, who had cut classic upon classic in the mid to late 1950's had put together a checkered record of albums since then, but this brought it all together for this project - scalding guitar work, soulful vocals and a tight band with a killer horn section.

The album itself is a finely produced mix of up-tempo burners and mournful ballads. On the up-tempo front, there is the swaggering re-make of Rush's classic "Homework" featuring some killer horn work and the swinging "She's a Good'un" while the slow tempoed songs allow him to really stretch out with some beautiful single-line guitar playing and deeply emotional singing on songs like "My Jug and I" and the heartbreakingly intense "As the Years Go Passing By."

This is one not to miss if you can find it, since I'm not sure if it's still in print. Rush's epochal 1950's sides stand as some of the finest electric blues ever made, but these don't stand too far behind, as an example of an older and wiser musician who still has a lot to say.