West Side Soul

Magic Sam

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Delmark
• ASIN: B000004BIF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,168 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #6 in	Music > Indie Music > Blues
  #24 in	Music > Blues > Chicago Blues
  #54 in	Music > Blues > Modern Blues

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Many believe this 1967 landmark, Sam Maghett's first full-length studio recording, is the greatest blues album ever made. While that assertion is awfully difficult to substantiate, these 11 gems (plus one alternate) certainly deserve hyperbolic praise. These cuts have a dramatically direct emotional appeal, a blunt, unfiltered artlessness that's rarely been achieved in an electric setting. Sam's spirited vocals come from his heart and his belly, not his brain. His guitar work is smoothly melodic, à la B. B. King with a bit more bite, frenetic and energetic like Buddy Guy, but with more taste. Since this Mississippi native died at age 32, this album sits in a mystical place in blues history: In many ways, it is to Chicago blues what Robert Johnson's meager output is to Delta blues. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: MAGIC SAM
Title: WEST SIDE SOUL
Street Release Date: 04/09/1990
Domestic
Genre: BLUES

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No bluer blues, May 7, 2005

By	Alfonso Mangione "Loves the three Rs: Readin'... (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

"West Side Soul" is true-blue city blues, an absolute must-own for anyone interested in the genre. Folk and rock and rap and jazz are great at times, but sometimes you just need the blues. And unless you're willing to swan dive into a vat of dye at the local Levi's factory, you can't get any bluer than this. Jazz has "Kind of Blue," but this is "Really, Really, Really Blue."

Magic Sam's career may have been far too short (he released this and the almost-equally-excellent "Black Magic" before dying of a heart attack at the age of 32), but he at least died untouched by mediocrity. And he lives up to his name; his guitar is as spellbinding as Merlin's wand. Quick picks, long lazy notes, subdued background segments, and beautiful guitar solos: Magic Sam summons them all from his instrument with the effortless ease of a sorcerer.

And his voice--Oh, what a voice! There's a moment on "I Need You So Bad" that may well be my favorite moment of human vocal performance in the whole history of recorded music. It's one of those nearly inarticulate wails, an "Oh, baby" that captures a life's worth of emotion in the space of a few short seconds. You just can't top it, folks.

And yet, I'm not sure that that's the best song on the album. His "Sweet Home Chicago" may well be the definitive rendition of that classic blues staple. And "My Love Will Never Die" is a scorcher, a wonderful slow-cooker full of simmering blues gumbo that has it all: smoky guitar work, fiery declarations of undying and unrequited love, and that certain spicy je ne sais quois that makes a song inexplicably greater than the sum of its parts.

Chicagoans (like myself) are required by city ordinance to like the blues. I'm no expert, but I've listened to my share of it, and I've found some great anthologies and some excellent albums--Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues", B.B. King's "Live at Cook County Jail" and Buddy Guy's "Sweet Tea", to name but a few. Still I haven't found a better blues album than this one. Magic Sam, my love will never die.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked Picking, December 21, 2004

By	W. M. Shipman "Music Lover" (Gloucester, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

West Side Soul is the definitive album by one of blues music's greatest guitarists and singers. Magic Sam (nee Samuel Maghett) had a booming soul-singer's voice, with a touch of aggressive blues-style delivery (think of an irate Otis Redding, or Screaming Jay Hawkins), which set him apart from other blues singers. He sounds like he means it when he says "you tend to your business, and I'll tend to mine" in the classic "I Don't Want No Woman." But what really puts him on the map, in my opinion, is his outstanding guitar work. His version of "Sweet Home Chicago" is the definitive one, and his picking on "I Need You So Bad" is some of the best blues guitar of all time. Definitely worthy of any music collection.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a Kind, December 13, 1999

By	William G. Roberts (Red Bank, NJ) - See all my reviews

The word great gets used a lot, but this is a great cd. Magic Sam along with Otis Rush, Earl Hooker and Buddy Guy brought a more modern, urban, r&b influenced sound to the Chicago blues which was dominated by the Delta based sounds of Muddy and Howlin Wolf. Magic Sam had it all, especially on this cd. Extraordinary guitar playing and bone chilling vocals; even an instrumental. Very, very, very few had the whole package like this guy. Put the cd on and play it over and over and it will seep into every bone in your body.