Greasy Kid Stuff

Kid Ramos

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 9, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Evidence
• ASIN: B00005OAD3
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #80,230 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
California guitar star Kid Ramos struts his stuff on his third solo album, stepping out of his West Coast jump-blues persona for a harmonica-heavy session aimed at recapturing the hard-edged interplay of early electric Chicago blues. A veteran of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the James Harman Band, Ramos has significant assistance from more than a half-dozen guest vocalists-harpists, including Charlie Musselwhite, Paul deLay, and Rod Piazza; all make noteworthy contributions. Ramos and his stellar supporting cast nail the Windy City sound with enjoyable authority, but some of the most entertaining music goes in other directions. Ramos's radically reconfigured take on Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Hold Me Tenderly" creatively infuses a restrained rockabilly feel, and Piazza's jazz-inflected instrumental "Devil's Foot" also successfully strays from the Chicago style. Rick Estrin, of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, shines on "Marion's Mood," a reed-rattling harp showcase in the spirit of the legendary Little Walter, and Johnny Dyer delivers a fine and funky version of Lightnin' Slim's "Mean Old Lonesome Train." Harman's novelty number, "Low Down Woman," is an eccentric gem, and he rips through "Chicken Hearted Woman," with some poultry-plucking guitar from Ramos, in similarly offbeat fashion. --Michael Point

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to sing to lead., July 27, 2004

By	. (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Ramos does what he does best and gets other guys do to what they do best; this is what leading bands and producing cds is all about.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Disc, April 23, 2002

By	"jeffb47" (Northern CA) - See all my reviews

I've been a big James Harman fan for a long time. I used to see him with guitarist Kid Ramos in smokey clubs in LA with 50 people or so. Great shows. I bought this because I was interested in what Kid Ramos could do on his own. Well, I still don't really know. His guitar work is sort of lost on this disc He only wrote one of the songs and quite frankly he is mearly a backup guitarist to a pretty amazing showcase of great blues front-men/harp players. When the guitar does kick in it's fine but nothing special, just standard blues riffs.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Blues!, October 10, 2001

By	deepbluereview "deepbluereview" (SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

On this CD, Ramos continues the trend set on his last two releases, "Kid Ramos" and "West Coast House Party" by inviting several guest performers. However, unlike either of the other releases, Ramos has eliminated the keyboards as well as the horn section and has invited only harp players to the party opting to handle all guitar duties himself.

Accompanying Ramos are Paul deLay, Johnny Dyer, Rick Estrin, James Harman, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza and Lynwood Slim. The result is an excellent stripped down performance, which recalls early Chicago blues in the style of Jimmy Roger, early Muddy Waters or Mojo Buford, and yet still retains the flavor of each performers unique style. Overall this is a very good CD and all songs, with the possible exception of the rockabilly number "Hold Me Tenderly", mesh well together. If you like harps and down home blues, check this out.