Search - Karaoke :: Vol. 1-Legends of Blues

THE ONLY ONE YOU WILL NEED TO GET BY TO GET OVER TO BLOW THE

C. Scanlon | among us humans | 12/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"might even get some modern frozen folk to dance, to love, to share to sing



this is the real deal right here



FIrst the James Brown ballad It's a man's man's man's world in the key of E flat minor you can hear on It's a Man's Man's Man's World (Live in New York 1980).



Folks now will think you are warming up that slow Alicia Keys piano arpeggio tune about lovin you (what else) and holloering, but this is Mr. James Brown, with strings, well done, well arranged, remember it well and sing the top of your head off. Really no one should try this except for Mr. James Brown. Music is excellent. You try to be too. Don't try. Do it. That's why the Blues Brothers are really bad in a really bad kind of way. They tried too hard at something they had no idea what they were doing.



The second tune is the real original Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign, not the Cream-style (thank God). He handles the guitar. You just sing. So. Do it. Excellent. Here it is in the key of dflat, unusual but you can do it. You can hear it on Born Under a Bad Sign.



The third is the Koko Taylor tune Wang Dang Doodle (I thought Willie Dixon wrote it). I thought I once saw a show on PBS with Willie Dixon backing up Koko on this tune after she was discovered again, working as a waitress or a maid somewhere. It knocked your socks off, all the way off, down low. DO the same. All night long. It is played a little lighter here than I remember with some tasty guitar work, real early sixties R&B. YOu can do it. All night long. We gonna fit the wang dang doodle all night long. Get them singing with you. Good back up here. Here it is in the key of Eflatminor and can be heard on Wang Dang Doodle.



Next up is Robert Cray's Smokin Gun. Robert was the big blues guitar player back inthe eighties. He led Otis Day and the Knights in the film National Lampoon's Animal House (Widescreen Double Secret Probation Edition). You can MAYBE find it on Heavy Picks: The Robert Cray Band Collection. I don't remember it; it is after my time. Here it is in the key of Eminor.



Next is the Allman Brothers version of Statesboro BLues, not Taj Mahal's smoking version from his first album with Jesse Ed Davis, and not Robert Johnson's original slide version. You can hear this on Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore, etc. etc. The music, done here in the key of D, is a great cover, with Greg Allman's slide guitar stinging thorought the first sections until the final verse, when cowboy Dicky Betts straight ahead guitar closes it out. All through brother Duane's organ keeps things gospel. Yeah, you can do this one too.



Next comes the great Muddy Water's sing along standard Got my Mojo Working as on Got My Mojo Working, etc. Good copy backing you up, including guitar and piano and a great voice for chorus. Authentic. You be too. Key of E. Make them sing and shout with you. Get them up! Don't hold back, at all. Give it all. Don't worry. Get it over.



Ain't nobody's business is a great show tune, a great ballad, a great blues, by Jimmy Witherspoon in Bflat, as in Ain't Nobody's Business. It is an admitting and an acceptance of the blues. Sing it hard, sing it high, sing it sweet and get everyone crying, PLEASE!



Te next is another Gregg Allman tinged rendition of Nobody Knows You when you're down and out. SOunds like Eric playing slide trying to do Greg. Okay if you are an Eric fan, in the key of C which makes it a standard key for singing. From the Derek and the Dominoes disk.



Then the Howling Wolf version of Little Red Rooster (not the early Stones, and almost like the The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions but the original Hupert Sumplin so you cannot go wrong. Just growl, or do the young Jagger version (NOT!). Key of E, good and low.



Then the Stevie Ray Vaughn song Pride and Joy which I admit again is after my time, but little Stevie is always hard and tasty and trying ihs heart out. You might find it on Stevie Ray Vaughan - Greatest Hits; I do not know.



The the original Jimi HEndrix Experience song Red House, which was cut from the US release of Are You Experienced? and not heard on these shores until Smash HIts came out, unless you had access to the British release. This version is as true as possible to the original, without enough reverb at the start but then picks up, and feeling a little too trebly or sharp, but it's as close as we will get, and great bar music. Here in Bflat (I thought the original was close to Eflat). You can do it. Just remember; it's a great story with a punchline.



Then the John Lee Hooker Boom Boom which is on a lot of Karaoke disks.



Then BB King's Why I sing the Blues. Other disks have a lot more of Mr. King, but if you only can get one BB song, I guess this is the one to get. Why I Sing the Blues would play it; here it is the key of C. Remember he likes to swing sweet and hard. A great corwd pleaser. It would be good to find a Karaoke disk with only his songs!



Then we have T-Bone Walker's Call it Stormy Monday, which is worth buying this disk for in itself. It is in Mr. Walker's style, with his guitar all over it. This song has been overdone and done wrong to death in other places; here it is really done right, and in the key of G, a good key to sing. Get your heart out here. You might find it similar on Stormy Monday Blues: The Essential Collection. This is the best; everyone knows it, and this is the best and first version.



Then we go back to a song made famous by Mr. Muddy Waters, but written by Willie Dixon: I'm your Hootchie Cootchie Man. The riff is very similar, and what is great are the guitar, harmonica and piano breaks. Tey each get a full verse, and very well done. This is the real deal. I hope you are up to it. Do it hard, real hard, and do it real, very real. Key of G.



There is no lyric sheet written as a brochure with this one CD+G disk, and I have not seen the lyrics scroll on a tv screen yet, but the the music is absolutely real. You will blow off the whole Karaoke nite with only one Wang Dang Doodle, baby! Do it."