RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "I GOT AN ELECTRIC "RUSH" WHEN I F
Rick Shaq Goldstein | Danville, Ca, USA | 01/24/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This weekend (1/20/07) I was hankering for a new infusion of great electric blues, to add to my extensive collection. I went to my local CD/book store (name withheld to protect amazon.com) and was amazed to find, that their tiny, blues section, was even tinier! It didn't even have the cardboard blues sign up anymore. There weren't even any monthly new release CD's displayed. So as I truly got the blues, I just, as a last ditch effort, started thumbing through, every CD, at "WARP" speed, with one foot almost out the door. Like a sign from heaven, I noticed a multi-colored CD cover with, Otis Rush on it. I gulped, and silently said to myself, "I haven't seen this before!" and since half the head sets, at the un-named retail location, were broken in half, and the other half didn't work, (and the ones broken in half, one half ear set, didn't work) I took a chance and bought this CD without hearing nary a note! I zoomed home and put it in my stereo. Now, if you're one of Shaq's loyal blues review readers, you know the first thing you're worried about on a live CD, (The release date on the CD was 2006, and yet I never heard of it. The concert was December18, 1999, a date you could not find out, unless you bought the CD and opened it!) Is the sound quality? (See prior Shaq reviews!) Well, the sound was loud and crystal clear! The second thing, Shaq is worried about, is "YOU CAN'T GET THE BLUES IN 2-3 MINUTES!" Well, there are 7 songs with a total playing time of 52 minutes! Hoo! Haa! Every single song on this is great. The music, the voice, the feeling with the crowd! Whoever released this CD below the radar should be fired! This CD is an instant electric blues classic! I am told by amazon.com that I am the first person to review this! If that's the case, this review should break the record for the most "THIS REVIEW WAS HELPFUL!" votes! I have played it twice already, all the way through, to make sure I wasn't dreaming! I'm not. In fact as I wrote this review I pinched myself. Ouch! I have already called a blues-friend of mine, and said go buy this. You should too! SUMMARY: IT'S LOUD! IT'S CLEAR! IT'S LIVE! THE GUITAR STRINGS ARE BENDING! AND THE VOICE IS CLEAR! YOU ALL HEARD IT HERE FIRST! SHAQ SAYS A FIVE STAR CLASSIC!"
Otis Rush's Soundtrack to his first DVD
Perry Celestino | Tahmoor, NSW Australia | 04/11/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Well like Albert King, Otis Rush is an unorthodox guitarist, he plays his axe upside down. This CD is also a bit upside down. Unlike his Montreux release with Eric Clapton last year, this set is a new release of Rush's Blues Express concert in San Francisco (Part One) which was released a couple of years ago on DVD. The interesting thing about that is that Part Two never has been released. This set has one tune that is not on the DVD "Feel So Bad". The sound quality is great and the tunes are largely the same as most of Otis' other live albums (except the Wise Fool's Pub release in 2005 a gem from the Delmark vaults).
The absolute highlight of this set is the Band. They are great and really enhance Rush's sound, its the best band he ever played with (I have all of Otis' released material going back to Cobra and Chess Records). The keyboardist is fantastic and he can also be seen with Buddy Guy in his Montreux set released last year. Bobby Murray, who played with Rush on his best ever "Live" release "Tops" is on hand (he is from the Bay Area) to play on "Mojo Working". Overall the sound is great. Otis is 65 years old on this disc and still playing good. His signature "lazy vibrato" is fabulous and his is still playing his Gibson 335/355 guitars.
The tunes are Rush's standard fare but they have the Big Band enhancement. "All Your Love" (I Miss Loving- often tagged onto the title so it isn't confused with Magic Sam's "All Your Love" from West Side Soul) is a definate highlight. It features the arrangement of this song that he used after his "Live And Awesome" (1996) release. It is his best interpretation of his signature tune, the one he wrote in a car on the way to the Cobra recording sessions. And the song most of us first heard Eric Clapton play blues with John Mayall. B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" is another superb slow blues outing, recorded by Rush many times (also a highlight of the Montreux DVD!). All in all this is an excellent Blues CD from one of the two remaining West Side masters. A very good documentary on the latter styles of Otis Rush as he hasn't been playing much since the Chicago Blues Festival in 2002 due to a heart condition."
Not the best of 'live Otis Rush'
Eltee | Roosendaal, Netherlands, Europe | 04/21/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This cd is taken from the dvd from Bluesexpress: Otis Rush, live part 1. So nothing new for the Otis Rush fan. The accompanying band is too big giving a too sophisticated feeling. It shows Otis Rush in his later years, still going strong but for an even stronger and more intimate Otis Rush I recommend "Live in Europe", the best album of Otis Rush ever. Also "Live at the Wise Fools pub Chicago" is better then this bluesexpress performance."
4 1/2 stars. Excellent, slightly different live album from o
Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 03/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 2006 live album documents Otis Rush's performance at the 1999 San Francisco Blues Festival, the same performance that was filmed and released by the Blues Express label as "Otis Rush Live part One".
Rush, 65 at the time of recording, is no longer performing, having suffered a stroke a few years ago, so this is probably his last "real" album. And it's a good 'un, fortunately. Rush is backed by a small, punchy horn ensemble (two saxes, trumpet and trombone), and while the horns don't do all that much for a long and occationally slightly disjointed cover of B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault", they work wonders on a terrific rendition of Rush's own classic Cobra single "All Your Love (I miss loving)". Perfectly scored, they form a terrific counterpoint to Rush's stinging lead guitar, and the combination makes for a different and very, very good version of that classic song, one which Otis Rush-fans really need to hear.
The piano player is bizarrely uncredited (Lester Snell, perhaps?), but it is nice to have him, certainly...there are serveral live recordings available of Rush playing with just a three-piece band, so this is a great chance to hear him doing something a little different.
We get a seven-minute "I Can't Quit You Baby" as well, and it is almost as stellar, horns and guitar again getting along very well. Great piano solo, too, and Otis Rush's vocals were still strong and expressive at this late stage in his career.
Both "I Wonder Why" and "717" are instrumentals, which may seem a little too much on a 52-minute album with only seven tracks, but both are very good, giving both the band and Rush's sizzling guitar playing an opportunity to shine.
Rush also dusts off a track from his rarely-mentioned 1969 "Mourning in the Morning" LP, a terrific, swaggering cover of Chuck Willis' "Feel So Bad", and the whole thing winds down with "Got My Mojo Working", a slightly more laid-back version than Muddy Waters', perhaps, but lively enough, certainly, and with a fiery solo around the five-minute mark.
It's hard to find anything wrong with this CD, in fact. Excellent fidelity, excellent pagaging...Dick Shurman has written the extensive five-page liner notes, and this would be an excellent addition to anyone's blues collection. As far as Otis Rush is concerned, you should always start with his classic 1950s Cobra singles, but don't forget to pick up this one either!"