Search - R.L. Burnside :: Well Well Well

Well Well Well
R.L. Burnside
Well Well Well
Genres: Blues, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (18) - Disc #1

You might think a collection of bootlegs featuring R.L. Burnside is less than interesting, or maybe even a cynical way for Burnside and M.C. Records to cash in on his current popularity without having to release any new ma...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: R.L. Burnside
Title: Well Well Well
Members Wishing: 6
Total Copies: 0
Label: M.C. Records
Release Date: 3/27/2001
Album Type: Explicit Lyrics
Genres: Blues, Pop
Styles: Delta Blues, Traditional Blues, Electric Blues, Modern Blues
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 607735004220

Synopsis

Amazon.com
You might think a collection of bootlegs featuring R.L. Burnside is less than interesting, or maybe even a cynical way for Burnside and M.C. Records to cash in on his current popularity without having to release any new material. You might think that, but you'd be woefully mistaken. A fascinating, scattershot collection of tunes and interviews, recorded between 1986 and 1993, Well...Well...Well offers a uniquely personal window into one of blues music's most gifted performers. Many of the recordings are transferred directly from tapes made in sheds and out-of-the-way venues, with Burnside, often using only his voice and a rusty guitar, playing and telling stories detailing a bluesman's woes. Check out the risqué, boom-box recording of "Staggolee," a traditional tune that Burnside lays into while boozing it up with fellow bluesmen Jon Morris and Curtis Salgado in an old New Orleans shotgun house. Or Muddy Waters's "Can't Be Satisfied," recorded in the same house by Burnside, this time sober and all by his lonesome. He's nursing a cold, and his voice is grainy, his guitar sublime as he entertains himself with a loose, lonely rendition. There are proper live venue recordings as well, like the slow chug of his own "Nightmare Blues," performed to an enthusiastic crowd at the Queen Street Playhouse in South Carolina. There are also recordings taken from performances in Holland ("Poor Boy" in a large theater at The Hague, and two others recorded in a shed just outside Gieterveen, near the house where his then-girlfriend lived) and Athens, Greece, where Burnside digs into Chester Burnette's "How Many More Years" and Willie Dixon's "My Babe." Taken as a whole, this odd assortment acts an illuminating document of Burnside's dusty Delta roots. --Matthew Cooke

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CD Reviews

This stuff is amazing!
04/06/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a great collection! Super raw! I've seen Burnside live many times and this CD captures his personality and music in a nutshell -- unlike anything out there. Burnside is powerful with his group, but "Staggolee" shows just how frightening he can be on his own. Filled with classics: Boogie Chillen, How Many More Years, Mojo Hand, and even My Babe, which I never heard him do. All in a pared down, super raw setting. Beautiful vocals, great guitar. A must buy!"
I love this CD
04/09/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this CD. It took a couple of listenings to sink in, but then I was hooked. Not since the Smithsonian recordings has there been such a riveting collection of snapshots in time. Burnside is Robert Johnson 2001 -- entertainer, great musician and philospher of humanity."