Big Road Blues

My last review was of Fenton Robinson’s “Somebody Loan Me A Dime” and keeping in that vein we take a look at another great record from the 1970’s. If subtlety and taste were the hallmarks of Fenton’s style, Seals’ took a more raw, hard hitting approach. His self titled debut was as raw as an open wound while his 1976 follow-up, “Midnight Son”, was considerably more polished and ranks as one of the 1970’s great blues albums.

Seals’ 1973 debut was a rough, tough no-nonsense affair, not far removed from his Arkansas roots. It was an auspicious opening shot, a ferocious blast of raw boned blues featuring some fine originals like “Our Love Is like a Cancer” and “Cotton Picking Blues.” Cut three years later,”Midnight Son” was a powerful leap forward and set the stage for a string of exceptional records.

“Midnight Son” is a more focused, more polished effort that still retains all of Seals’ raw power with the key addition of a terrific horn section. As the notes make clear: “All of the horn arrangements were worked out between Son and the horn players, and were an integral part of Son’s concept for this album, not an overdubbed afterthought.” “I Believe” opens with just Seals’ searing guitar line before the surging horns kick in, ratcheting up Seals’ ominous reading of the Ray Charles number to an incredible intensity. “No, No Baby” is a funky, swaggering plea to his baby with the horns taking a more subdued role. The horns return front and center on the swinging “Four Full Seasons Of Love” that gallops along like a runaway train and displays a healthy dose of Seals’ sweet, stinging guitar work. I alway felt this song should have become a standard but I don’t know of anyone who’s covered it. “Telephone Angel” is a smoldering mid-tempo number once again featuring incredible interplay between guitar and horns while the closer, “Going Back Home”, shows Seals’ at his most soulful and thoughtful.

“Midnight Son” is where Seals really hit his stride and in my opinion was his finest moment. The album set up a superb run of top shelf records including “Live And Burning” (1978), “Chicago Fire” (1980) and “Bad Axe” (1984).

Four Full Seasons of Love (MP3)

I’ve often heard and read that the 1970’s wasn’t a good period for blues; from a popularity standpoint that may have been true but certainly not from a recording standpoint. One of the era’s true masterpieces is Fenton Robinson’s magnificent “Somebody Loan me A Dime” cut for Alligator in 1974. Fenton had been recording sporadically since the late 1950’s, cutting some terrific material, but “Somebody Loan me A Dime” was his pinnacle.

Fenton was the antithesis of Alligator’s Genuine Houserocking Music slogan, playing and singing with a subtlety and imagination far removed from the rest of the label’s roster. Fittingly, his Japanese fans dubbed him “the mellow blues genius.” Fenton’s guitar playing draws deeply from B.B. King and T-Bone Walker but with a strong jazzy inflection and plenty of grit; his guitar darts and weaves in unexpected directions, is full of probing invention and breaks out into some truly stupendous solos. His voice is a thing of beauty, a deep, rich baritone that glides along and is a perfect counterpoint to his elegant guitar work.

The title tracks envelopes the listener, opening with a dramatic drum shuffle before Fenton’s bold guitar intro kicks in with amazing power. There’s a timeless quality to this song that has classic stamped all over it. Another dramatic opening for “Directly From My Heart To You” as Fenton lays down a thick, probing guitar vamp pushed along by some pulsing horns before breaking into a stunning, soaring falsetto vocal that’s enough to set the hairs on your neck on end. The production throughout is a model of perfection and the band impeccable. The funky, minor-key “You Don’t Know What Love Is” throbs along with a subtly and complexity rarely heard in blues circles, “You Say You’re Leaving” is a gentle swinger as Fenton unleashes a draw dropping solo, while the gorgeous “Texas Flood” (Fenton played guitar on Larry Davis’ original) strips the songs to it’s essence. From top to bottom every song is a winner making for an enthralling experience when listening to the album in it’s entirety.

Fenton had cut a number of these songs previously but this is one of the rare cases where the remakes pack even greater power. Fenton never again recorded anything quite as powerful although his Alligator follow-up, “I Hear Some Blues Downstairs” (1977), had many fine moments.

Somebody Loan Me A Dime (MP3)