Billy Boy Arnold - 2 albums: Consolidated Mojo / Eldorado Cadillac

Album: Consolidated Mojo
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:07
Size: 119.3 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[3:36] 1. I'm A Man
[3:26] 2. Me And Piney Brown
[2:33] 3. Here's My Picture
[2:30] 4. Sonny Boy's Jump
[2:56] 5. I Ain't Got You
[3:14] 6. If You Would Just Let Me Love You
[3:13] 7. I Hear My Name Ringing
[3:48] 8. I Wish You Would
[3:55] 9. She Fooled Me
[5:29] 10. You Got Me Wrong
[4:06] 11. My Heart Is Crying
[3:29] 12. Prisoner's Plea
[5:27] 13. Low Down Blues
[4:18] 14. Dirty Muther Fuyer

Recorded in San Francisco in 1992 with producer/harpist Mark Hummel’s band of the time, but not released until 2005 for reasons that are not explained in the liner notes, this is better than average traditional Chicago blues from one of the genre’s creators. All 14 tracks were cut in a single eight-hour session with no time for overdubs at the end of one of Arnold’s tours, which adds a more edgy but still professional tone to the album. Hummel’s tight band included a young Rusty Zinn on guitar and noted blues pianist Tom Mahon, both of whom take their share of solos and push Arnold to some of his better late-period performances. The program runs through standard Chicago shuffles and tempos, with tough remakes of Billy Boy’s own big hits such as “I Ain’t Got You,” “You Got Me Wrong,” and the dependable “I Wish You Would” as icing on the cake. Hummel keeps the sound stripped down and his band doesn’t hot dog the proceedings, while providing a solid and energized backup for Arnold’s expressive vocals and sturdy harp. While the world probably doesn’t need another version of his old friend Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man,” this one adds extra verses most blues fans haven’t heard. Arnold pays tribute to Little Walter by including a cover of Walter’s arrangement of “Me and Piney Brown.” He also brings a few tracks from his mentor, Sonny Boy Williamson I, with “Sonny Boy’s Jump” and “I Hear My Name Ringing.” Consider this a warm-up for the harp master’s unexpectedly successful 1993 Alligator comeback, but it’s a powerful session on its own that proves Arnold hadn’t lost a step since his ’60s heyday. – Hal Horowitz

Consolidated Mojo

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Album: Eldorado Cadillac
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 55:29
Size: 127.0 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1995
Art: Front

[3:15] 1. I Ain't Got You
[4:57] 2. Sunday Morning Blues
[3:45] 3. Don't Stay Out All Night
[4:31] 4. Lowdown Thing Or Two
[2:52] 5. Been Gone Too Long
[3:11] 6. Mama's Bitter Seed
[4:31] 7. Man Of Considerable Taste
[2:55] 8. How Long Can This Go On
[3:52] 9. Too Many Old Flames
[4:10] 10. Slick Chick
[3:27] 11. It Should Have Been Me
[5:14] 12. Sunny Road
[8:42] 13. Loving Mother For You

Arnold, a Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson acolyte who began his own career in Bo Diddley's band as a teenager, was the first Chicago blues star actually born in Chicago rather than the South. His on-again-off-again career has kept his vast talents from being fully discovered. He doesn't seem to have lost a step on this, the second of his two '90s comeback albums for Alligator. Billy Boy alternates between blowing wailing, vibrato-laden extended solos and crisp, punchy outbursts on harp, while his insinuating vocals remain sly and suggestive, full of nuance and fully convincing. The material includes remakes from his '50s glory days on Vee Jay such as "I Wish You Would" (which the Yardbirds popularized), the one-two punch of the emphatic "Mama's Bitter Seed" and the stomping "Man of Considerable Taste" and an epic revival of "Loving Mother for You," hilarious raunch (known under several different names) that he's also recorded before. With Bob Margolin and James Wheeler paired off on guitars, this is a contemporary blues album with distinct and tenacious roots.

Eldorado Cadillac

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