Duster Bennett - Smiling Like I'm Happy

Size: 95,3 MB
Time: 41:37
File: MP3 @ 320K/s - vinyl
Released: 1968
Styles: blues
Art: Front, back

1. Worried Mind (3:05)
2. Life Is A Dirty Deal (4:03)
3. Country Jam (2:34)
4. Trying To Paint It In The Sky (3:42)
5. Times Like These (3:42)
6. My Lucky Day (2:47)
7. Got A Tongue In Your Head (3:23)
8. Jumping At Shadows (3:30)
9. 40 Minutes From Town (3:38)
10. Shame Shame Shame (2:42)
11. My Love Is Your Love (4:20)
12. Shady Little Baby (4:06)

One of the unsung heroes of British Blues, this one-man band was a fine harmonica player and singer, a decent guitarist, and a soulful enough singer to make one overlook his distinctly unblusy high voice. The opening ‘Worried Mind’ – just Duster on harp, guitar, voice, high-hat and kick drum – is a marvelously sloppy shuffle romp that holds its own with the ‘Fabulous Thunderbirds’ work ten year hence. On other tracks Bennett is backed by three-fourths of the original Fleetwood Mac, who provide simple, effecive support without stealing any limelight; solos are kept to a minimum. Original ‘My Lucky Day’ (with chromatic harmonica) and ‘Jumping at Shadows’ (which Mac would later cover) are absolutely outstanding, and Duster does justice to Majic Sam’s ‘My Love is Your Love’

Smiling Like I'm Happy MP3

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Duster Bennett - Bright Lights Big City (2 CD)

Album: Bright Lights Big City
Year: 2002
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:37 + 78:33
Size: 182,6 + 182,3 MB
Styles: Blues, roots
Scans: Full

CD 1:
1. San Francisco Bay Blues (2:38)
2. Beggin' Woman (4:29)
3. Glendora (3:13)
4. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now (3:58)
5. Georgina (2:37)
6. Blue Inside (2:55)
7. Worried Mind (2:43)
8. Jumpin' At Shadows (4:07)
9. Blues With A Feeling (2:52)
10. Ride With Your Daddy Tonight (2:41)
11. I've Been A Fool (3:18)
12. Love Me Like You Can (3:43)
13. Shady Little Baby (3:44)
14. Sleeping In The Ground (3:41)
15. I'm Going To Wind Up (2:00)
16. I'm Thinking About A Woman (6:17)
17. Trying So Hard To Forget (5:13)
18. Life Is What You Make It (3:13)
19. It's A Man Down There (Live) (5:10)
20. Further On Up The Road (Live) (4:31)
21. Fresh Country Jam (Live) (5:26)

CD 2:
1. Bright Lights, Big City (2:56)
2. Rock Of Ages Cleft For Me (3:44)
3. Morning Star (3:04)
4. Lone Wolf Blues (4:03)
5. Just Like A Fish (Live) (3:30)
6. I Choose To Sing The Blues (6:45)
7. Can't Nobody Hide From God (2:17)
8. Tell Me Baby (4:22)
9. I've Been Down So Long (3:20)
10. Blue River Rising (3:22)
11. Pride Of Place (3:04)
12. What'cha Gonna Do (2:36)
13. I Feel So Good (3:04)
14. Back In The Same Old Bag (5:27)
15. Walking Pork Chops (3:39)
16. Wasted Time (5:01)
17. Them That Got (3:09)
18. Summertime/Gone Gershwin (5:06)
19. All You Need Is Love (4:03)
20. My Own Will (5:52)

Duster Bennett was the real thing. This was a cat who was a one-man blues band and who had a profound influence on his best mate, Peter Green. He also wrote one of the greatest British blues songs ever, "Jumping at Shadows." This two-CD collection with liner notes by Neil Slaven contains 41 tracks of Bennett recordings beginning in 1963 and ending in 1969 (sadly, Bennett was killed in a car accident in 1976). Bennett, whose real name was Anthony, was a smoking harmonica player who could have taken Paul Butterfield in a throwdown, a fine guitarist, a one-man rhythm machine, and a monster kazoo player in addition to being an expressive if not overly gifted singer.

He was also a fine and prolific writer. The early stuff here, which is primarily home sessions, sounds wonderful and is full of a raw vigor and street savvy not even heard on Rolling Stones recordings in the early '60s. The mid-'60s material features Peter Green and other Fleetwood Mac members, such as on "Jumping at Shadows," which appeared on his first Blue Horizon disc.

The second disc is made up of some sessions with the Mac and highlights Bennett's increasing proficiency in the studio. He was one of the few British blues musicians who could get all the emotion from a live song to happen for him in the studio. His recordings are downright exciting. Check out "Rock of Ages Cleft for Me," "Lone Wolf Blues," "Blue River Rising," "I Feel So Good," and the amazing "Wasted Time," which virtually bleeds blue. This is indispensable for anyone even remotely interested in Brit blues - as necessary as John Mayall or early Mac. Pick it up and be amazed. /Thom Jurek, AllMusic

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Duster Bennett - Jumpin' At Shadows

Year: 1995
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:25
Size: 142,0 MB
Styles: Blues, roots
Scans: Full

1. Morning Star (2:40)
2. I've Got To Be With You Tonight (5:15)
3. California Zephyr (2:40)
4. Blue River Rising (4:02)
5. Cold Chills (4:37)
6. I've Learnt To Love (Since I've Been With You) (3:21)
7. Bright Light Big City (2:59)
8. Worried Mind (2:45)
9. I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl (3:48)
10. Georgina (2:38)
11. Ride With Your Daddy Tonight (2:43)
12. Jumpin' At Shadows (4:09)
13. Love Me Like You Can (3:45)
14. A Long Way To Go (2:56)
15. Lone Wolf Blues (4:03)
16. Fresh Country Jam (3:05)
17. Sweet Sympathy (2:49)
18. The Rolling Stone (3:01)

Though Duster Bennett recorded just four albums before his death in 1976, his entire career was spent in front of a microphone, either recording home demos for his own reference or going into the studio with various friends and admirers. The fruits of these sessions would then be taken home and added to a massive pile of unlabelled, undated tapes that his widow, Stella Bennett, finally turned over to the Indigo label in 1994. Over the next seven years, six full albums would be created from this treasure trove, between them documenting Bennett's creativity at every stage of its development.

The first in the series, Jumpin' at Shadows, admits without apology to the uncertainty of its contents. Certainly some songs date from Bennett's years of greatest popularity, the late '60s when he was signed to the so-influential Blue Horizon label - among the highlights is a lovely solo rendition of the title track, a song otherwise familiar from the electrifying rendition cut with Peter Green in 1968. Another song, "Morning Star," would develop into the 1969 single "If You Could Hang Your Washing Like You Could Hang Your Lines."

Other material can be traced to the early to mid-'70s, as Bennett concentrated more on live work than the studio. What is not in doubt is the sheer joy with which Bennett approached the blues. Whether accompanying himself on harp and guitar, or blasting with a band of super-sessionman friends, there is an honesty and a delight that words cannot express. As Stella's own contributions to the liner notes point out, "Duster was what he sang and played. His music says all there was to say about him - I'm so happy it's still saying it." /Dave Thompson, AllMusic

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Duster Bennett Feat. Peter Green - Out In The Blue

Year: 1995
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:01
Size: 143,2 MB
Styles: Blues
Scans: Full

1. Worried Mind (2:51)
2. I've Been A Fool (3:20)
3. I Wonder, I Wonder (Feat. Top Topham) (7:21)
4. Down The Road (Feat. Top Topham) (6:34)
5. Trying So Hard To Forget (Feat. Peter Green) (5:15)
6. Kind Hearted Woman (Feat. Peter Green) (2:30)
7. Coming, I'm Coming (Feat. Peter Green) (1:44)
8. I'm Thinking About A Woman (Feat. Peter Green) (6:19)
9. Two Harps (Feat. Peter Green) (1:40)
10. Everybody's Got A Friend But Me (3:17)
11. Blues With A Feeling (2:56)
12. As Years Roll By (Instrumental) (3:21)
13. I Don't Wanna Fuss (3:35)
14. Sleep With Myself (4:11)
15. Losing Love (3:50)
16. Everyday (3:11)

Odds and ends, mostly from 1966-68, with a few tracks from 1975 and 1976, the year Bennett was killed in a car wreck. Two tracks feature fine lead guitar by Duster's longtime friend (and original Yardbird) Top Topham - home tapes worthy of inclusion if only for Top's amazing and expressive vibrato.

Five tracks feature Peter Green, including a demo of his "Trying So Hard to Forget" that's especially moody and the fascinating snippet "Two Harps" instrumental duet (unaccompanied harmonicas, as the title implies), showing the similarity in the pair's harp styles. The final cut, "Everyday," from 1976, sets one of Bennett's finest vocal performances against a string backdrop. What a contrast to the one-man band shouting "Worried Mind" - and it works. /Dan Forte, AllMusic

Additional info: Tracks 13-15 are credited to the band "Thirty Days" featuring Duster Bennett (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Keith Randall (vocals, guitar, harmonica): Richard Ford (vocals, bass, drums).

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Duster Bennett - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (2-Disc Set)

It turns out that Britain's best bluesman in the so-called white blues boom of the 1960s wasn't Eric Clapton, Peter Green, John Mayall, Eric Burden, Stevie Winwood or any of the other obvious contenders. It was Tony Bennett, or Tony "Duster" Bennett to be exact, a one-man band who combined a ragged and raw punk energy with sly songwriting skills to produce a body of work unlike any other in Europe or anywhere else. Bennett played seemingly every instrument imaginable, from kazoo to piano (sometimes all at once), and his voice, although technically not impressive, was uniquely his own and he somehow made it a completely expressive vehicle. Duster released a handful of albums and some scattered singles in his lifetime (he died in a car accident in 1976 when he was just 28 years old), most of them for Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon Records, and although his recorded work was critically well received, he never enjoyed commercial success.

This two-disc package includes all three of Bennett's LPs for Blue Horizon (Smiling Like I'm Happy, the live set Bright Lights and 12dbs) plus the various singles he released for the label between 1968 and 1970, and it makes for a steady delight, full of propulsive songs that continually take sudden, quirky turns. Keeping time on a kick drum and hi-hat while churning out a ragged, arresting rhythm on guitar and interjecting wild, horn-like harmonica figures between his vocal lines, Bennett projects an immediate, combustible energy that is impossible to ignore. His shuffle rhythms may be drawn from Jimmy Reed and Slim Harpo (he covers songs by both men here), but he amps things up from swampy laconic to extremely urgent and creates a very real kinetic tension in the process. But his hidden strength is in his songwriting, which is full of wry humor and surprisingly sly phrasal turns that mark him as a true original. Songs like "I'm Gonna Wind Up Ending Up Or I'm Gonna End Up Winding Up with You" and "If You Could Hang Your Washing Like You Can Hang Your Lines" are unlike anything else in the blues world, and for all their apparent syntactic complexity, they unwind naturally and easily. "Jumping at Shadows," which was covered by the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, may well be the best original blues song to ever come out of Britain, while "Trying to Paint It in the Sky" is simply a great song by any standards. Other highlights on this wonderful collection include the racing "Worried Mind," the punk-paced and raw "Jumpin' for Joy," the country-tinged "Slim's Tune," and the blistering attack of "40 Minutes from Town." This guy was really something special. Bennett had his own home studio and turned out scores of demo recordings, many of which have been compiled on several fascinating albums from Indigo Records (I Choose to Sing the Blues, Comin' Home, Blue Inside, Jumpin' at Shadows and Shady Little Baby). He also recorded an album of funk, soul and blues for the Australian label Toadstool called Fingertips. Released in 1975, Fingertips turned out to be Bennett's last official studio album. Castle/Sanctuary's double-disc Bright Lights Big City from 2003 draws highlights from all of these sources and makes a good introduction to the full range and all too brief career of this amazing musician. ~Steve Leggett

Album: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:33
Size: 173.0 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2007

[2:22] 1. Hard To Resist
[2:47] 2. It's A Man Down There
[3:21] 3. Things Are Changing
[3:00] 4. Worried Mind
[3:58] 5. Life Is A Dirty Deal
[2:28] 6. Country Jam
[3:36] 7. Trying To Paint It In The Sky
[3:37] 8. Times Like These
[2:40] 9. My Lucky Day
[3:17] 10. Got A Tongue In Your Head!
[3:25] 11. Jumping At Shadows
[3:32] 12. 40 Minutes From Town
[2:37] 13. Shame, Shame, Shame
[4:13] 14. My Love Is Your Love
[4:03] 15. Shady Little Baby
[2:34] 16. Raining In My Heart
[3:01] 17. Jumpin' For Joy
[3:29] 18. God Save The Queen Introductions She Lived Her Life Too Fast
[4:19] 19. Just Like A Fish
[4:21] 20. What A Dream
[4:43] 21. Just Like I Treat You
[3:59] 22. Talk To Me

The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Disc 1)

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Album: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:23
Size: 179.4 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[3:16] 1. I'm The One
[5:55] 2. I Wonder If You Know (How It Is)
[6:04] 3. My Babe She's My Baby
[3:34] 4. Honest I Do
[4:45] 5. Bright Lights Big City
[4:51] 6. Fresh Country Jam
[2:53] 7. I'm Gonna Wind Up Ending Up Or I'm Gonna End Up Winding You Up With You
[4:11] 8. Rock Of Ages Cleft For Me
[3:26] 9. Slim's Tune
[2:55] 10. I Choose To Sing The Blues
[2:57] 11. Sugar Beet
[3:04] 12. I Love My Baby
[2:47] 13. Vitamin Pills
[3:50] 14. Everyday
[2:27] 15. Act Nice And Gentle
[2:53] 16. Woman Without Love
[2:16] 17. That Mean Old Look
[2:43] 18. Sweeter Than Sugar
[4:07] 19. On Reconsideration
[3:21] 20. Hill St. Rag
[2:25] 21. If You Could Hang Your Washing Like You Can Hang Your Lines
[3:32] 22. I Want You To Love Me

The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (Disc 2)

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