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Sonny Boy Williamson - Bummer Road (1964)

Track listing:
  1. She Got Next To Me [1958] 2:36
  2. Santa Claus [1960] 2:47
  3. Little Village [1957] 12:05
  4. Your Funeral And My Trial [1958] 2:27
  5. Lonesome Cabin [1960] 3:05
  6. I Can't Do Without You [1960] 2:50
  7. Temperature 110 [1960] 2:17
  8. Unseen Eye [1957] 3:01
  9. Keep Your Hands Out Of My Pockets [1958] 2:51
  10. Open Road [1960] 2:56
  11. This Old Life [1960] 2:36
  12. Your Imagination [1956] 3:00
  13. The Key To Your Door [1956] 2:33
  14. Unseeing Eye [1959] 3:00
  15. I Can't Be Alone [1964] 3:16

Notes

Size: 100 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChriosGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Of all the blues greats of the 40s, 50s and 60s, Aleck "Rice" Miller's output was of the most consistently high quality, and this tremendous album is one of the best blues LPs I have ever heard.

If you're not completely satisfied by the double-disc MCA/Chess anthology, "The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson", his four LPs "Down And Out Blues", "Help Me", "One Way Out" and "Bummer Road" are all must-own purchases, and this one ranks alongside 1959's "Down And Out Blues" as Miller's very best.

He is backed by superstar sidemen like Otis Spann, Luther Tucker, Fred Below, Robert "Jr." Lockwood, and Willie Dixon, and "Bummer Road" includes one of his least recognized, yet very best songs, the magnificent "Santa Claus" (raspiest vocal delivery ever), but virtually every track is a burner, really, including the classic, swinging "Your Funeral And My Trial", the sizzling "Temperature 110", the slow, smouldering "Open Road", and the legendary "Little Village", a full twelve minutes of takes, re-takes, and related cursing and arguing.

It was the reissue producer's decision to put this entire track on the first side of this collection, complete with a severe warning that the proceedings are not suitable for airplay (they still aren't).
Blues fans rushed to this track immediately, of course, and they were not disappointed in this highly entertaining (and enlightning) slice of recording-studio life that is revealed here. This is definitely one of the best examples of enlarging the scope of a musical track by adding auxiliary material that wasn't originally meant for release.

01. She Got Next To Me
02. Santa Claus
03. Little Village
04. Your Funeral & My Trial
05. Lonesome Cabin
06. I Can't Do Without You
07. Temperature 110
08. Unseen Eye
09. Keep Your Hand Out Of My Pocket
10. Open Road
11. This Old Life
+ Bonus