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A MAN AND THE BLUES
(1968)
Key Tracks: "Just Playing My Axe," "Mary Had a
Little Lamb"
Quick Take: A Man and the Blues, his
Vanguard Records debut and first proper album (previous titles on
Chess Records had been singles compilations), is drenched in
Stratocaster-ignited fire; highlights include a soulful crack at
"Money (That's What I Want)," the playful "Mary Had a Little Lamb,"
and "Just Playing My Axe," an extension of Keith Richard's
signature "Satisfaction" riff.
A Man and the Blues (Vanguard)
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THIS IS BUDDY GUY
(1968)
Key Tracks: "Fever," "Knock On Wood"
Quick Take: The live This Is Buddy Guy is
fun if not quite as consistent as A Man and the Blues.
Guy's fretwork is a given, but his voice really impresses, as his
soul-fueled runs through "Fever" and "Knock on Wood" are full of
sex and pathos.
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HOLD THAT PLANE
(1972)
Key Tracks: "I'm Ready," "Come See About Me"
Quick Take: Early in his career, Guy had trouble
with rhythm sections — essentially, they had trouble keeping
up with his fireworks. The plodding backing band hurts the
otherwise solid Hold That Plane, which features a
scorching "Come See About Me" and a sparse take on "My Time After a
While."
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BUDDY GUY AND JUNIOR WELLS PLAY
THE BLUES (1972)
Key Tracks: "Fever," "Knock On Wood"
Quick Take: Touring with harmonica player Junior
Wells in the '70s, Guy added R&B licks and chunks of rock to
his trick bag. Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues
features indebted guests like Eric Clapton and Dr. John. Some of
the material is inconsistent, but the interplay between Wells and
Guy (especially on "T-Bone Shuffle") is crackling with raw
energy.
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues (Rhino)
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I WAS WALKIN' THROUGH THE WOODS
(1974)
Key Tracks: "Watch Yourself," "My Time After a
While"
Quick Take: Guy was at the apogee of his power
when he recorded for Chess and has been mightily diluted and
commercialized ever since. The anthology album contains some of the
rarest, most developmental material available in the Chess
archives. If you want to hear some of the minor, sparsely-recorded
blues practitioners of the late forties (with the likes of Little
Walter, Jimmy Rogers and Willie Dixon as sidemen) give this one a
listen.
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STONE CRAZY!
(1981)
Key Tracks: "Fever," "Knock On Wood"
Quick Take: Guy recorded less and less frequently
during the '70s and '80s, though his intermittent outings during
that era found his stun-power relatively undiminished. Stone
Crazy! is a live set full of righteous wailing and incendiary
bluster, especially on the bile-filled "I Smell a Rat" and
"Outskirts of Town."
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SLIPPIN' IN
(1994)
Key Tracks: "7-11," "Shame, Shame, Shame"
Quick Take: Beginning with the Grammy-winning 1991
Silvertone set Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, however,
Guy's comeback began in earnest. Though previous albums featured a
multitude of guests, Slippin' In is Guy's show from start
to finish, with a crack band including Chuck Berry pianist Johnnie
Johnson and Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble rhythm section,
Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon. Though the production is a little
more scrubbed than most of Guy's past work, the guitar blasts on
"Shame Shame Shame" and "7-11" are hot, proving Guy wasn't
mellowing with age — in fact, he was getting better.
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HEAVY LOVE
(1998)
Key Tracks: "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "I Just
Want to Make Love To You"
Quick Take: The refreshingly modern, if uneven,
Heavy Love was nothing if not eclectic, offering
everything from jump blues to soul to funk to psychedelic hard rock
to a ZZ Top cover ("I Need You Tonight"). Though it may seem
gimmicky, the guest spot by Johnny Lang on "Midnight Train" is an
excellent sparring match, while "Saturday Night Fish Fry" is a
blistering slice of old school.
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SWEET TEA
(2001)
Key Tracks: "Done Got Old," "Tramp"
Quick Take: Sweet Tea was something
completely different, returning Guy to his Southern roots for an
inspired — and frequently chilling — collection of
swampy hill-country blues numbers cherry-picked from the Fat Possum
songbook. Spooky fare like Junior Kimbrough's "Done Got Old" and
James "T-Model" Ford's juke-joint shakin' (as opposed to big-city
nightclub rockin') "Look What All You Got" aren't Guy's normal
stock in trade, but he wears it all convincingly well.
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BLUES SINGER
(2003)
Key Tracks: "Hard TIme Killing Floor," "Lonesome
Home Blues"
Quick Take: The acoustic Blues Singer is
an even more back-to-basics affair than Sweet Tea, with
many of the songs featuring just Guy, his guitar, and those
devastating "Hard Time Killing Floor," "Lonesome Home Blues."
Though it is Guy as his most subdued, his intricate fret work and
whiskey-soaked voice make Blues Singer can't-look-away
compelling.