Your favourite blues tunes

lustycourtier

 https://youtu.be/ZWZoX7Vszq0

 One of the greatest. 

Cryptid

Son House - Grinning In Your Face is a fave of mine too, already posted.

Love the feverish, hypnotic old blues tunes such as this:

mudslide73

Again, very difficult to choose but I'll go for:

Freddie King - I'm Tore Down (Federal version)



Fleetwood Mac - Jumpin' at Shadows from Live in Boston (Vol 1 Version)



B.B. King - It's My Own Fault from Live at the Regal.

thecolourbox

I really do think that kind of trance like hypnotic feel of the really old blues music was lost in the translation to the blues influenced rock like Clapton and the others who I can't quite think of the names just now. I kind of think of old blues music like "sitting down" music, where they are so totally in the zone of the song, completely zoned out of anything else and just singing and playing with their whole heart in that moment. Warts and all, timing is usually all over the place and all the better for it. Not the kind of organised perfectly timed attempt to tastefully play licks and solos with a few vocal sections in between. 

It just hits harder in these really old recordings

Cryptid

thecolourbox said:

I really do think that kind of trance like hypnotic feel of the really old blues music was lost in the translation to the blues influenced rock like Clapton and the others who I can't quite think of the names just now. I kind of think of old blues music like "sitting down" music, where they are so totally in the zone of the song, completely zoned out of anything else and just singing and playing with their whole heart in that moment. Warts and all, timing is usually all over the place and all the better for it. Not the kind of organised perfectly timed attempt to tastefully play licks and solos with a few vocal sections in between. 

It just hits harder in these really old recordings

Agreed. It's 'feel' above everything else. A self-contained dimension of direct, raw life experience. People copy the notes and timing in a bid to emulate the sound but for me this music is a direct expression of those life experiences of a certain time and culture - without that the core essence is missing. That's not to say I don't enjoy some blues-influenced rock... but it just ain't the same.  

Mississippi John Hurt is one of my faves - if I could go back and meet any of the greats it'd be him. He spells it out in the intro to this live version of Jesus On The Mainline...

rlw

thecolourbox said:

I really do think that kind of trance like hypnotic feel of the really old blues music was lost in the translation to the blues influenced rock like Clapton and the others who I can't quite think of the names just now. I kind of think of old blues music like "sitting down" music, where they are so totally in the zone of the song, completely zoned out of anything else and just singing and playing with their whole heart in that moment. Warts and all, timing is usually all over the place and all the better for it. Not the kind of organised perfectly timed attempt to tastefully play licks and solos with a few vocal sections in between. 

It just hits harder in these really old recordings

Totally agree.

MagicPigDetective

thecolourbox said:

I really do think that kind of trance like hypnotic feel of the really old blues music was lost in the translation to the blues influenced rock like Clapton and the others who I can't quite think of the names just now. I kind of think of old blues music like "sitting down" music, where they are so totally in the zone of the song, completely zoned out of anything else and just singing and playing with their whole heart in that moment. Warts and all, timing is usually all over the place and all the better for it. Not the kind of organised perfectly timed attempt to tastefully play licks and solos with a few vocal sections in between. 

It just hits harder in these really old recordings

Agreed, this is why I like Cedric Burnside .. quite rough, imperfections, but a lot of attitude. Guitars verge on African style desert blues.