Fretplay.com Johnny Winter CD reviews Johnny Winter guitar tabs Johnny Winter CD reviews Johnny Winter tabs The Progressive Blues Experiment


Johnny Winter - The Progressive Blues Experiment Audio CD

A fair review of the Johnny Winter "The Progressive Blues Experiment" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Johnny Winter reviews here, or go back to the Johnny Winter tabs.

Johnny Winter Band: Johnny Winter
Title: The Progressive Blues Experiment
Rating:
Release Date: 2005-02-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Rollin' and Tumblin' 2: Tribute to Muddy 3: I Got Love If You Want It 4: Bad Luck and Trouble 5: Help Me 6: Mean Town Blues 7: Broke Down Engine 8: Black Cat Bone 9: It's My Own Fault 10: Forty-Four

Excellet
Listen to blues up to around 1967, and it was all recorded live and with vaccuum tubes. Not all blues is the same. Muddy, the Wolf, the whole gang recorded those sides, and the songs are classics, no debate.

But as rock grew: transisters replaced tubes and electric basses ursurped uprights. The musicans got better--don't forget, everyone was trying to outdue one another, and aspire to the standards set by the mighty Beatles. This was not fragmented. Everyone was chasing the shooting star.

Don't be fooled by the title of this album. Johnny Winter did not take the blues here and make Progressive Blues Experiment some mutated jazz suite or psychadelic 12-bar treusure hunt. "Progressive," no, "Experment," NOT! That was marketing for the era.

But fantastic, well recorded Chicago blues is what we have here, and trust me, it is all you need. Winter and his band made some of the meanist, nastiest, straight whiskey blues here, and you'll want to drink every drop.

This stuff has great live ehcho that bursts from the speakers. Winter's runs are fluid as they are gritty, and grit we have here in surplus. Red Turner--could you pray for a better name of a bluesman?--has rock solid drumming.

Tommy Shannon may be the best bassist in straight blues. He has a heavy, Fender Percision sound which provides all the bottom. He pops, he sides, he drags sustained notes across the music, with the ressonence of the best players. With all this, he still keeps his work basic, making something both completely simple and complently elegant.

There is a reason Stevie Ray Vaughn Hired Shannon, and Double Trouble may have technically been the best blues band ever.


This is pretty close.
.


The other half of the truth
Which is too bad -- the Columbia LPs were all over, but to hear where Johnny started you needed this to go along with the major releases. Back in the vinyl days, this was a tough LP to find.

This is now rectified. Now we can hear just what "Mean Town Blues" has always been about, and more besides. The band is tight, the sound is full, and Johnny was on hte verge of overnight success. Turn it up! 1968 never sounded so good :).


at last, the best one
In fact it sounds like a modern comeback album. When you put this on your player you won't believe you're listening to something that came before Johnny Winter's official Columbia debut in 1969. The production and the stripped down Trio format would make a great release by today's standards. With the great Tommy Shannon from SRV & Double Trouble on bass and Uncle John Turner on drums you get an unrelentless set of high-powered Texas blues. At times sounding more focused and heavier than the self titled release that came after. This album passed a lot of people up when it was first released. This is essential for your Winter collection,after multiple listens I'm starting to think it's his best work.


Mean guitar!
Johnny bridges the gap between blues and 70's rock and roll. Great record, a must for any blues/rock lover. My favorites are Tribute to Muddy (the best on the LP), Help Me, Got love if You Want it, and Fourty Four. Special mention to Mean Town Blues, which he nails.

Not the best recording quality, but I can just see JW tearing into his Fender XII with the six string set up.

Great album!.


A must have blues album
Johnny Winter made his name primarily with blues rock, with his name getting wide recognition through his Columbia releases. From the opening riffs of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" you know right away that this is a blues album you want to keep. But this album is a quintessential title for any blues collection. It gets dirtier with the second song, "Tribute to Muddy," and Johnny Winter would go on to have a few collaborations with Muddy Waters. One of my favorite cuts is "Mean Town Blues," which appears elsewhere on his Woodstock appearance (and not a really good example either) and a few other albums, although his other recorded live performances of this song didn't capture the rawness of the title from this album. And that is what makes this album such a classic; it's rawness, the dirty sound, like it's all one take and there it is, take it or leave it. But after listening to it, you won't want to leave it.


You can see a complete list of all Johnny Winter discography, or go back to the Johnny Winter tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

Search guitar tabs

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
[ Search tabs | Guitar tabs | Bass tabs |
Easy guitar tabs | Guitar solo tabs |
Acoustic guitar tabs | Guitar chords |
How to read guitar tabs ]
Forum topics
Music forums
- Bands and artists - Songwriting and lyrics - Tablature talk - Promote your band
Instrument forums
- Guitar basics - Gear & accessories - Bass guitar
Community
- The pit - Site Feedback - Reviews
[ User survey | About us | Privacy statement ]