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Johnny Winter - Live Bootleg Series Volume Three Audio CD

A fair review of the Johnny Winter "Live Bootleg Series Volume Three" 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: Live Bootleg Series Volume Three
Rating:
Release Date: 2008-07-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Mojo Boogie 2: Stranger Blues 3: I Smell Trouble 4: Boot Hill 5: Stones In My Pathway 6: Penitentiary Blues 7: Highway 61 Revisited

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Still, I predict Winter will eventually be recognized as a Shakespear-like talent when some people in their field achieved greatness. Unfortunately, a society brainwashed by decades of pop culture have probably been rendered genetically incapable of appreciateing the intensity of Johnny's music, or anything else that is way above the common denominator. .


Insert your own superlatives...
And guess what? In many ways the four "Bootleg" albums which have come out so far are better than any of Winter's previous live albums, and better than almost all of his studio albums as well. Not a bootleg in the usual sense of the word, this album is of course an official release, produced by Johnny Winter himself. Nowhere else are the talents of Mr John Dawson Winter III so well displayed (except, perhaps, on the phenomenal, underexposed "White, Hot and Blue" album), and nowhere else can his prowess on the guitar be better appreciated.

This third volume in the series opens with a driving, eight-minute rendition of J. B. Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie", a study in blues n' boogie guitar, terrific vocals, and some gritty harmonica playing by bassist Jon Paris. And then comes a fiery "Stranger Blues", which everybody from Elmore James to Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee has had a crack at, all howling slide guitar and thundering drums. The slow, fifteen-minute "I Smell Trouble" opens with a 2 1/2-minute guitar intro (and a little bit of harmonica), and has two lenghty guitar solos in the middle, and guess what? It's not a minute too long. Rarely have I heard a guitarist soloing for so long without ever sounding repetitive or resorting to meaningless finger-tapping or other nonsense.

The fidelity on "Boot Hill" is a bit below par, but it's still a great, great performance. . . imagine a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Elmore James, powerful drumming and a dominant display by Winter on the guitar.
Robert Johnson's "Stones in my Passway" (or did Johnson mean "Pathway"?) is just Winter playing slide on his acoustic National steel guitar. Perhaps the highlight of the album, if it makes sense at all to talk about highlights on a record which is more or less 54 minutes of highlights.

You may know "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" from Robert Night Hawk's gritty performance of that song (titled "Cheating and Lying Blues", I believe) on the classic "Maxwell St" soundtrack. . . it's credited to blues and R&B guitarist Auburn "Pat" Hare, who didn't actually write it, but he did record it sometime in the mid-50s, and later, tragically, murdered his girlfriend and died in prison.
Johnny Winter does very well by Peter "Doctor" Clayton's classic tune, and then the album finally winds down with the only semi-disappointing track in sight, a slightly tuneless take on Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". It's as if Winter tries to do something other than just cover the song note for note, but it would have been better if he had stuck closer to Dylan's original melody, like he does on the "Second Winter" album where he originally recorded it.

Still, that one number is far from enough to pull this wonderful blues record down to "only" four stars. This is some of the most impressive blues guitar playing you'll ever hear, and if you've never heard Johnny Winter live before, you may be surprised at how good he actually is!
I much prefer Johnny Winter at his bluesiest, so bonus for me that he has decided "not to play no rock n' roll", as Fred McDowell would have put it, on his latest tour. And this is pretty much a pure blues record as well, if you can overlook the presence of the aforementioned "Highway 61 Revisited". . . a few rock n' roll numbers do show up on the "Bootleg" albums, but they are just that, few, and that's the way I like it. This is what Johnny Winter does best, and on this particular album he does it very, very well indeed.
Fans of Johnny Winter need this album. Hell, fans of electric blues guitar need this album.
Go, Johnny, go. . . !.


JOHNNY WINTER:THE LIVE BOOTLEG SERIES
THE LIVE BOOTLEG SERIES IS PERFECT FOR LONG TIME FANS,BECAUSE IT HELPS YOU RELIVE ALL THE GREAT CONCERTS YOU'VE SEEN OVER THE YEARS. YOU WILL NEVER BE DISSAPOINTED WITH A JOHNNY WINTER CD. IT ALSO HELPS NEWER FANS,BY LETTING THEM GET A TASTE OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS. ALL AND ALL A GREAT CD. . .


Johnny at his best
His playing is some of the best and the choice of songs on this cd are some of my favorites that he's done. Being a fan of Johnny's and seeing him live many times from the 70's on, this bootleg volume 3 cd is typical of the virtuosity of the man. This is definitely some of his best work. If you've never heard Johnny play before you're in for a real treat. He's also one of the top slide guitar players of all time and it shows on this cd. Buy it, you won't be dissapointed.


Johnny does it again
It stand right up with 1 and 2. Johnny winter is 3 for 3 on the bootleg series, great playing again and again by a true master.


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.

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