Buddy Guy
Stone Crazy!
Alligator
Junior Wells
Pleading The Blues
Evidence |
October 31, 1979 was a particularly productive day
for Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. While overseas on a
tour, the pair spent a day in the studio in France
recording a pair of discs…..one you’re probably
aware of (Guy’s Stone Crazy!) and one you
should know about (Well’s Pleading The Blues,
featuring Guy). Both used Guy’s brother Phil on
rhythm guitar and his band, which included J. W.
Williams on bass and Ray “Killer” Allison on drums.
While touring in France, promoter Didier Tricard
asked Guy if he was interested in making an album.
Guy agreed, on the condition (half-jokingly) that
Tricard name the record label after Guy’s mother,
Isabell. In the middle of the tour, Guy stepped into
the studio with his brother and band in tow. It had
been seven years since Guy’s previous release, the
album for Atco with Junior Wells, Eric Clapton, Dr.
John, and others. Unlike that effort, Guy had total
artistic control and freedom for this album, which
was originally released on the Isabel label as
Blues Giant.
Recorded in a single day, this was probably Guy’s
rawest, most honest recording to date….some say
ever. From the opening notes of “I Smell A Rat,” the
words that spring to mind are “organized chaos.”
It’s about as close as anyone has come to capturing
his appeal on record. The second cut is a
modernization of Guy’s Chess side, “Stone Crazy,”
retitled “Are You Losing Your Mind?” The balance is
just right here, with his razor sharp leads and his
vocals on the edge of over-the-top.
“You’ve Been Gone Too Long” is a straight-ahead
rocker and probably the least interesting track
here. Much better is “She’s Out There Somewhere,”
which settles into a nice groove. “Outskirts of
Town” is another standout, a slow burner with
another long guitar intro and barely-in-control
vocal, as is the fiery “When I Left Town,” which
threatens to blow the door off the hinges.
Alligator Records picked up the disc for American
release in 1981, and changed the title to Stone
Crazy! It has been one of the label’s
best-selling discs since that time and remains one
of Buddy Guy’s finest hours in the studio.
Wells’ Pleading The Blues was recorded on the
same day with the same band. As unrestrained and
manic as Buddy Guy was on his own session, he was
incredibly understated and controlled while
providing sympathetic backing to Wells, who was at
or near his peak on this session.
The nearly eight-minute title track opens the disc
and it sets the tone perfectly, a smoldering cut
blending Wells’ reserved pleading, Phil Guy’s
crystal clear rhythm guitar, and Guy’s scurrying
fills. You almost hate to hear it come to a close.
Next up is a tight reworking of Tampa Red’s “It
Hurts Me Too.” Wells shows he’s adept at soul/blues
as well with a sparkling cover of Brook Benton’s
“I’ll Take Care of You.” On these two tracks, you
really experience the wordless interplay between Guy
and Wells. These two had been together over a decade
at the time of this recording and had it down to a
science.
“Quit Teasing My Baby” is another standout, a
swinging track with Wells almost scats the verses
and Guy laying down the jazziest guitar this side of
Wes Montgomery. There are also a couple of tracks,
“Cut Out The Lights,” and “I Smell Something,” where
Wells does his James Brown routine. These tracks
aren’t as compelling as the straight blues, but
Wells does a good job on them (many older fans say
Wells was doing James Brown long before James Brown
was).
Not enough can be said about the rhythm section of
Phil Guy, J. W. Williams, and Ray Allison. These had
to have been two totally different sessions
mood-wise, but they adroitly handle both, seemingly
without breaking a sweat. Tricard appears to have
been the perfect producer, wisely turning everything
on and getting out of the way. Pleading The Blues
is an underrated classic that deserves more
attention than it’s received.
Oddly enough, Pleading The Blues didn’t see a
release in the United States until 1993, when
Evidence Records reissued it. Evidence did blues
fans a great service throughout the ’90s by
reissuing dozens of recordings that had either never
been released domestically or suffered from poor
distribution upon initial release.
Neither of these blues icons made another recording
for over a decade. After years of toiling in the
shadows of many of his protégés, Guy finally saw
some mainstream success in the early ’90s when he
signed with Silvertone Records. Wells recorded
several discs with Telarc, finally hitting his
stride with them a couple of years before his death
in 1998. However, these two releases offer a great
opportunity to hear both of these artists at their
creative peaks.
--- Graham Clarke