A much better, and longer (53 minutes), Burnside CD is "Burnside On Burnside", which was also recorded live but has all of the electricity of a live peformance. If you can afford only one Burnside CD then "Burnside On Burnside" is the one to get.

17 of 17 found the following review helpful:


This is Deep Blues, Bubba...  Dec 06, 2003 By Steven Hildebrand "Connoisseur of Chaos"
In his documentary "Deep Blues," eccentric producer Robert Palmer introduced us to a brand of blues that comes not from the Delta, but from the hill country region of northwest Mississippi. While it bears a vague resemblance to its lowlands cousin, Hill Country Blues is a whole 'nother critter altogether. It is, as Palmer describes in the liner notes of this CD, a "slashing, droning trance-blues," a "churning, jamming one-chord exercise in stamina and mass-hypnosis."

Too many recordings these days suffer from excessive post-production, processed until they've been homogenized, sterilized, or just plain castrated, but this ain't slicked-up big city blues, Bubba. Uh Uh. Robert Palmer is a blues bloodhound; he knows where the Real Blues live, and on this CD records them in their element as they happen. The results are, in a word, profound.

Burnside plays a wicked, ratty slide over the top of a hypnotic backbeat laid down by backup guitarist Kenny Brown, bassist Dwayne Burnside and drummer Calvin Jackson. Recorded live at a jukejoint owned by fellow bluesman Junior Kimbrough, "Too Bad Jim" is raw, nasty & compelling, coming through with all the fevered urgency of a jukejoint jam session.

".44 Pistol" is a raucous and swaggering counterstroke to the haunting cover of Lightnin' Hopkins "Death Bell Blues" which follows. Two other Hopkins tunes, "Short Haired Woman" and "Miss Glory B." get the Burnside treatment. "Fireman Ring The Bell" seems to borrow much from Bill Broonzy's "Rollin' & Tumblin'."

This is Deep Blues as it should be heard, bare and honest without any fancy production tricks to spoil it. Just buy it.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:


Stupendous.  Feb 24, 1999
Old style country blues cranked up to hard-rock volumes. No generic Chicago shuffle here, instead a truly strange and hypnotic Fred McDowell meets John Lee Hooker boogie. Brilliantly played and sung. Extremely raw and well produced blues. If you crank up this album it sounds like the band is in the room with you, making it up as they go along.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:


Pounding & Shaking All Over  Jul 11, 2001 By tin2x "tin2x"
If you think the blues is just depressing music, pick this disc up, pop it in your stereo and crank it. RL ROCKS!! This album is just one huge groove after another. It's hard, it's heavy, it's loud and it's the man's best work. If you have this you have the most essential music in his cannon. And you have something that will get your head bobbin' and your feets-a-stompin'! There is a reason this man is beloved by many young blues fans. The reason is this disc!

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Hypnotic - the Best  Jul 25, 2003 By Nels Lindberg
"Too Bad Jim" is old-fashioned. The rhythm is all - bulldozing everything in its inexorable drive to put you in a trance. And not some hippie, peace&love-type trance either. "Too Bad Jim" will inspire you to drink bad bourbon and curse around children. The comparisons to John Lee Hooker are apt; both drive the same way. But where Hooker's music has a liquid smoothness, Burnside is the sandpapery chin of tomorrow's hangover.

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