All things considered, it took till 2011 to have a Magic Sam thread.
Magic Sam Magette is one of those musicians whose listener's memory is really based on two albums, a collection of singles, some posthumous live records and his tragic demise which either blurs or expands on what was left in the debris. Take it as it is and forget the sad tale, it is some ghostly sounding blues.
― earlnash, Sunday, 10 July 2011 05:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have a collection of his Cobra recordings, and it's hot stuff. But most of the Cobra records I've heard haven't let me down. I've seen a cd of later? music, is it the same raw blues or slicker?
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 10 July 2011 06:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
West Side Soul and Black Magic are both pretty amazing LPs. You can't go wrong with those two. They do have better fidelity than those earlier Cobra sides, but they still have the big echo on Sam's voice, which adds that ethereal sound to the recordings. I would say that those two later records kind of like some of Buddy Guy's records from that time are kind of Chicago blues in the age of rock somewhat and a bit less gutbucket as the earlier 60s stuff - mostly as the harp is not there and prominent.
― earlnash, Sunday, 10 July 2011 06:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
i actualy find those delmark records kind of sloppy in the best possible way, which can't really be said of anything i've heard by buddy guy.
― by another name (amateurist), Sunday, 10 July 2011 08:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
man this guy is great!
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:41 (7 months ago) Permalink
Kind of mindblowing that he never used a pick.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 01:02 (7 months ago) Permalink
huh! yeah that's crazy, it's a pretty sharp attack for not using a pick..i'm reading this history of the blues book and checking out these guys whose names i vaguely recognized but aren't that well known
blind blake is really awesome too, way different obv but lots of guys like that...all the blind guys rule pretty much i've found
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 01:26 (7 months ago) Permalink
Magic Sam could really sing. His voice had a sweetness to it.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 03:24 (7 months ago) Permalink