Live the Real Deal
Info
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Label |
Silvertone BMG/Jive/Novus |
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Released |
April 16, 1996 |
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Original year of release |
1996 |
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Recorded |
1994 |
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Total playing time |
62:56 |
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Producer |
Eddie Kramer |
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Buddy Guy |
Guitar, Vocals |
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Lew Del Gatto |
Baritone Sax |
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Johnnie Johnson |
Acoustic Piano |
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Paul Ossola |
Electric Bass |
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Shawn Pelton |
Drums |
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Leon Pendarvis |
Organ |
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Lenny Pickett |
Tenor Sax |
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G.E. Smith |
Guitar |
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Ron Tooley |
Trumpet |
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Dennis Wilson |
Trombone |
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George Young |
Alt Sax |
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Tracks
written by |
playing time |
||
| 1. |
Buddy Guy/Willie Dixon |
4:11 |
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| 2. |
R. Nighthawk |
7:49 |
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| 3. |
E. James |
3:57 |
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| 4. |
Robert Geddins |
7:40 |
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| 5. |
R. Alfred |
13:02 |
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| 6. |
Buddy Guy |
7:41 |
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| 7. |
Eurreal Montgomery |
6:58 |
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| 8. |
D. Malone |
2:36 |
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| 9. |
Willie Dixon |
5:48 |
Reviews
Microsoft MusicCentral (Fred Goodman)
Electric blues guitar legend Buddy Guy has made many great records
throughout his storied career, but this isn't one of them. Guy has always
been a touchstone for white rock guitarists - he's recorded live with
Eric Clapton, and along with harpist Junior Wells cut a superb album
in the '70s with the J. Geils Band providing backup. Indeed, the Wells/Guy
collaborations of the '60s provided a model and much of the material
for John Belushi and Dan Akroyd's Blues Brothers act. Considering the
commercial success others have had mining Guy's vein, it isn't surprising
that the guitarist has become so slick himself. Much of this album is
cut live at his Chicago club, Buddy Guy's Legends, and the material
is familiar and played rote. In an age when the blues are packaged -
national chains like House of the Blues have applied the Hard Rock Cafe
formula to the music, making blues clubs as accessible and formulaic
as a Holiday Inn - there's no reason why an originator like Guy shouldn't
be able to get a taste. But there's something unsettling about the album:
less thought seems to have been put into the music than the album's
merchandising ads for "Real Deal Gear": shirts, posters, caps,
and videos. The album's title promises that it's live, that it's a deal,
and that it's real. You'll have to settle for two out of three.
All-Music guide (Bill Dahl)
As close as Buddy Guy's ever likely to come to recapturing the long-lost
Chess sound. Cut live at his popular Chicago nightspot, Buddy Guy's
Legends, with guitarist G.E. Smith's horn-leavened Saturday Night Live
Band and pianist Johnnie Johnson in lush support, Guy revisits his roots
on sumptuous readings of "I've Got My Eyes on You," "Ain't
That Lovin' You," "My Time After Awhile," and "First
Time I Met the Blues." No outrageous rock-based solos or Cream/Hendrix/Stevie
Ray homages; this is the Buddy Guy album that purists have salivated
for the last quarter century or so.
Amazon (Geoffrey Himes)
Silvertone Records has done a smart job of resurrecting Buddy Guy's
career. When the label signed the Chicago blues guitar master in 1990,
the 54-year-old legend hadn't had an American release in nine years.
Silvertone introduced him to a new audience by having him play duets
with such rock-star admirers as Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Jeff
Beck on the 1991 album, Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. In 1996 the
label unleashed the hardcore Buddy Guy stretching out on vintage blues
numbers in a live setting on Live! The Real Deal. The payoff is not
only a terrific blues album but also an album built on the kind of financial
foundation that will insure many more to come.
Dirty Linen
Since the 60s, Buddy Guy has been justifiably regarded as one of
the Chicago blues scene's most dynamic performers, as well as one of
its hottest blues guitarists. The Real Deal, his first live recording
since his resurgence of popularity of the last few years, showcases
both of these strengths to good effect. Recorded at Guy's own South
Loop nightclub, Legends, last year, he is backed by guitarist par excellence
G.E. Smith and the big, horn-laden band Smith led for years on Saturday
Night Live. This seemingly incongruous pairing works surprisingly well;
Smith works the same magic he did during his stint with Bob Dylan's
road band, centering Guy's performances and providing a discipline and
focus that his shows sometimes lack. Guy gets right into it with a flurry
of distorted notes on the opening rocker "I've Got My Eye on You."
He shows his softer, more soulful side on the slow blues, "Sweet
Black Angel." "My Time After Awhile" goes from a slow
simmer to a full boil, with Guy testifying with both voice and guitar.
The musicians stretch way out on the thirteen minute "I've Got
My Eye On You," which also prominently features Leon Pendarvis'
jazzy B-3 organ. The disc closes with a distinctive arrangement of "Ain't
That Lovin' You," starting out with a swinging jazz band arrangement
led by the band's superb horn section that leads right into a down and
dirty reprise on which Guy lets loose with all his six string ammunition.
This fine live album should convince even the most skeptical critics
that, on a good night, Buddy Guy is one of the most exciting live performers
around.
Blues Access (Steve Knopper)
Buddy Guy's shows follow standard '90s blues practice: The songs/
start with verses and choruses but head quickly towards the jam. The
structure is hazardous for mediocre players -- their ideas aren't interesting
enough to hold up two hours of performing.
Of course, Guy is no mediocre player. Every few minutes, his fingers
explode, and it's at those moments that The Real Deal is rescued from
You-Had-to-Be-There-Land. During "I've Got News for You,"
a 13-minute song with band solos all around, Guy's fast plucking sounds
like a sonic machine gun. His low, moaning strings give satisfying punctuation
to every verse of his signature "First Time I Met the Blues."
The Real Deal band includes other powerful weapons, including the accommodating
ex-Chuck Berry pianist Johnnie Johnson and former "NBC Saturday
Night Live" and Bob Dylan guitarist G.E. Smith. Recorded live at
the Chicago nightclub Buddy Guy's Legends, the disc is full of great
Willie Dixon and Etta James songs/, but it's a player's record. The best
tracks are the slow ones -- Guy, an underrated singer, moans softly
in Robert Nighthawk's "Sweet Black Angel (Black Angel Blues),"
and his clipped solos smoothly complement his voice.
On "Damn Right I've Got the Blues," Guy sounds hungry and
impatient, like he can't wait to flex his fingers above Paul Ossola's
wickedly funky bass line. This version outruns the original because
the focus is on the instruments instead of the lyrics: "Damn right
I've got the blues, from my head down to my shoes" isn't exactly
at the top of the blues lyrical canon. But Guy shouts, "Make it
so funky I can smell it," and he succeeds.
What's missing is raw passion. Compared to Stone Crazy! -- a disc where
Guy decides to blow away every guitarist who has ever played the blues
-- The Real Deal is as safe and calm as a lukewarm hot tub. Still, if
Buddy Guy were playing the blues outside my tub, I'd take a nice, long
dip.
San Diego Tribune (Michael Kinsman)
Every discussion of modern-day blues guitarists finds its way to
Buddy Guy,
because the electricity and passion in his music are boundless. He is
today's link between the electric-guitar explorations of Elmore James
and the ferocious rock guitarists who stand in line to be The Next Big
Thing.
This hourlong live recording shows why Guy has been an inspiration to
Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others who have vied to identify
themselves as blues masters. Guy's guitar and vocals pierce and scintillate,
and no one better understands the tension between supercharged guitar
runs and a primal blues beat.
He seems to almost effortlessly extend a spiritual bridge from the flowing,
Junior Parker-style "First Time I Got The Blues" to Elmore
James' raw "Talk To Me Baby" to the sophistication of B.B.
King's "Sweet Black Angel."
Backed by the dutiful but uninspiring G.E. Smith & the Saturday
Night Live Band, Guy also blazes through his own "Damn Right I've
Got The Blues," a shimmering version of Willie Dixon's "Let
Me Love You Baby," and "My Time After Awhile," the dazzling
emotional workout he has been playing for three decades.
Extra Info
This album was nominated for a 1997
Grammy Award for Best Contemporay Blues Album.
The album is almost completely recorded in the Legends
on the 24th and 25th of May 1994. Only 'Ain't that lovin' you' is recorded
at the Irving Plaza in New York.