Second Winter is the third studio album by Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter, released in 1969. The original plan was to edit the songs from the recording session into one album but it was later thought that all the recordings were good enough to be released. The album was released as a “three-sided” LP, with a blank fourth side on the original vinyl. Two more songs, “Tell the Truth” and “Early in the Morning” were left unfinished but released on a 2004 re-release of the album. (by wikipedia)
Just as Jimi Hendrix transformed Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower into a veritable tour de force, Johnny Winter put his own unique Texas-born stamp upon Highway 61 Revisited. Fitted with a rampaging rhythmic groove — one which Dylan himself later would adapt for his own concert renditions of the tune — as well as a string of searing slide guitar licks, the song served as the centerpiece of Second Winter, an 11-song, three-sided album released in late 1969 that many still consider to be the finest studio effort of Winter’s career. Indeed, save for a trio of adrenaline-soaked, but otherwise unremarkable interpretations of tunes by Little Richard (Slippin’ and Slidin’ and Miss Ann) and Chuck Berry (Johnny B. Goode), there was nary a misstep on the collection, which largely featured a thunderous display of blues, rock, and psychedelia that sounds as fresh and inspired today as it did when it was originally released.
In particular, a cover of Percy Mayfield’s Memory Pain was rendered as a raw, blistering meltdown of blazing guitar, while the frenzied assault of keyboards and electric mandolin that graced Winter’s I’m Not Sure as well as the heavy turbulence that propelled Dennis Collins’ The Good Life offered further proof that Second Winter was anything but a sophomore slump. Even the famed guitarist’s own compositions — the rousing swing of I Hate Everybody, the rapid-fire charge of Hustled Down in Texas, the burning bite of I Love Everybody, and the improvisational freak-out of Fast Life Rider — were marked improvements over those on his self-titled debut.
In addition to the pair of studio outtakes — a sturdy romp through Louis Jordan’s Early in the Morning and a Booker T and the MG’s-meets-Ray Charles instrumental cruise through Lowman Pauling’s Tell the Truth — that have been appended to the recent reissue of Second Winter, the album’s reincarnation also includes a second disc of mind-blowing material, which was taken from a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April 1970. Full of raging energy, the 72-minute event highlighted Winter’s ability to reinterpret his material with extraordinary skill and endless imagination. The scorched earth, screaming guitar solos that fueled Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me; the stampeding, almost out of control fury that provided the thrust for Johnny B. Goode; and the onslaught of pyrotechnics that colored J. B. Lenoir’s Mama, Talk to Your Daughter merely set the stage for what was to come. The slow, churning cover of B.B. King’s It’s My Own Fault erupted with an anguished cry as Winter sprayed notes that fell like tears upon the rumbling groove provided by his backing band, while Mean Town Blues became a showpiece for the guitarist, who not only unleashed a blast of incendiary riffs over the song’s chugging cadence but also seamlessly interjected into the proceedings a portion of Robert Johnson’s Walkin’ Blues.
Elsewhere, Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein was given a thorough thrashing, J. D. Loudermilk’s Tobacco Road began with a flurry of scat singing before settling into a steamy swirl of saxophone and guitar, and Tell the Truth exploded in an exhausting exhibition of funk-blues mayhem. Like many astoundingly proficient instrumentalists, Winter has struggled, at times, in his career to find the balance between the emotional and technical aspects of his performance. The concert at the Royal Albert Hall is the epitome of perfection in this regard. That it took this long to unearth is a shame, but at least, now, it’s available for all to hear. (by John Metzger)
Personnel:
Tommy Shannon (bass)
Uncle John Turner ( drums, percussion)
Edgar Winter (keyboards, saxophone, vocals)
Johnny Winter (guitar, mandolin, vocals)
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Dennis Collins (bass on 04.)
Tracklist:
01. Memory Pain (Mayfield) 5.31
02. I’m Not Sure (J.Winter) 5.22
03. Slippin’ and Slidin’ (Bocage/Collins/Penniman/Smith) 4.41
04. The Good Love (Collins) 2.44
05. Miss Ann Enotris (Johnson/Penniman) 3.41
06. Johnny B. Goode (Berry) 2.47
07. Highway 61 Revisited (Dylan) 5.06
08. I Love Everybody (J.Winter) 3.45
09. Hustled Down In Texas (J.Winter) 3.32
10. I Hate Everybody (J.Winter) 2.36
11. Fast Life Rider (J.Winter) 7.03
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12. Early In The Morning (Bartley/Hickman/Jordan) 3.49
13. Tell The Truth (Pauling) 4.30
Released almost exactly three years after the first, tremendously successful Crossroads DVD, this double-disc documents the 2007 benefit concert for Clapton’s Crossroads Center substance abuse facility. “Guitar” is the operative word here, since all the participants are six-string players. As in the last show, the genres include country (Willie Nelson, Vince Gill), gospel (Robert Randolph), Latin rock (Los Lobos), pop (Sheryl Crow, John Mayer), jazz fusion (John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck) and lots of blues (everyone else). Some performers such as Randolph, Mayer, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, and of course Clapton return from the 2004 lineup. That was a two-day event held in Dallas, TX. This was a one day — a very long day — show moved to the home of the blues, a stadium just outside of Chicago, and features a very funny Bill Murray introducing the acts.
It was 1969 when Lewisville, a small farm town of approximately 9,000 residents, became the site of a music festival that attracted 150,000 hippies, bikers and music lovers. As a result of that momentous event, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) has recognized the Texas International Pop Festival as a significant part of Denton County history by awarding it an Official Texas Historical Marker.
Mindrocker is an extensive series of compilation albums that was circulated through Line Records and then Impact Records in the 1980s. The complete series compacted nearly 200 songs of rare, and obscure material primarily from American garage and psychedelic rock musical artists that were originally recorded in the 1960s, and previously made available to only a handful of collectors. It was organized by record producer Hans-Hermann Pohle, named after a single by California band, Fenwyck, and initially distributed in Germany. The first volume was released in 1981 and by 1986 the thirteenth and final installment of the series was issued.
This is a great sampler from Mexico !
