Johnny Winter, "Second Winter" (Columbia, 1969)
Bass player Tommy Shannon is revered among blues fans as half (along with drummer Chris Layton) of Double Trouble, the rhythm section for the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Stevie Ray, though, actually was the second Texas guitar great with whom Shannon worked. In the late '60s and early '70s, he teamed with drummer "Uncle" John Turner in a band led by fretboard wizard Johnny Winter.
These day, Johnny probably is best known as the (older) brother of Edgar Winter, who is best known himself for his monster (pun intended) 1973 hit "Frankenstein." That, and the albino siblings always have cut a striking figure onstage.
But at the time of "Second Winter," Johnny's sophomore release for Columbia Records, he was in the category of rising superstar guitarists, as his ferocious style of playing started to draw a considerable fan base, buoyed in part by the publicity surrounding Columbia signing him earlier in the year for a then-record advance.
He actually had been plying his trade since the late '50s, often working with Edgar, and recorded a significant amount of material that was locally released around their native Austin. A 1968 article in the fledgling Rolling Stone magazine drew him national attention, and soon he had a contract with a big-time label. Prior to his Columbia tenure, though, he recorded an album called "The Progressive Blues Experiment" on Imperial Records, a combination of standards and originals that served notice of a major talent on the scene.
The notice got as far as England, where Brian Jones, the guitarist who had recently left the Rolling Stones, apparently got ahold of Johnny's Columbia debut, "Johnny Winter," as soon as it made it across the Atlantic in June 1969. He particularly enjoyed the opening track, "I'm Yours and I'm Hers," and when Brian died shortly afterward, the Stones played that song to open the memorial show for him in London's Hyde Park.
Johnny gained further attention when he had the opportunity to perform "Mean Town Blues," a track from "The Progressive Blues Experiment," at Woodstock in August.
"Second Winter" appeared in November as a curiosity: although it was a double LP, only three sides were playable.
The music on those three sides, though, more than makes up for the lack of a fourth. Johnny, Tommy, Uncle John and Brother Edgar don't let up at all throughout; the result is 50 or so minutes of some very intense music.
Although the band stays close to its blues roots, the guys really make their mark blowing through some old rock 'n' roll standards, including Little Richard's "Slippin' and Slidin'" and "Miss Ann." Two others would become highlights of his energetic live shows: Chuck Berry's quintessential "Johnny B. Goode" and Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," which Johnny reinvents as a supercharged slide-guitar workout.
Among the originals is "I'm Not Sure," a heavy blues containing an intense duet between Johnny's guitar and Edgar's harpsichord. Another notable is "Hustled Down in Texas," in which the basic rhythm section backs Johnny on some lightning runs. Then there's the closer, "Fast Life Rider," which features some interesting panning in the stereo mix (this was released in 1969, so there had to be something that appealed to the psychedelic crowd).
Columbia saw fit to reissue "Second Winter" in 2004 as a two-disc set, with the second CD containing a complete concert from April 17, 1970, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. ("Second Winter" had cracked the Top 60 on both the American and British charts.)
While the liner notes for the concert disc at first seem like hyperbole - "if it would have been released in 1970, it would be revered today as one of the greatest rock live albums of all time" - a listen to the music might confirm that suspicion. From the opening notes of Sonny Boy Williamson's ominous "Help Me" through the lengthy jam to close Lowman Pauling's "Tell the Truth," the set is a true adrenaline rush, buyoed considerably toward the end by Edgar's vocal prowess.
Speaking of which, the performance features two songs that would become staples of Edgar's own bands in the coming decades: a slow-burn rendition of the John D. Loudermilk classic "Tobacco Road" and an embryonic "Frankenstein."
Here, Edgar's future No. 1 smash sounds more like a descendant of Cream's "Toad" or Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick"; that is, some catchy guitar riffs serving as preludes to an extended drum solo. In this case, it's a duet, with Uncle John and Brother Edgar trading off percussive licks. (According to the liner notes, it was called "The Double Drum Song" at the time.) Missing are the synthesizer sounds that drive the hit version, and some listeners might prefer their absence.
Following some more successful recordings in 1970 and '71, Johnny Winter took some time off before re-emerging a few years later. His last charting album was a collaboration with Edgar, "Together," in 1976. After that, he went all the way back to his roots to produce and play on Muddy Waters' last few albums. And since then, Johnny has continued to record sporadically, more or less as a strict bluesman.
Tommy Shannon left Johnny's band after "Second Winter" and bounced around back in Texas for a while before hitting it big with Stevie Ray. If you're a fan of that Texas guitarist, Johnny Winter is another who is well worth giving a listen.
Bass player Tommy Shannon is revered among blues fans as half (along with drummer Chris Layton) of Double Trouble, the rhythm section for the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Stevie Ray, though, actually was the second Texas guitar great with whom Shannon worked. In the late '60s and early '70s, he teamed with drummer "Uncle" John Turner in a band led by fretboard wizard Johnny Winter.
These day, Johnny probably is best known as the (older) brother of Edgar Winter, who is best known himself for his monster (pun intended) 1973 hit "Frankenstein." That, and the albino siblings always have cut a striking figure onstage.
But at the time of "Second Winter," Johnny's sophomore release for Columbia Records, he was in the category of rising superstar guitarists, as his ferocious style of playing started to draw a considerable fan base, buoyed in part by the publicity surrounding Columbia signing him earlier in the year for a then-record advance.
He actually had been plying his trade since the late '50s, often working with Edgar, and recorded a significant amount of material that was locally released around their native Austin. A 1968 article in the fledgling Rolling Stone magazine drew him national attention, and soon he had a contract with a big-time label. Prior to his Columbia tenure, though, he recorded an album called "The Progressive Blues Experiment" on Imperial Records, a combination of standards and originals that served notice of a major talent on the scene.
The notice got as far as England, where Brian Jones, the guitarist who had recently left the Rolling Stones, apparently got ahold of Johnny's Columbia debut, "Johnny Winter," as soon as it made it across the Atlantic in June 1969. He particularly enjoyed the opening track, "I'm Yours and I'm Hers," and when Brian died shortly afterward, the Stones played that song to open the memorial show for him in London's Hyde Park.
Johnny gained further attention when he had the opportunity to perform "Mean Town Blues," a track from "The Progressive Blues Experiment," at Woodstock in August.
"Second Winter" appeared in November as a curiosity: although it was a double LP, only three sides were playable.
The music on those three sides, though, more than makes up for the lack of a fourth. Johnny, Tommy, Uncle John and Brother Edgar don't let up at all throughout; the result is 50 or so minutes of some very intense music.
Although the band stays close to its blues roots, the guys really make their mark blowing through some old rock 'n' roll standards, including Little Richard's "Slippin' and Slidin'" and "Miss Ann." Two others would become highlights of his energetic live shows: Chuck Berry's quintessential "Johnny B. Goode" and Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," which Johnny reinvents as a supercharged slide-guitar workout.
Among the originals is "I'm Not Sure," a heavy blues containing an intense duet between Johnny's guitar and Edgar's harpsichord. Another notable is "Hustled Down in Texas," in which the basic rhythm section backs Johnny on some lightning runs. Then there's the closer, "Fast Life Rider," which features some interesting panning in the stereo mix (this was released in 1969, so there had to be something that appealed to the psychedelic crowd).
Columbia saw fit to reissue "Second Winter" in 2004 as a two-disc set, with the second CD containing a complete concert from April 17, 1970, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. ("Second Winter" had cracked the Top 60 on both the American and British charts.)
While the liner notes for the concert disc at first seem like hyperbole - "if it would have been released in 1970, it would be revered today as one of the greatest rock live albums of all time" - a listen to the music might confirm that suspicion. From the opening notes of Sonny Boy Williamson's ominous "Help Me" through the lengthy jam to close Lowman Pauling's "Tell the Truth," the set is a true adrenaline rush, buyoed considerably toward the end by Edgar's vocal prowess.
Speaking of which, the performance features two songs that would become staples of Edgar's own bands in the coming decades: a slow-burn rendition of the John D. Loudermilk classic "Tobacco Road" and an embryonic "Frankenstein."
Here, Edgar's future No. 1 smash sounds more like a descendant of Cream's "Toad" or Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick"; that is, some catchy guitar riffs serving as preludes to an extended drum solo. In this case, it's a duet, with Uncle John and Brother Edgar trading off percussive licks. (According to the liner notes, it was called "The Double Drum Song" at the time.) Missing are the synthesizer sounds that drive the hit version, and some listeners might prefer their absence.
Following some more successful recordings in 1970 and '71, Johnny Winter took some time off before re-emerging a few years later. His last charting album was a collaboration with Edgar, "Together," in 1976. After that, he went all the way back to his roots to produce and play on Muddy Waters' last few albums. And since then, Johnny has continued to record sporadically, more or less as a strict bluesman.
Tommy Shannon left Johnny's band after "Second Winter" and bounced around back in Texas for a while before hitting it big with Stevie Ray. If you're a fan of that Texas guitarist, Johnny Winter is another who is well worth giving a listen.
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