New Guitar Summit - Shivers

Year: 2008
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:17
Size: 127,4 MB
Styles: Jazz, jazzy blues
Scans: Full

1. Little Bitty Pretty One (3:34)
2. Flying Home (4:12)
3. Your Mind Is On Vacation (6:03)
4. Shivers (3:34)
5. Blue Sunset (6:23)
6. Broadway (4:38)
7. Everybody's Crying Mercy (6:57)
8. Jim Jam (3:16)
9. Honey Suckle Rose (5:57)
10. Wellspring Blues (7:14)
11. Mediterranean Nights (3:23)

Because Jay Geils is best known as leader of the J. Geils Band, a rock group that had big-selling records in the 1970s and early '80s, listeners are often surprised to find out that Geils has a great love for Charlie Christian-style swing-to-bop guitar. The J. Geils Band were originally known as the J. Geils Blues Band before they had rock hits, and Geils has proven in recent years to be a fine interpreter of the 1940s swing style. Duke Robillard, founder of Roomful of Blues, has long been a lover of that music, while Gerry Beaudoin was a highly rated jazz guitarist from New England before he met Geils.

Since 1997 the three guitarists have occasionally come together as New Guitar Summit. On Shivers they are joined by a fourth guitarist (Randy Bachman) on two Mose Allison songs. Bachman takes vocals on "Your Mind Is on Vacation" and "Everybody's Crying Mercy"; otherwise this CD is strictly instrumental.

While five of the songs are originals by bandmembers, most of those tunes would have comfortably fit into the repertoire of the Benny Goodman Sextet that featured Christian. Each of the guitarists fares well, paying respect to the tradition while also displaying his own individuality. It is a pity that they do not trade off much or get more competitive. A bit more fire would have made Shivers more memorable, but the music is fun overall. /Scott Yanow, AllMusic

Shivers mc
Shivers zippy

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J. Geils Band - "Live" Full House

Year: 1972/1995
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:46
Size: 82,6 MB
Styles: Rocking blues, harmonica blues, rock & roll
Scans: Full

1. First I Look At The Purse (4:08)
2. Homework (2:43)
3. Pack Fair And Square (2:34)
4. Whammer Jammer (2:37)
5. Hard Drivin' Man (4:39)
6. Serves You Right To Suffer (9:57)
7. Cruisin' For A Love (3:37)
8. Looking For A Love (5:27)

The J. Geils Band made many fine, sometimes great, studio albums but where they really captured their full, thrilling potential was on the concert stage. Most live albums tend to be a poor excuse for actually being at the show in question, but the Geils Band's live albums jump out of the speakers with so much joy, fun, and unquenchable rock & roll spirit that you might as well be there. "Live" Full House was their first live record, and it is a blast from start to finish.

Recorded in 1972 at Detroit's Cinderella Ballroom, the group runs through songs from their first two albums, The J. Geils Band and The Morning After, kicking out the jams on rockers like the Motown chestnut "First I Look at the Purse", Otis Rush's "Homework", and one of the group's first self-penned classics, "Hard Drivin' Man", as well as positively scorching through an incredible version of John Lee Hooker's dark and evil blues "Serves You Right to Suffer".

It's easy to overlook J. Geils himself on guitar when you have a magnetic frontman like Peter Wolf or the unstoppable force that is harp player Magic Dick (check "Whammer Jammer" for proof of his greatness), but his soloing on this track serves notice that he could tear off a ferocious solo with the best of them. "Live" Full House is a short, punchy shot of rock & roll genius by one of the great bands of the '70s and one of the best live albums ever recorded. /Tim Sendra, AllMusic

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'Live' Full House zippy

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Magic Dick & Jay Geils - 2 albums: Bluestime/Little Car Blues

Album: Bluestime
Year: 1994
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:58
Size: 116,9 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Scans: Full

1. I Got To Find My Baby (3:39)
2. Pontiac Blues (5:19)
3. Can't Hold Out Much Longer (4:51)
4. She's The No Sleepinest Woman (3:15)
5. The Stuff You Gotta Watch (5:11)
6. Nine Below Zero (2:56)
7. I Stay In The Mood (3:00)
8. Too Young To Die (3:19)
9. Little Girl (4:24)
10. Full Court Press (3:15)
11. (I'm The) Coolest Cat In This Car (3:16)
12. Iodine In My Coffee (4:15)
13. Roller Coaster/Crazy Legs/I Got To Go (4:15)

Jay Geils was often the forgotten man in the band that bore his name. Though Geils was a fine blues rock guitarist, it was Peter Wolf's vocals and Magic Dick's harmonica solos that made the J. Geils Band a legendary live act in the '70s, and it was the songs written by Wolf and keyboardist Seth Justman that gave the band its pop breakthrough in the early '80s. Geils's grasp of the rhythmic requirements of the Chicago blues provided the foundation for everything the band did, however, and it provides the solid basis for this likable album with Magic Dick.

The J. Geils Band began in 1966 as a trio (Geils, Dick, and bassist Danny Klein) exploring the music of the Chicago blues giants. Now Geils and Dick are doing it again - nine of the 13 tracks on the new album are credited to Muddy Waters, Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson--only this time they have the maturity to let the material breathe. Instead of cramming every possible note into each song, these older, wiser musicians have pared down their arrangements to the essential notes. This allows Geils's swinging, jazz-inflected guitar solos to unfurl with natural ease and for Dick to more fully harmonize his solos.

Dick proves a competent lead singer, but he lacks the special edge of a Wolf, much less a Waters. As a result, the instrumental performances are the best part of Bluestime. /Geoffrey Himes

Bluestime mc
Bluestime gofile

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Album: Little Car Blues
Year: 1996
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:11
Size: 115,2 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Bluestime Theme (2:55)
2. Tonight With A Fool (2:46)
3. The Jumpin' Blues (5:14)
4. Hot Leftover No. 1 (0:31)
5. Feel So Bad (4:24)
6. Fool That I Am (4:50)
7. Stubborn Kind Of Fellow (3:32)
8. Hot Leftover No. 2: Black And Tan Fantasy (0:59)
9. I Don't Play (3:39)
10. Last Time (3:23)
11. Some Sweet Day (4:11)
12. Hot Leftover No. 3 (0:44)
13. Little Car Blues (4:01)
14. Temperature (3:07)
15. Look How Baby (5:49)

J. Geils and Magic Dick's debut duo recording, 1994's Bluestime, was a straightforward tribute to hard-core Chicago blues, but the follow-up, Little Car Blues, embraces such far-flung blues offshoots as Kansas City jump, Duke Ellington swing, Louis Armstrong hot jazz, Etta James R&B, and Marvin Gaye soul. If the truth be told, Geils and Magic Dick are much more enjoyable as generalists than as specialists, for they can't compete with the top artists in any one genre but they cover many styles better than most. Magic Dick is a gifted harp blower, especially when he's imitating old jazz solos by Armstrong or Charlie Parker, with a quicksilver phrasing and big, reedy tone. Geils isn't particularly fast or flashy a guitarist, but he has a rare rhythmic instinct that makes the swing and jump of his tunes lively indeed. /Geoffrey Himes

Little Car Blues mc
Little Car Blues gofile

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