What do you think of these '60s R&B/Blues singles?

[fange]

Bobby Parker - 'Watch Your Step'


Bo Diddley - 'You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover'


Jimmy Reed - 'Bright Lights, Big City'


Howlin' Wolf - '300 Pounds of Joy'


Earl King - 'Come On'


Irma Thomas - 'Hittin' On Nothing'


Buddy Guy - 'Crazy Love'


Elmore James - 'Stranger Blues'


Bunker Hill - 'The Girl Can't Dance'


Johnny "Guitar" Watson - 'Cuttin' In'

[naughty boy]

Love 'em all, apart from Jimmy Reed. I mean...a giant, hugely influential, but his stuff hasn't dated too well to my ears. Certainly not in comparison to this lot.

I went for:

Bobby Parker - 'Watch Your Step' - absolutely the fucking shit. It must sound enormous in a dive bar late at night

Bo Diddley - 'You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover' - he did better, but when you've got that voice and that guitar sound, it always rattles yer bones

Howlin' Wolf - '300 Pounds of Joy' - Wolf's 'pop hit', isn't it? loads of hooks - a blast

Elmore James - 'Stranger Blues' - I need to hear more EJ. Like Jimmy Reed, a lot of what I've heard is kind of 'standard', somehow (yeah, not his fault, I know) but this one's cool

Bunker Hill - 'The Girl Can't Dance' - I've got this on some Back From The Grave comp! they don't come no wilder, really. Fabulous

[BARON CORNY DOG]

A lot of great, great stuff right there!

The Bobby Parker record is pretty perfect, and new to me. Great vocals and guitar. What more could you want?

The Bo Diddley record? Again, a nearly perfect record, but it sounds oddly restrained as I listen to it right here and now.

The Jimmy Reed record is one of my favorites. I take a contrary position to JC, I think Jimmy Reed's fundamental (and minimal) funkiness wears really well. An album's worth of Jimmy Reed records can get a little wearying if it isn't a smart selection, but when one pops up, it's always a tonic. For me, anyway.

As for Howlin Wolf, I have to say that I never dig it when Chicago blues guys get into this fucking rhumba shit with horns and that sort of foolishness. It fits the song, which I admit is a classic, but I'm only in it for Hubert Sumlin's guitar playing, to be honest.

Earl King's "Come On" is absolute fucking magic. I'm into his voice, but the star on this record will always be the lead guitar, which is perfectly off kilter and some of the funkiest shit ever laid down. Seriously, THIS is how it's done. I've heard this record thousands of times and it always thrills me. In contrast to the Wolf record, I'm totally into the horns on this one. A Top 20, probably Top 10 Record for me.

I'm not specifically an Irma Thomas guy, but some of her records are, of course, unparalleled. This isn't one of them, but it has ace guitar playing, presumably from New Orleans. Wholly unremarkable, but I would turn it up if it popped up on the radio.

This Buddy Guy record . . . I'm not into it. More rhumba shit with goofy sax. Buddy Guy's vocals are so searing and insane I'm almost willing to listen to him sing whatever. And this song has some interesting production with some weird guitar flourishes I like, but there's not much there there. I wish he would've cut more straight blues, but I guess Chess was trying to sell records.

Elmore James shows you how to make a non-blues blues record. His records are so electric, so beautiful. They're almost perfect, with his voice almost always in the red and his guitar sounding like Moses walking down the mountain, playing an electric guitar. With all the distortion that spills into the track and the weirdly delayed rhythm section, it almost sounds like a psychedelic record. A minor record, it almost sounds like an afterthought. And yet, it's sensational.

I've never heard this Bunker Hill record. Sometimes you get these self-consciously over the top rock and roll records, and yet, how could you really complain about this? It's great. And comical to hear the band trying to stay on top of things.

I adore these early Guitar Watson records. His guitar playing is exactly right and his voice has always appealed to me. I'm pretty sure he was out in LA when he cut these records, but they all sound drenched in Gulf Coast humidity. I'm not sure I've ever noticed the strings in this song! I'm always listening to his singing and guitar playing! Then again, how could I have missed them? This isn't my favorite Guitar Watson record, but I'll listen to it happily anyway . . . like most of these early Guitar Watson records, it's got enough of his mojo to carry it.

[Rayge]

Congrats on finding an Irma Thomas I hadn't heard (b-side of Raining in My Heart?) and unearthing that Bunker Hill track. Is it one of those he recorded with Link Wray?
I voted for those, Bobby Parker (had the single on Sue), and Bo because he's Bo, although it's far from a favourite track: the rest turns into a battle of the guitarists, and Hubert Sumlin's stinging tone edges Buddy Guy.

[Matt Wilson]

I love this music and could listen to it for hours. A little beer, some barbecue... Anyway, I'd never heard that Bunker Hill song, channeling Little Richard? The Elmore James lick is familiar, almost like "Green Onions" or something. But I went for the first five because I was the most familiar with them.

[fange]

... that Bunker Hill track. Is it one of those he recorded with Link Wray?

Yeah, that's right. Recorded with Link Wray and the Raymen in '62.

[pcqgod]

I'm not sure I've ever heard the Bunker Hill or Irma Thomas singles, but otherwise it's all stuff I greatly enjoy.

[sloopjohnc]

Bo Diddley
Jimmy Reed
Howlin' Wolf

[clive gash]

Thank god for The British Invasion.

[naughty boy]

Yeah - the fourth chord

[clive gash]

Can we do this without the parping raunchiness please?

[Davey the Fat Boy]

A lot of great stuff here...increasingly where I find myself living most these days, musically.

I could rhapsodize pretty easily about all of these (and have before with a few). But let’s all just take a moment to reflect on the perfection of the Elmore James track. It’s the one I pull out to disprove the “blues are boring” argument- and it works 100% of the time.

Anyhow...all of these records are great, and they make most of the records lauded here sound like kiddie records.

[naughty boy]

Yeah we built this shit out of goddamn CLAY with our BARE HANDS - and we built this shit to LAST

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Surprised nobody’s pointed out the similarities between “Watch Your Step” and a certain Beatle’s track.

[clive gash]

Nah, we don’t bother with kiddie music here.

[Sneelock]

I'm going to have to go home and drink many beers and have many listens before I vote.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Surprised nobody’s pointed out the similarities between “Watch Your Step” and a certain Beatle’s track.

There are similarities to more than a few songs that probably came from that one.

[Charlie O.]

Surprised nobody’s pointed out the similarities between “Watch Your Step” and a certain Beatle’s track.

There are similarities to more than a few songs that probably came from that one.

The Beatles admitted copping both the "I Feel Fine" and "Day Tripper" riffs from "Watch Your Step".

Like others here, I am unfamiliar with these Irma Thomas and Bunker Hill tracks, and the Buddy Guy one, too - and unfortunately I can't listen now. But I'm looking forward to them!

[echolalia]

All groovy – I heard that Bobby Parker one on the radio just the other day.

Top track for me is Earl King – it has the absolutely bitchinest guitar from an extremely strong field.

I llke the Buddy Guy least.

[Muskrat]

Not having to vote for five makes it easier; all but one of these are by people I'd choose other sides over the one presented here.

The exception is "Cuttin' In," which has wonderful lyrics, sung perfectly. It's one of my favorite records.

That said, I prefer the earlier version.