Search - Otis Rush :: All Your Love I Miss Loving: Live at The Wise Fools Pub Chicago [Live]

Something New From Otis Rush- Finally.

Perry Celestino | Tahmoor, NSW Australia | 12/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Otis Rush has always been one of the enigmas of the Blues World. He has retired, refused to play, walked out on recording sessions, even changed his voice (ala "Screamin' and Moanin'). Otis has not had a CD release in seven years since the excellent "Any Place I'm Goin'" set in 1998 (a lovely innovative recording).



Otis and Buddy Guy are the last of the West Side Bluesmen. While Buddy seems to get more popular and out there, Otis seems to have gotten more reclusive. For example, he should have been on the "Lightning In A Bottle" DVD at Radio City in 2003! Otis has had a bad time with record companies, managers, royalties, and the rest of it. This is a re-issue of a long lost tape of him playing in Chicago in the 1970s. We hear a younger, stronger and very impressive Mr Rush.



This set was recorded at the Wise Fools Pub in Chicago. It was part of a Chicago Radio Station live concert series sponsored by 7 Up of all things. As with most of Otis' output it took years for these tapes to become available. This CD is a must for Otis fans.



The tracks we hear include some of his best live performances yet released. He, interestingly, stays away from his normal set list (which we all have three or four versions of) and does some interesting never before heard tunes.



Otis starts with BB King's "Please Love Me" and goes through a varied set with a couple of old favourites like "All Your Love", (well we can't get enough of that one), and an eight minute "Gambler's Blues". However, he also offers new material in Robert Nighthawk's (later B.B. King's) "Sweet Little Angel", "Motoring Along", "High Society", "Mean Old World"(T-Bone Walker), "You're Breaking My Heart", "Woke Up This Morning" and others which make this a definate collector's item. It's a fantastic set.



Any material or recordings of Otis Rush are scarce! This CD is a must for Blues Fans. It is also released on the old Delmark label as well, one of the premier Blue's Labels(Jr Well's Hoodoo Man). Get this CD and Otis Rush's only two DVD performances: Live Part 1 on Blues Express and Live at Montreux."

One cut alone is a must have...

CDB | Martinez, CA USA | 12/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""You're Breaking My Heart".

If you want a single cut to add to your collection of must-have, 5-star Chicago blues music this is one of them.



This is 8 minutes of live Chicago blues at a near psychotic nuclear meltdown intensity of lead guitar licks. The passion in the vocals must be witnessed to be believed.



Guitar players: You can hear so much Clapton in the lead solos it's not funny. Kinda like SR Vaughn vs. Albert King.



Awesome track. Up there with James Cotton's 'Sweet Sixteen' with Luther Tucker on guitar.



Wouldn't mind a vinyl release either...



"

Living Legend

Mr. Mambo | Burnsville, MN USA | 07/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For almost fifty years Otis Rush has been one of the most powerful singers and innovative guitarists we have ever had. But what is truly mystifying is that for most of this time--and this continues to this day--Otis has been an unsung hero of the blues. He is taken for granted.



At the beginning of HIS career, John Mayall did everything he could to spread the word about the greatness of Otis Rush. He recorded one of Otis' masterpieces, All Your Loving (I Miss Loving), on his legendary Clapton/Bluesbreakers LP. And Mayall is now called the "Grandfather of British Blues." So that gives you an idea of the stature and longevity of Otis Rush. Clapton and Vaughn and Cray and Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne and hundreds of others have gone on to great fame and success and riches, singing the music of Otis Rush and others. Ironic that the young followers got most of the props and recognition. But they are all very good musicians and it is not my intention to denigrate them; more power to them for keeping the blues alive! As technically proficient and talented as these guys are, at best they are only interpreters; at worst, imitators or even plagiarists.



Please, don't bother listening to them unless you have listened to the real thing first. This is the real thing: live electric blues wonderfully recorded at a small blues club, by one of the all-time greats, one of the innovators, one of the originals. Otis Rush is to Chicago blues as Robert Johnson and Son House were to country blues. Incredibly and fortunately, he is still with us, still vital, still performing.



There are only a handful of truly great original Chicago blues performers still around, and Otis, with Buddy Guy, is at the top of the list. I would not hesitate to call Otis THE greatest combination blues singer/guitarist ever.



How can someone this fabulous so be relatively unknown?"