Saturday Night Blues

...At the end of one of the tracks, Belushi steps out of character and veils back at the cheering audience, "1 suggest that you buy as many blues albums as you can1" Good ad\ ice that is not easy to heed, for blues recording is drying up Line performances can still be heard at small clubs and college concerts, but the small recording companies that kept blues ah\e and a\ail-able during the '60s recently have been dying off at a discouraging rate Among the few exceptions to the trend is Alligator Records (P O Box 11741,Chicago,111 60611) Kept alive by the hard work and enthusiasm of a young Chicago blues fan named Bruce Iglauer, the firm has issued 12 albums since its first release-a 1971 set featuring the late Hound Dog Taylor and his band, The Houserockers Iglauer has favored Chicago talent from the start, recording such heavyweights as Carey Bell, "Big Walter" Horton, Koko Taylor, Son Seals and Fenton Robinson This is as it should be The city is overflowing with blues talent-and only Alligator and Delmark Records are there to record it...

...Alligator's new Koko Taylor disc, appropriately entitled The Earthshaker (AL 4711), is a fair sample of what the company has to offer To listen to her belting out "I'm a Woman," a chant against the hard-driving blues figure, is to experience the music in all its fundamental power (Incidentally, this is her own song, not the one Maria Muldaur had on the Top 40 a few years back ) Her rendition of the Willie Dixon blues standards "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Spoonful,' are equally impressive Koko Taylor deserves a hearing No woman today sings with quite as much strength or pure old funky sex in her voice...

...One of the reasons for her sudden new celebrity was an invitation extended by Robert Altman to record some background music for Alan Rudolph's new movie, Remember My Name, produced by Airman's Lion's Gate Films She already had one album under way with Columbia's John Hammond, but she took on this assignment too The soundtrack record has just been released (Columbia JS 35553), and it is beautiful Hers is a remarkable voice, especially for a woman in her '80s-strong, confident and expressive in a way that puts the Gloria Gaynors and Phyllis Hymans to shame Simply listening to Hunter on these selections is a historical experience She is from the classic blues period, and one can hear in her voice echoes of all the great singers of the past Moreover, she wrote all the material here, including the superb "Downhearted Blues," with its great line, "Got the world in a jug, Lord, got the stopper in my hand ". All of which brings me back to John Belushi's advice that you "buy as many blues albums as you can " Quantity may be limited, but as the albums I have just mentioned show, quality isn't...

...Fenton Robinson, originally out of Mississippi, has been a resident of Chicago for the past 15 years, with part of that tune spent in the slammer on an involuntary manslaughter conviction Lacking the dynamism of Seals, or even Taylor, Robinson nonetheless sings with a subtlety and delicacy that neither of them can match He also can play the hell out of the guitar On his new album, I Hear Some Blues Downstairs (AL 4710), his particular talents combine to produce a beautiful foot-stomping rendition of Wynonie Harris' great song, "As the Years Go By ". Of course , authentic blues do not appear on small labels alone Every once in a while a major company still will pick up a blues artist Columbia has recently done so with Alberta Hunter Surely after all those articles about her in newspapers and magazines, not to mention her appearances on Today and the Dick Cavett Show, everybody must know the story of the marvelous comeback this 83-year-old woman has made She established herself as a singer of the blues in Chicago when she was little more than a kid, m the days of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Ida Cox Her career took her to New York, and then in the '30s to Europe Following the War things slowed down for her, and she left music altogether for nursing A couple of years ago, Hunter happened to sing at a party for her old friend Mabel Mercer Those who heard her urged her to go back into show business, and Marty Josephson offered her an engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village Today, Hunter works as much as she likes...

...On Music SATURDAY NIGHT BLUES by bruce cook JOHN BELUSHI and Dan Ackroyd-two regulars on NBC's Saturday Night Live-could do for blues in a single season what Muddy Waters and B B King failed to do in a decade of hard trying Specifically, the Blues Brothers, as they call themselves whenever they mount the stage in dark glasses and dark suits, may revive popular enthusiasm for the glorious, funky music that gave birth to jazz, rock and country...

...As for Belushi, who does most of the work-when he is not singing, he is dancing, and sometimes he is doing both at once-he also comes off pretty well Despite his being a bit monochromatic, varying his attack only from a grunt to a shout to a holler, he is no worse than some of the rock group singers of the '60s (Leslie West of Mountain and Catfish Hodge come to mind), and considerably better than today's crop of punk rockers If he ever got really serious, he might eventually turn into a respectable vocallist He is most memorable on the true blues cuts-Messin' With the Kid,' "Shot Gun Blues" and "I Don't Know " That seldom performed last is one of the finest numbers in the Chicago blues repertoire, and it is easily the finest here, with Joliet Jake getting deep into the lyrics and Elwood offering his best blow on the harp The rest of the album, composed mainly of rock and rhythm & blues is not bad either-except for the awful reggae rendition of Pink Floyd's "Groove Me ". But everybody seems to be having a good time The musicians play with real fire and flash, Belushi sings with spirit, and the audience at the Universal Amphitheater makes it sound like Woodstock all over agian I was surprised that the Blues Brothers didn't choose to record the set first in a studio under controlled conditions On the other hand, they are performers first and foremost, and the atmosphere that night at Universal City probably was not so much different from that on the Saturday Night Live television broadcasts Anyway, they sound right at home on that stage...

...Son Seals, who hails from Arkansas (Osceola-Albert King's hometown), has been headquartered in Chicago for a number of years At 36, he is just a youngster as bluesmen go, yet he certainly knows his way around He sings and plays with a healthy ferocity on his latest issue, Son Seals Live and Burning (AL 4712), his third album on the Alligator label As the title indicates, this was recorded in live performance -at the Wise Fools Pub in Chicago But what is given away in the polish that a studio can provide is more than compensated for in vitality and spontaneity Most of the numbers here were written by Seals, and they are very good-Funky Bitch" being the best of them For plain old blues jamming, it should be noted, tenor sax-man A C Reed's "She's Fine" will stand up to any line recorded in the last few years...

...That Belushi and Ackroyd are not totally overwhelmed by such an array of talent is the second thing that can be said to them wline Ackroyd on harmonica is no Sonny Boy Williamson, he does have the good sense to know it He keeps his solos simple and short...

...The first thing that can be said for them is that they, producer Bob Tischler and musical director Paul Shaffer have put together one of the finest rock-blues bands since the Electric Flag It includes a horn section with such top studio men as Tom Scott, Lou Marini and Bones Malone, as well as that dynamic rhythm duo from Memphis, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper (half of the old Booker-T-and-the-MG's section that did all those great Staxand Volt sessions back in the '60s...

...mostly blowing obligatto to his partner s roaring vocals...

...Although Belushi and Ackroyd are pictured on the album cover, their names are not mentioned-except in small type along with the usual acknowledgments, where "very special thanks" are extended to them This is the Saturday Nighters' way of asking that they be judged solely on the basis of the music They are taking quite a chance, but if they're willing, I am too...

...The Brothers walk a fine line On the one hand, they operate within the context of traditional satire Their names, for instance, are Joliet Jake Blues (Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Ackroyd), and the former is often given to breaking out in the frantic happy-feet dancing that sets the Saturday Night Live studio audience applauding wildly Pure, authentic South Side Chicago Blues it's not On the other hand, the two are not going strictly for laughs either They are so seiious about the music, in fact, that they recently played a conceit as the Blues Brothers at the Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, California Atlantic recorded it, and the result-Briefcase Full of Blues (Atlantic SD 19217)-is cuirently climbing the pop album charts...