it is a same americans did not appreciate there original rock and roll stars and did'nt compensate them equally to there white acts so much was lost to early death from the lack of money I have been listen to the blues all my life but colleting only since i was 17 (i'm 35 now) but i lost a lot of music in flood and now i'm trying to replace some of the lost tapes the first blues album i purchased was sonnyboy's down and out and there was a song on that album that never shows up on any greatest hits the title is wakeup explain yourself anyway i guest i'll just have to purchase it again p.s. if you want the most awesome high from music listen to the drum on sad to be lonesome by sonnyboy
thanks jesse d. dj priest

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Docendo Discimus

Not the place to start

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 5, 2003

They may try to sell this album by putting Eric Clapton's name in the title, but the fact is that Eric Clapton was an insecure 18-year old when he and the Yardbirds backed Sonny Boy on a few European dates, and this is all Sonny Boy Williamson.
It's not great Sonny Boy Williamson, though. Too often does he sound unengaged, and the band is nowhere near a match for the all-star combos that accompanied Rice Miller on his Chess recordings in the 50s and early 60s. Also, the production is nothing to write home about (the instruments are pushed too far into the background, making it sound like Miller is singing to a lifeless, pre-recorded track). Most of the songs lack the nerve and groove usually associated with Sonny Boy Williamson, who was one of the very best blues singers when the spirit moved him.
There are a couple of good moments, but this set doesn't come close to matching Rice Miller's Chicago classics available on "The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson [II]".

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Len Klosner

Old playing with the upcoming

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 7, 2003

To bad Sonny Boy didn't live longer to do more of this. He loved it over thar in Europe Because the Blues lovers loved him.Not to many people got along with Sonny Boy,but these tracks show that didn't need to be.I truely injoy these recording.Free wheeling thats how I see it.

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ブルックス

ヤードバーズの初録音

Reviewed in Japan 🇯🇵 on October 28, 2004

Verified Purchase

５曲目から Eric Clapton が在籍していたヤードバズーの初録音でブルース界の大物ハープ奏者の Sonny Boy Williamson のイギリス公演のバックバンドをやり、Eric Clapton の初音源です。Sonny Boy Williamson は、後で彼らの演奏をへたくそと言い放っていますが、当時彼らは、アマチア同然で仕方ないと思います。Clapton ファンでしたら、ぜひコレクターとして言い悪いはさておいて、持っておきたいアルバムと思います。

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William Maudlin

Happy Memories

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2009

Verified Purchase

I sent for this product because it included a Blues Festival performance of Sonny Boy's that I used to have on an old LP. The LP is long gone and I had tried in vain to obtain a copy of the cherished instrumental "Sonny's Harmonica Boogie" for years.

The recording is good. I am completely satisfied with it and I found I still loved the piece I had yearned for and which was recorded, if memory serves me right, in Berlin, Germany in the mid-Sixties at that year's American Folk Blues Festival. There are a couple of other tracks from the same Blues Festival, but all the remainder is stuff recorded in England with the Yardbirds.

The album inludes all Sonny Boy's known recordings with the Yardbirds which were made in England, again in the Sixties at the height of the "British Invasion" and of the Blues Craze in the UK that so influenced many of the best British groups of the era. These recordings with the Yardbirds (including the young Eric Clapton) are recorded live in the Crawdaddy Club, Richmond, in the South of England.

The album was worth if for me, just for the Blues Festival material that I had lost, as I already have the other recordings. It was good value it at the price, especially as I love the Matt Murphy guitar and he and Sonny's offbeat style. "Trying to Make London My Home" is another favorite, from Berlin ironically. It's autobiographical although sadly Sonny Boy was unable to convince the British authorities to make his dream a reality.

Some rapid kudos for one of my favorite musicians: SBW is poetic and musical and was greatly loved by his young fans in those now far-off days. If you like his blues you should like this. Some of the Yardbirds material is a little rough but has great moments and it has the charm of a live intimate performance. Pontiac Blues and Mr Downchild are powerful and Bye Bye Bird is also well done. Sonny Boy's voice always sounded prematurely old as he himself was; too much whiskey I'm guessing, maybe a hard life too, yet he had a sensitivity and immediacy that I have always appreciated. His harmonica skills are great in my book.

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