Comus

While not the most obscure artist I've reviewed it's certainly one of the more obscure albums, not considered a fully official part of the Johnny Winter discography it was very difficult to track down. Well as you should all know if anyone's got the blues it's Johnny, and Rollin' and Tumblin' certainly reflect this. An overall twangy feel to the guitar starts this album off with a bluesy bang, bursting with energy and charisma the vocals do lack some finesse yet it does add a certain bit of charm to it. The drums and bass keep it all together really well leaving time for Winter to play on a bit. Tribute to Muddy see a lovely blues song with all the cliches, and why the **** not, it's called Tribute to Muddy. The guitar work is pretty standard, but it works so very well with the song. The beat is incredibly catchy and lets Winter do whatever he wants and I feel this will continue throughout. The solo is nothing short of a nostalgic journey back in time, yet it feels so refreshing.

It's been awhile since I've listened to some great blues, and for anyone wanting to experience some good blues this is what you'll be looking for. Winters does excellent stuff playing up and down certain parts of the song to create a lovely contrast. This is a lovely guitar album because it shows what you can do with just a guitar and a pick without resorting to any of the tricks guitarists used in the next decade. If I could change anything though it would be the sound of the guitar, a bit tinny in bits but it seems to vary from song to song, yet I'd wish for it to be a bit smoother. This album's never really going to get away from the blues aspect but you can certainly respect that, yet it's still certainly a very different kind of blues while remaining very much the same. This album takes the blues guitar to a new standard, bringing a lead instrument even more to the forefront. This is not to say there's not some lovely drum and bass work which at times can be quite spectacular.

The Drummer is none other than Uncle John Turner who has played with such greats as Hendrix, BB King and Muddy Waters himself. Bad Luck and Trouble features some lush mandolin and harmonica performances from Winter who keeps it all together brilliantly without the help of percussion on bass work. A lovely track if just for it's simplicity and great mandolin playing. While not present in this song, the bassist is none other than Double Trouble great Tommy Shannon. Help Me brings a new more distorted guitar style onto the album and it works very well in contrast to the mandolin featured previously. This is just what I've been wanting the guitar to sound like, far smoother and it even has a slight psychedelic feel to it.

If this album had been more popular I would have had to say it was instrumental in shaping the way the guitar was used in progressive rock, there is certainly a very progressive element in his playing that can be heard all throughout the seventies. The vocals improve with each song and shine in Mean Town Blues in a very gritty hard rock fashion, I do still have a few qualms about his voice on the album though. There's just not enough soul in his voice to reflect the bluesy stylings of his guitar, and it's not powerful enough to properly convey his lyrics in the hard rock style. But that's all moot really when he can play a solo like he does in Mean Town Blues. This is definitely one for the guitarists out there, that's not to say any blues fan won't enjoy this either, and it's essential in any Johnny Winter collection.

Even with an acoustic his playing still stays fast and inspired, a perfect example is Broke Down Engine where once again Winter is alone without his rhythm section and once again holds it all together very well. After the sombre acoustic piece Black Cat Bone is a huge burst of energy with a fast powerful blues song, this is probably the band's best performance on the album as a whole, sounding incredibly tight. "Hey man check this out" Winter sings before launching into an incredible solo, you can hear aspects of Jimmy Page's latter playing here and it reflects the styles that would become popular later on in the seventies.

The epic 7 minute long It's My Own Fault shows off Winter's truly bluesy vocals, and it finally showcases his most soulful delivery on the album. Coupled with more great guitar work it's not much different from the rest of the album, but this can't really detract from the feel because I knew going into it, that it was going to be pure blues. Winter shows some great guitar control towards the end of the song and the final solo featuring some scat singing is brilliant. Forty-Four immediately made me thing "Cliffs of Dover" yet that really doesn't feel right. There's a great eastern feel to the guitar that works superbly with the song and the album as a whole. For a straight blues record this certainly doesn't break many boundaries, but it does expand them quite somewhat and Winter takes the guitar to whole new levels.

Overall it's an incredibly enjoyable blues album but it has a lot of obvious drawbacks, the sometimes lack-lustre vocals bring it down and so does the general lack of experimentation, it's still a very good album, just not a truly brilliant one, and as I'm beginning to so often say, my score will reflect that.

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