Johnny Winter [Expanded] [Remaster] (CD - 1969)

Personnel: Johnny Winter (vocals, guitar, slide guitar, harmonica); Johnny Winter; Big Walter Horton (harmonica); Albert Wynn Butler (tenor saxophone); Norman Ray (baritone saxophone); Karl Garin (trumpet); Peggy Bowers, Elsie Senter, Carrie Hossell (background vocals); Edgar Winter (alto saxophone, piano); Willie Dixon (acoustic bass); Tommy Shannon (electric bass); John Turner .

Audio Mixer: Thom Cadley.

Liner Note Author: Steven Paul.

Recording information: Nashville, TN (02/??/1969-03/05/1969); San Francisco, CA (02/??/1969-03/05/1969).

Photographers: Hiro ; Eddie Kramer; Sandy Speiser.

Among white blues singers of the 1960s, there were some who studied the music so intently they amazed even the genre's creators with their technical mastery. A select few, however, seemed to be born oozing authenticity, sounding just as soulful as the greatest black bluesmen while forging a completely new sound. Johnny Winter belonged in the second category. A long-haired hippie albino, he astounded initially skeptical listeners with his Howlin' Wolf-like vocals and wild Johnny Guitar Watson-esque guitar stylings. THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE showcases Winter's first taste of national exposure, first with his 1969 self-titled debut album, and then with his set at the Woodstock festival later the same year. The latter recording is the revelation here--a tornado of raging slide guitar and shouted vocals that sounds as if a late night Lone Star State roadhouse gig has been magically transported to the upstate New York farm. With several tracks clocking in at over 10 minutes ("Mean Town Blues," a hellacious Edgar Winter-led jam on "Tobacco Road"), the album showcases Johnny at his freest and most explosive.

Sony/BMG's Legacy imprint decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock by issuing a slew of double-disc deluxe packages by catalog artists who played the festival. Each slipcase contains the featured artist's entire performance at Woodstock and, as a bonus, an LP sleeve reproduction of a classic album issued near the time the festival occurred, as well as fine, individually,designed double-sided posters. Johnny Winter's volume in this series contains the remastered version of his self-titled debut album in a snazzy LP cover sleeve. It is one of, if not the greatest album in his entire catalog. More importantly, Johnny Winter's performance at Woodstock is, with the exception of one cut -- "Meantown Blues" -- the only one never to have been released in any form before now. This 64-minute, eight-song concert is an important historical document for numerous reasons, not the least of which is the absolutely killer show Winter and band put on. Winter appeared at the festival with his then-rhythm section of Tommy Shannon and "Uncle" John Turner (later to back Stevie Ray Vaughan in Double Trouble). Also appearing with the band on four cuts is Winter's brother Edgar on Hammond B-3. According to the liner notes what was to be played was unplanned, making for a stellar, unself-conscious public offering by an all but unknown artist to the Woodstock audience -- to be fair, there were two others at the time: Joe Cocker, and Crosby, Stills & Nash (with and without Neil Young). The set is divided between smoking originals -- an electric 12-string attack on "Meantown Blues" and a stomping "Leland Mississippi Blues," as well as well-chosen covers from his blues repertoire, including an electrifying version of J.B. Lenoir's "Mama, Talk to Your Daughter" to open the show. The version of B.B. King's "You Done Lost Your Good Thing" is the best cover version ever. The rhythm section here is so tight -- despite Winter's high-flying free-form improvisational attack. They are not only rocksteady, they help to control the dynamic and keep the show firmly on the ground. Of the material with Edgar, the reading of Bo Diddley's "I Can't Stand It," (which had recently been cut for Second Winter) is the most startling, though "Tobacco Road," with Edgar on vocals goes off in all sorts of intriguing directions without losing its country-blues flavor despite the electricity. Only the R&B standard "Tell the Truth" doesn't cut it. It's not because the band isn't tight -- it is and even goes into some popping jazz terrain, and Winter's solo is a buzz saw -- it's because the harmony vocals are terrible. The gig closes with what must have been his first recorded version of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." While the vocals are a bit rough, the playing is anything but (even if Winter flubs a change on the turnaround in the middle). The rave-up on this tune is a showstopper, making this altogether an indispensable entry in Johnny Winter's catalog. This is guitar hero rock and blues with a vengeance. ~ Thom Jurek

Winter's debut album for Columbia was also arguably his bluesiest and best. Straight out of Texas with a hot trio, Winter made blues-rock music for the angels, tearing up a cheap Fender guitar with total abandon on tracks like "I'm Yours and I'm Hers," "Leland Mississippi Blues," and perhaps the slow blues moment to die for on this set, B.B. King's "Be Careful with a Fool." Winter's playing and vocals have yet to become mannered or clichéd on this session, and if you've ever wondered what the fuss is all about, here's the best place to check out his true legacy. ~ Cub Koda

When Johnny Winter burst upon the American music scene in the late 1960s, he was initially looked upon as a something of an oddity--an albino guitarist playing and singing the blues--until people actually heard him perform. The Texas native played a sharp, bracing style of (mostly) electric blues with few concessions to rock & roll audiences. His 1969 self-titled debut reveals a fierce talent out to show the world that he could play the blues with the best of them.

Inspired by the raw sounds of blues icons Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters (whom he would often work with in the '70s), this set sizzles with passionate, incendiary electric soloing (B.B. King's "Be Careful with a Fool"); slashing, Delta-style acoustic slide guitar (Robert Johnson's "When You Got a Good Friend," the ominous original "Dallas"); and soulful, horn-accented balladry ("Two Steps from the Blues," one of three bonus tracks on this 2004 remastered edition). Winter would go on to record many albums in both blues and rock & roll styles--and play with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, and Sonny Terry--but his first remains one of his finest.

Sony Legacy's remastered and expanded reissue of Johnny Winter's self-produced debut album for Columbia Records -- recorded in 1969 -- is nothing short of a revelation. Unlike most of his peers, who purposefully wed blues to rock and made it palatable to pop audiences, Winter's approach to the blues was pure and savage. He approached rock & roll from the heart of the blues. His guitar tone was like barbed wire dipped in lighter fluid and was as precise as a stiletto. On this recording and Second Winter, Johnny played the blues pure and simple. Whether it was the stinging raucous Delta music as played acoustically on "Dallas," or his savage electric attack on "Mean Mistreater," "Be Careful With That Fool," or "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" -- complete with horns and piano by brother Edgar -- Winter's blues were easily separated from the masses. His uncompromising, completely mythical, and romantic fascination with the music was propulsive and profound. A listen to "Leland Mississippi Blues" or the strolling tough National Steel blues of "If You've Got a Friend" gives as complete a portrait as is necessary of a man who not only came out of the Texas blues tradition, but extended the whole Southern legacy and brought it deep into mainstream American culture while employing and paying homage to its creators -- Willie Dixon plays bass on this record! Containing three bonus tracks, this is one of the most welcome reissues in the blues canon to come down the pipe in quite a while, and if there is one Winter recording to own, it should be this one. ~ Thom Jurek minimize