Magic Sam - West Side Soul
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Free Music Notes for West Side Soul
Free Music Review: All of Magic Sam's Magic on Display
Hit: 5 Stars
On West Side Soul, Magic Sam, who died tragically in 1967 at the age of 32, teases and perplexes us with what was and what could have been.
Some of the finest blues guitar ever recorded is on this album. And Sam's singing, which had been accused of being uneven, was at its best. "Don't Want No Woman" is sung and played at a level of feeling reminiscient of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman." "My Love Will Never Die" is rendered even more poignant with his early death. And his "Lookin Good" is one of the best blues shuffle toe-tappers you'll ever hear.
This is a classic album, and a must-have for every blues guitar lover.
Free Music Review: Magic Indeed
Hit: 5 Stars
There are only two ways that someone could not like this album: 1. he/she lacks the capacity to feel emotion ie has no soul.
2. he/she is deaf.
While there are too many great blues albums to hail one as being the greatest, I could not argue with anyone thinking this to be the peak of blues. Whether you are a blues fan or not, this album has such emotion and such power that it transcends musical taste. The musicianship, perhaps most notably the guitar playing, is fabulous and Sam' vocals are breathtaking; he has the voice of an angel on fire, meaning sweet and lovely but edgy and intense. Music just doesn't get much better than this. I highly recommend it to anyone that considers his/herself to be a fan of music, partiuclarly blues, jazz, rock, or soul.
Free Music Review: Essential electic blues here
Hit: 4 Stars
Bottom line is if you like blues and want a classic blues album then get this album. Magic Sam just plays authentic blues at it's finest.Free Music Review: Magic Sam "a true genius"
Hit: 5 Stars
Back in the late 60's my teen friends and I had a blues band. Our greatest hope was to experience the awesome power of as many Chicago blues artists as possible. We spent many nights traveling from one great blues show to another. Way too many to mention. It was not until we stopped by the Main Point Cafe in Pa. to see Magic Sam did we fully realize our greatest blues fulfillment. The sonic thunder of Sam's voice and guitar left many in tears and shaken to the bone. I have never seen another guitarist do what Sam did that night. That includes Eric C. (Cream),Otis R., John Mc., Jimi H., Johnny W., etc... This was a man head and shoulders above the rest. His guitar only matched by his soulful voice. Meeting him after the show, he was as humble as anyone I have ever met. West Side Soul is an all too brief look at a beautiful man and his music. Free Music Review: No bluer blues
Hit: 5 Stars
"West Side Soul" is true-blue city blues, an absolute must-own for anyone interested in the genre. Folk and rock and rap and jazz are great at times, but sometimes you just need the blues. And unless you're willing to swan dive into a vat of dye at the local Levi's factory, you can't get any bluer than this. Jazz has "Kind of Blue," but this is "Really, Really, Really Blue."
Magic Sam's career may have been far too short (he released this and the almost-equally-excellent "Black Magic" before dying of a heart attack at the age of 32), but he at least died untouched by mediocrity. And he lives up to his name; his guitar is as spellbinding as Merlin's wand. Quick picks, long lazy notes, subdued background segments, and beautiful guitar solos: Magic Sam summons them all from his instrument with the effortless ease of a sorcerer.
And his voice--Oh, what a voice! There's a moment on "I Need You So Bad" that may well be my favorite moment of human vocal performance in the whole history of recorded music. It's one of those nearly inarticulate wails, an "Oh, baby" that captures a life's worth of emotion in the space of a few short seconds. You just can't top it, folks.
And yet, I'm not sure that that's the best song on the album. His "Sweet Home Chicago" may well be the definitive rendition of that classic blues staple. And "My Love Will Never Die" is a scorcher, a wonderful slow-cooker full of simmering blues gumbo that has it all: smoky guitar work, fiery declarations of undying and unrequited love, and that certain spicy je ne sais quois that makes a song inexplicably greater than the sum of its parts.
Chicagoans (like myself) are required by city ordinance to like the blues. I'm no expert, but I've listened to my share of it, and I've found some great anthologies and some excellent albums--Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues", B.B. King's "Live at Cook County Jail" and Buddy Guy's "Sweet Tea", to name but a few. Still I haven't found a better blues album than this one. Magic Sam, my love will never die.