Sunday, December 28, 2008

Smokestack Lightning

More Cadillac Records - this time Chester Burnett aka Howling Wolf. Not a bad facsimile in terms of visuals and sound maybe I can build up the courage to watch the whole movie. Hard to imagine the Chess story in isolation - there was a whole load of labels and artists but I suppose this is a movie not a book. Chicago Breakdown by Mike Rowe from 1973 is worth tracking down though it's long out of print - you'll need the library loan system but maybe it might get a reprint if people get interested in the Chicago Blues scene. Another book to have is Blues Records 1943-66 - a complete guide to 20 years of recorded blues by Leadbitter and Slaven. It tells all the session details, musicians, dates songs of all the post war classics. Maybe a bit trainspotterish but I found it useful.