Here's another LP from my collection that I had to get from across the pond.....
Robert Lucas - Luke and the Locomotives
It cost me $45 or so, but I knew exactly what I was getting.... and here's why:
Somewhere during 1991, I took my wife and MIL out to dinner on a Saturday night in the suburbs. There was a local seafood restaurant that had a small club attached, and booked local and "small time" talent in order to try and draw the younger set. As we walked into the restaurant and passed by the closed club doors, I heard this wonderful (but very muted) music spilling out of the cracks. It grabbed me so intensely that I sent the women up ahead to the table and stayed behind to try and check it out, but was denied access for even a peek. However, there was a table set up where they were selling CD's and such, so I gambled a $20 and bought this album on CD. At the time I did not know who Robert Lucas was, but I knew what I was hearing.
Turns out, he was the front man for Canned Heat, and during his career backed up several blues Illuminati, including
Big Joe Turner, George Smith,
Pee Wee Creighton,
Lowell Fulson, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and
Percy Mayfield.
I listen to this LP again and again..... it is truly one of my favorite LP's of all time. If you're a blues enthusiast, rock and roller, or even a fan of the harp you really owe it to yourself to give this one a tumble. Big Man Mambo and Shed a Tear are the song standouts for me, but honestly there isn't a clunker to be seen anywhere on this recording.
It is truly a "Must Have"