Music Feedback
New This WeekAround TownMusicFilmArtTheaterNews & FeaturesFood & DrinkAstrology
  HOME
NEW THIS WEEK
EDITORS' PICKS
LISTINGS
NEWS & FEATURES
MUSIC
FILM
ART
BOOKS
THEATER
DANCE
TELEVISION
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHIVES
LETTERS
PERSONALS
CLASSIFIEDS
ADULT
ASTROLOGY
PHOENIX FORUM DOWNLOAD MP3s

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend
Johnny " Guitar " Watson
THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY "GUITAR" WATSON
(FUEL 2000)

Stars graphics

Even before his death on stage in 1996, Johnny Watson was one of the blues’ undervalued originals. He was a major influence on both blues and rock artists — including Frank Zappa, who championed his ’70s comeback. These 18 songs are a quick and dirty primer, with the accent on dirty. "Hot Little Mama" and "Gangster of Love" reveal much about where Watson was coming from. His voice has microphone-rattling power on these ’50s and ’60s hits, and his guitar playing is a study in terse, filthy precision. "Don’t Touch Me" illustrates how he influenced some of today’s most significant stylists. When he sings "baby" in the tune’s chorus and pushes hard at the end of phrases, it’s almost impossible to tell him apart from his protégée Etta James. And the song’s solo break is a blueprint for all of Jimmy Vaughan’s best thick-toned rip-ups, so vicious it’s hard to believe Watson picked notes only with his thumb.

Watson claimed that it was his scalding "Three Hours Past Midnight," which is here with its flame-thrower guitar track, that first caught Zappa’s ear. And there’s plenty of evidence of his piano skills in the triplet-laden "Give a Little" and his gospel-flavored Ray Charles homage "Someone Cares for Me." Sure, in the ’70s and later, some of his edge was smoothed by a taste for disco and dime-store funk, but this disc is a flashback to the days when he had a rage to burn — and the fires he set for small labels like King and R.P.M. still fling plenty of heat.

BY TED DROZDOWSKI

Issue Date: January 9 - 16, 2003
Back to the Music table of contents.

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend