Description
Release Date: 2008
Label: Document Records
Track List
- Let The Good Times Roll
- Blues Minuet
- Junko Partner
- Black Night
- Tipitina
- Come Rain Or Shine
- Pixie
- We’ve Only Just Begun
- Send Me Some Loving
- Rip It Up / Long Tall Sally
- Let Them Talk
- Hound Dog / Hambone
- Every Day I Have The Blues
Personnel
- James Booker – piano, vocal
- Norman Beaker – lead guitar (tracks 12-13)
- Victor Brox – electric piano (tracks 12-13)
- Dave Lunt – bass guitar (tracks 12-13)
- Mike Smith – drums (tracks 12-13)
Notes
A year or so before this concert, Island had released a mid-price solo piano album in Britain, which had certainly raised his profile – even if it did puzzle many critics with its mix of quasi classical playing (Blues Minuet) and barrelhouse Blues (Junko Partner), with Booker’s well-documented heroin addiction adding a very personal touch to the latter. Both these titles are included on this set recorded at the Lake Side Hotel in the much-missed Belle Vue complex in Manchester. There is also the near Jelly Roll Morton-styled Pixie, some rock ‘n’ roll, heavily adapted covers of ’50s R&B numbers, such as Black Night and Let Them Talk , and a wonderful Tipitana – and don’t forget that back then Professor Longhair was definitely an esoteric taste !
All solo, except for the last two numbers of the album, on which local outfit – now much better known too – The Norman Beaker Band, with Victor Brox on electric piano, help out, though the vocals are rather low in the mix. This tape may have languished for thirty years but it is certainly good to hear it now. With so little of Booker’s material readily available, this is essential for Crescent City lovers.
