So where did this dream come from? Who the fuck knows? I did get assigned (actually volunteered with much enthusiasm) to review an upcoming DVD release entitled Otis Rush - Live at Montreux 1986 (there is also a CD companion to this release) this past week. The excitement of this assignment caused me to listen to the Otis Rush playlist I have on my iPod. I cannot wait until that DVD arrives. You will know when it does as the review will be hosted here at Blogcritics. I guess the combination might have caught up with me a few days later and planted the seeds of this dream. Fat Samantha Mathis will remain a mystery. I am indifferent about the real Samantha Mathis. I am just jealous her larger lookalike has met Otis Rush and I have not.
II.
Rush was born in Philadelphia, MS in 1934 and moved to Chicago in 1948. He was discovered by Willie Dixon, who was working for Eli Toscano's Cobra label at the time, and signed a deal with Cobra in 1956. Cobra folded up shop a few years later and that largely tells the story of the rest of Rush's career (biography information courtesy of AMG). Some blues artists make it big and have to fill their career with songs reminiscing about the bad times. Rush seemed to never stop having them. He never ran out of inspiration to sing and play his blues.
He is probably best known to rock fans through the music of Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton. Led Zeppelin used Rush's version of Willie Dixon's "I Can't Quit You Baby" as the blueprint for their version. "I Can't Quit You Baby" has been covered several times and most of them follow in the Rush-Zeppelin tradition (although the late "Little Milton" Campbell did a soul-blues version to interesting effect). The other well known Rush song is one he wrote himself and was made famous by Eric Clapton. "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" is a song Clapton did when he was with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. Clapton's version is slower than Rush's but is largely faithful to the original.
The late Stevie Ray Vaughan also considered Rush an influence. He, too, covered Rush songs in concert and even named his band after one of his songs ("Double Trouble").
Article comments
1 - DuaneFan
Well, ef, ef, effity ef. I guess that sums it the ef up, doesn't it?
2 - Mat Brewster
Wow. That was so freaking long, I had to take a bathroom break in the middle.
But it does have some really cool stuff in it. Nicely done, Mr DJ
3 - DJRadiohead
Brewster, thank you. Thank you for making it through the thing (I wholly understand the need for a good, cleansing shit somewhere after Cobra records disbanded) and thanks for commenting. I had no idea I was going to go this long when the piece started. This was one of those where I was just along for the ride, too.
And Duane... I couldn't have said it better myself.
4 - DJRadiohead
I did a search on GoogleNews for "Otis Rush" and this story came up tops. Maybe the fictional Samantha Mathis character will show the man himself. I hope he likes it.
Now, if I can just get those people to send me the DVD so I can review it.
5 - Mark Saleski
ah yea! great take on Otis Rush. i don't have any of his recordings, but must say, the can can put together a tune. the first one i ever heard was the Geils version of "Homework" (from Full House).
makes me want to go home and plug in the guitar.
6 - DJRadiohead
Thanks, Mark. Glad you made it through. Was it a one bathroom break or a two-shitter for you? Wait... don't answer that.
Essential and Right Place... are really good places to start if you are at all curious. Honestly, knowing what little I have come to know of your tastes, I have a feeling you would find Right Place... a more fulfilling, enjoyable listen. It's just a hunch.
7 - Mark Saleski
remember, one of my favorite writers is Kerouac...so it did't seem so long to me.
i will definitely check out some Otis Rush.
8 - DJRadiohead
Well, I could have kept yammering for another 1,000 words or so. I'll try harder the next time.
Re-reading these comments and this column has caused me to again reach for Right Place... myself. Time well spent.
9 - DJRadiohead
I got excited when there was a package in the mail... turns out to have not been Otis. It was another CD I will be reviewing. Still. I wanted to watch Otis.
10 - DJRadiohead
UPDATE: The CD/DVD arrived today. My review will be surfacing soon. Some Otis tonight. Not a bad way to spend an evening.
11 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
DJ, that was beautiful. Beautiful. i dunno that i've ever heard a note this fella played, and to be honest, electric blues carry on's were never my bag. To paraphrase Sun House; the blues are about that snarl in your gut when bad shit's goin down.
I like it when they sound like that, too. And for the most part, i've only ever really heard that from acoustic blues malarkey.
But that's got nothing to do with the wonders of this piece, or maybe it has everything to do with it. I never heard a note and doubt i'd even like it if i did, and yet entranced, i was.
and those last couple lines were perfect. There's a lotta perfect lines in there, mind. But those last two - they were perfectly perfect.
12 - DJRadiohead
Duke, I know what you mean about the acoustic blues and the very guttural stuff. Some of Otis' work, despite being all electric blues, has been described as hair raising in that sort of sense. Certainly not all of it. What I think is if you listened to a few of his records you would be disinterested in a good chunk but there would be a song or two that you'd want to take with you. And on that acoustic blues subject- if you haven't taken Brother Saleski and my advice to get Muddy Waters' Folk Singer album you should not let one more day of your life pass without it.
I had to go back and re-read the last couple of lines to see which were the perfectly perfect. Thanks for that, Duke, and thanks for reading this. This one was a lot of fun. I don't write "dream" sequences often.