MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPS

Bad Boy

Blind Pig Records

Brian K. Read

Listening to Magic Slim’s new CD, Bad Boy, on Blind Pig records, I feel like a time traveler -- Slim’s sound takes me back to B.L.U.E.S., Etc., on Belmont Avenue, where I’d spend nights soaking up his guitar playing, the gravel in his voice, and the sheer power of the band’s  music  roaring off that little stage.  I remember the dance floor filling up when the Teardrops would drop into a boogie, and the electricity you could feel all across the room.  The “Etc.” is long gone now (although B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted remains a fixture on Chicago’s blues scene), the band has changed a couple of times, but Magic Slim is still making blues magic;  Bad Boy is a killer CD, delivering the kind of gut-bucket Chicago blues that keeps the sound alive.

The newly reconstituted Teardrops consist of blues veterans Andre Howard on bass, with some fine backing vocals to contribute as well, along with steady-rockin’, well-travelled  guitar player Jon McDonald, and the inimitable Brian “BJ” Jones on the drums,  driving  the solid groove that gets  audiences first tapping their toes, then up and dancing.  Wear comfortable shoes when you come to a Magic Slim & The Teardrops show; your feet will thank you later!

Born Morris Holt in Torrence, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers, Slim grew up picking cotton.  He originally took an interest in the piano, but after he lost his little finger in a farming accident, he had to switch over to guitar.  Magic Slim got his blues handle much later on, here in Chicago, from the one and only Magic Sam.  They played together for years, and then Sam told him to keep the name, adding the “Slim” to give him a fresh start.  He earned his reputation as a powerful guitar-slinger back in the ‘70’s, playing South and West Side clubs.   Slim turns 75 this year, but you’d never know it from listening.  His singing and playing is as hard-driving as ever.

Magic Slim is one of just a few players left who can directly channel the Mississippi blues sound into his music -- that raw, gutsy guitar sound that emanates from greats like Son House, Charlie Patton, RL Burnside, John Lee Hooker, and so many others who brought their sound north to Chicago from the Delta.  Slim sounds like he’s playing slide guitar, but he’s just using his extra-large fingers.  No matter what guitar he plays, it ends up looking smaller once he picks it up.  But man, can he ever get the BIG sound out of it! 

Bad Boy really doesn’t break very much new ground, but it is the real Chicago blues, played the way they’re supposed to be played, no less, but sometimes a whole lot more. 

Covering big blues hits like the headline tune “Bad Boy,” by the late great Eddie Taylor, Slim shows off his signature style of sliding and bending notes, wringing out emotions to match his vocals.  Denise LaSalle’s “Someone Else Is Stepping In” is normally sung from the female point-of-view, but Slim turns the tables and gets his own new way of wearing his hair on this version.  Bassist Andre Howard provides a funny, high-pitched backing vocal too.  These cover tunes are faithful to the original artists, but in the hands of Magic Slim & The Teardrops, they take on a new life of their own too.

The oft-overlooked Chicago blues treasure Detroit Junior penned and played “I Got Money,” and Slim and the band deliver a nice take on the tune, with a hard-driving shuffle.  “Champagne  And Reefer” may not be the first Muddy Waters song you think of, but when you hear Slim sing it, it brings back Muddy’s voice, and a flood of memories.  Plus, BJ pops his snare until you think it should holler “Ouch!”  Slim’s original tune, “Gambling Blues,” gets a sizzlin’ hot upbeat arrangement too, from a band that plays hard in order to keep up with their leader’s hard-driving delivery.

The Mississippi blues sound is thick in Slim’s version of the J.B. Lenoir tune “How Much More Long,” and the band really backs up the breaks, giving him plenty of room to solo.  Slim’s solos have an element that many guitar players are often missing:  phrasing.  Instead of playing just a seemingly endless stream of notes, he takes his time, and makes the guitar talk.  Sometimes his phrasing sounds like a horn player’s, with the pauses involved in “taking a breath” between licks.  Such is the case on the Albert King tune “Matchbox Blues,” where he fills in the gaps of the lyrics with little stabs and trills that answer back

Slim covers some modern blues players too, like Little Ed’s “Older Woman,” which Slim slows down, to emphasize the words.  The blues has supplied some of the most down-to-earth English language poetry of all time, like the line in the song:  “These young women, they just don’t understand…but the old women they know…just how to treat their man.”  Slim takes a rocking approach to another song about women, “Girl What You Want Me To Do,” involving a Cadillac car, love, money, and some blues licks that sound a bit like Chuck Berry, during his blues phase.

The CD ends just like I remember Slim always ended his sets back at the Etc., with a self-penned instrumental boogie, “Country Joyride.”  Some nice Freddie King/Hound Dog Taylor riffs won’t disappoint on this number.  Slim gets in one of his signature growls near the end of this tune, sounding like Howlin’ Wolf as he drops a choice quote.  I won’t spoil it for you by giving you the line, but trust me, it’s a classic!  And so is Bad Boy, a hot new collection of Chicago blues classics sure to have you dancing your blues away!

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