Top Blues Albums No.2

Continuing our series on the recordings that have made me the muso I am, I have to say this would have to be in my top 3. And like all good things, there's a story behind it.

As a grad student just learning to play harp, I used to crash parties with a couple of friends, Mike and Arthur. Arthur used to carry this battered tape around. Usually in a pretty trolleyed state, Arthur would accost the owner of the stereo and persuade them to put his tape on. If there was no-one in attendance, he'd just put it on anyway. You know the usual howls this kind of action elicits, especially if you're a party crasher. But that seldom happened. The grooves on that tape seemed to cast their spell immediately. There was little protest, and the party usually amped up by a couple of orders of intoxication and turn into a wild debauch. Or maybe that was just Arthur, Mike and I. Anyway, The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Girls Go Wild was on one side of that tape.

I eventually got a copy of the album and began practicing whichever Kim Wilson harp chops I could figure out. Every band I've been in has done at least two or three tunes from that album. You just can't go past it for 12-bar blues efficiency. Kim's powerful vocals and harp, Jimmy Vaughn's oh-so frugal guitar licks. Notes and chords placed so carefully, you'd think they're gold. To me they are. Don't be fooled by the cheesy cover. If you're a blues fan and don't have this album, get it. It could change your life, or at the very least, your party.