Shake 'Em On Down

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Shake 'Em On Down	4:06
2		I'm Crazy About You Baby	5:24
3		John Henry	5:16
4		You Got To Move	3:27
5		Someday	4:20
6		Mercy	7:13
7		The Lovin' Blues	4:28
8		White Lightnin'	5:15
9		Baby Please Don't Go	4:24

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Description

LABOR RECORDS HAS Re-RELEASED MISSISSIPPI FRED McDOWELL'S LAST RECORDING
Live early-70's performance features the renowned blues guitarist at his best

Heiner Stadler, president of Labor Records, has announced the re-release of Mississippi Fred McDowell's last recording, Shake 'Em On Down (LAB 7004), which captures the legendary bottleneck guitarist live in concert in Greenwich Village at the now-defunct Gaslight on November 5, 1971. In addition to the driving gospel-like rhythms and unparalleled slide licks that are the hallmarks of McDowell's style, Shake 'Em On Down provides a unique look at McDowell's rapport with his audience, his method of sequencing the songs for dramatic impact and his singular electric guitar sound. (His studio recordings usually featured acoustic guitar.)

At the time of this performance, McDowell had just completed three years of steady touring, having finally been able to give up his day job in 1968 and make a full-time living by performing music. That combined with the fact that he used electric guitar makes this one of his most authoritative recordings, displaying with full live energy his magnificent coordination between voice and bottleneck. The rhythmic precision, clarity of phrasing and perfection of tone and pitch which McDowell displays on Shake 'Em On Down make it clear why many blues aficionados consider him the greatest slide guitar ever.

With the assistance of the late Tom Pomposello on bass and second guitar, Mississippi Fred McDowell takes us through the foot-stomping rhythms of "Shake 'Em On Down," the slow improvisation of "I'm Crazy about You Baby" and "You Got to Move" (popularized later by the Rolling Stones) and the classic "Baby Please Don't Go," a McDowell signature finale. McDowell's fast tunes show a lesser-known side of Mississippi blues by eschewing the shuffle rhythm which so many of us associate with typical blues and also avoiding the stop/start guitar accompaniment which typifies the classic delta blues guitar style. His are the driving straight-ahead rhythms with a continued bass line that are the fore-runner of the rock'n'roll back beat - a fact McDowell doesn't hesitate to point out to the audience.

"Maybe every six months someone'll come through with an album...of Fred McDowell, and you'd say: There's another cat...just blowing my mind." -Keith Richards


REVIEW / Stereo Review

Perfomance: Very Good
Recording: Good

This session, Fred McDowell's last, was recorded live in a Greenwich Village club in 1971, and despite some sound-balance defects, it's
clear that his Delta style wailing voice and attack were in excellent form. He stretches out comfortably on all the selections, including the title track, a jump number he'd been playing at farm-country dances for decades. "You Got To Move," which I heard sung as a gospel tune in a tent revival in the 1950's; and Big Joe Williams's famous "Baby Please Don't Go." McDowell also displays his accomplishments on the
slide or "Hawaiin"-style guitar; he isn't showy but interrupts the
slow figures with sudden. surprising stings and swoops. A fine last testament. -J.V.


REVIEW / OP: Independent Music

Fred McDowell's style, here described as "electric delta blues, bottleneck style," is a marriage between the delicately articulated pre-war downhome idiom and the more hard-driving modern urban style. It's no news that his bottleneck playing is second to none. Furthermore, McDowell possessed the sine qua non of blues mastery-spontaneity, the ability to make familiar material sound completely new. This 1971 performance is said to be McDowell's last public appearance. Going from the rollicking title cut to a fine slow blues to "John Henry" to the now-famous "You Got To Move," one gets an impression of the breadth of this man's repertoire. Tom Pomposello's bass provides unobtrusive support. I can't imagine a better live blues album than this one.
-Jonathan Scheuer


REVIEW / Goldmine - The Record Collector's Marketplace

This is a reissue of an album that was originally on Oblivion Records,
and it captures one of McDowell's last live performances. He had only
recently begun using an electric bottleneck guitar in his performances,
so this is one that fans of the late, great bluesman's usual acoustic music will want to hear. McDowell retained his raw talent and unbelievable presence till the end, and he tackles his own compositions here (including "You Got To Move," made famous by the Stones) as well as a couple by other blues cats. Historically and musically essential.