I Am The Blues [Original recording remastered]

Willie Dixon is best known as a songwriter, composer, arranger, producer, and session player for Chicago's Chess Records, but he also recorded occationally as a band leader. This 1970 LP is a collection of some of his 1960s Chess sides, including "Back Door Man", "The Little Red Rooster", and "Spoonful", and you can get most of his remaining Chess sides on the MCA-CD "The Original Wang Dang Doodle". But start with this one, because it is by far the best!

These songs are best known through men like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Otis Rush, of course, but here they are as performed by the original composer himself. William James Dixon wasn't a singer of the caliber of Muddy Waters or the mighty Howlin' Wolf, but he had a pleasant baritone voice, and here he goes a long way towards making up for his lack of a really distinctive singing voice with his expressive phrasing and overall intelligent use of the vocal power that he does have.

The production is excellent, crisp and clear, and the drums bite harder than on many 50s and 60s blues sides without being obtrusive. And the band or bands backing Dixon are magnificent...I say "band or bands" because there are absolutely no credits to be found, which is really annoying, but a good guess would be that the (absolutely superb) pianist is the great Lafayette Leake, and the drummer may be Clifton James. The harpist doesn't really sound like anyone that I can identify just by listening to him; it sometimes sounds like the huge, horn-like tones of Little Walter Jacobs, but it probably isn't, and it doesn't really sound anything like Dixon's own favourite harpist, Big Walter Horton.

So, why would you buy a collection of songs that Muddy Waters and the Wolf have also recorded when those guys were much better singers? Well, because this isn't just Muddy Waters' single "The Same Thing" or Wolf's "Spoonful" only with different vocals. These are significantly different versions of those songs, different enough to warrant a listen for that reason alone, and as great as the better known versions are, most of these nine songs are in fact just as terrific.
"I Ain't Superstitious" has little besides the lyrics in common with Howlin' Wolf's searing rendition; Dixon's take on his own song is more up-tempo, with a clanging boogie piano part...wonderful, rollicking R&B, made for dancing to! "Back Door Man" is a tough, swaggering boast full of sexual bravado. And this jouyously swinging version of Willie Mabon's superbly melodic 1955 single "The Seventh Son" is absolutely irresistable with its lively upper-register piano fills and Dixon's energetic vocal.

Once you become familiar with his burly baritone you'll start to appreciate Willie Dixon as a singer, I'm sure...I'm starting to like his voice almost as much as Muddy's gruff, manly vocals, or Wolf's ferocious, growling roar of a voice. And as an arranger Dixon was unbeatable, as this volume amply demonstrates.
This is good-time Chicago blues and R&B of the very, very highest order. It's not as intense as prime Howlin' Wolf or Otis Rush, sure, but it is exquisitely presented and utterly charming, and the fidelity is terrific. Very, very highly recommended!

This is a very enjoyable album to listen to on a long drive or on a warm summer evening, accompanied with a glass of wine. It provides no fireworks, rather a solid and thoroughly professional rendition of some of the titles made famous by others. Jim Morrison sounds much less restrained when he sings "Back Door Man", Ten Years After are more engaging on "Spoonful", and Muddy Waters really makes "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" rock. What Willie Dixon does in this album brings all of the above together on equal footing, and his deep, warm and husky voice is certainly something none of the others have. I don't have any of the other albums by Willie Dixon, so I can not compare this one to the others. On its own, however, I very much recommend it.