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Buddy Guy
Can't Quit the Blues
(Silvertone / Legacy)
The Music Box's #4 boxed set of 2006
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2006, Volume 13, #11
Written by John Metzger
Box sets typically take one of two paths: Either they provide an in-depth
cross-section of an artist’s complete catalogue, or they compile previously
unreleased material as a means of illuminating a certain aspect of a career. Can’t Quit the Blues, the first expansive overview of Buddy Guy’s work,
follows the former strategy, with one distinctive twist. Nearly two-thirds of
the three-CD/one-DVD package emphasizes the recordings he has made in the past
15 years — well after he already had made his mark on the industry. No matter,
Guy was a performer who thrived on stage and, until his recent resurgence, he
struggled mightily to translate his tumultuous high-wire act into a studio
setting.
Appropriately, Can’t Quit the Blues begins with The Way You Been
Treating Me, which not only dates to 1957 but also was the first demo that
he ever cut. Although it understandably is rooted in tradition, it’s easy to
hear Guy’s distinctive growl and stinging lead beginning to take shape. Shortly
after moving to Chicago, he found himself performing alongside the likes of
Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Otis Rush, and Junior Wells. Although he spent the
bulk of the next decade with Chess Records, he continually was frustrated by the
label’s desire to temper his sound, and not surprisingly, his efforts in the
studio never fully showcased his abilities. Yet, as the songs that were selected
for inclusion on Can’t Quit the Blues indicate, the limitations that were
placed upon him weren’t enough to restrain his passionate delivery. In the span
of a mere two and a half minutes, for example, Guy lays waste to Ten Years
Ago, while a full-length romp through Stone Crazy from 1961 — the
track was edited significantly for its release as a single — demonstrates how
far Guy had come in the span of just a few years.
As the ’60s wore on, Guy began to distance himself from Chess, and the
liberation that he felt is palpable on the biting Hoodoo Man Blues as
well as the slow-burning devastation of In the Wee Hours — both of which
were the result of a clandestine session with Junior Wells. There’s little doubt
that his work remained inconsistent even after he jumped to Vanguard during the
latter part of the ’60s, yet he also produced some truly outstanding material,
including the relaxed groove of Can’t Quit the Blues’ title track and the
mournful One Room Country Shack.
Guy’s work during the ’70s and ’80s is woefully under-represented on Can’t
Quit the Blues, though this has as much to do with the notion that the blues
in general became horribly out of fashion as it did with the fact that Guy was
left without a domestic recording contract. Nevertheless, the selections that
were culled from this era — which include an intense romp through T-Bone
Shuffle with Junior Wells, Eric Clapton, and Dr. John; the snarling She
Suits Me to a T; and a dynamic, blistering, and particularly anguished
rendition of I Smell a Rat, which undeniably serves as one of the box
set’s utmost highlights — are truly remarkable.
Guy nearly was a forgotten entity when, in 1991, he reemerged with Damn
Right, I’ve Got the Blues, and three songs from the Grammy-winning set — a
rip-roaring duet with Jeff Beck on Mustang Sally; a tormented
interpretation of Five Long Years; and the thunderous title track — have
been incorporated into Can’t Quit the Blues’ contents. Via his subsequent
pursuits, Guy has done everything in his power to ensure that he remains firmly
entrenched in the spotlight. At times, his live concerts have been overloaded
with the same batch of blues standards, and too often, his feisty, fiery
approach has been tempered by his audience-pleasing showmanship. On the other
hand, he still possesses the ability to turn a song inside-out — his covers of
Muddy Waters’ She’s Nineteen Years Old and Don Robey’s I Smell Trouble
are emotionally explosive — and left to his own devices, his studio recordings
have proven to be more durable and eclectic than his early work. On Sweet Tea,
for example, he placed his own distinctive spin upon the blues strain that
originated in the hill country of northern Mississippi, and through the material
from Heavy Love — Midnight Train and the rarity Totally Out of
Control, which featured Jonny Lang and Reese Wynans, respectively — he
explored a heady, funk-oriented motif. Elsewhere, the New Orleans-steeped Feels Like Rain rambled from an incendiary cover of Ray Charles’ Mary Ann
to the lovely, laid-back soulfulness of John Hiatt’s Feels Like Rain
(with Bonnie Raitt, no less), and in crafting Blues Singer, he boldly
jettisoned his electric guitar in order to explore an acoustic-oriented
framework, the highlight of which is a turbulent run through John Lee Hooker’s
Crawlin’ Kingsnake with B.B. King and Eric Clapton.
My Time after Awhile — the newly created, 90-minute documentary that
accompanies Can’t Quit the Blues — hammers home the point that the box
set is designed specifically to widen Guy’s audience. Nevertheless, it’s a
wonderfully produced piece that utilizes archival footage and rare photographs
to trace the arc of Guy’s life and career in a captivating and enlightening
fashion. Further expanding the scope of the collection are 11 previously
unreleased concert performances, which also are presented on the DVD. Covering a
30-year span, the material ranges from two songs (Ten Years Ago and
Hoodoo Man Blues) that were culled from a 1974 concert in Montreux,
Switzerland to a pair of performances (Ray Charles’ What’d I Say and Son
House’s Louise McGee) that were taken from a 2004 show in Seattle. In
full, Can’t Quit the Blues provides a stunning overview of Guy’s immense
yet still-expanding legacy.  ½
Can't Quit the Blues is available from Amazon.com.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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