Wicked Grin

by

John Hammond

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This is one of the best blues albums of the past 20+ years, combining John Hammond's gutty vocals and guitar with the quirky settings of producer Tom Waits (who also wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs). It's a dirty concoction of mean streets and gutted dreams, yet elevated by the power and redemption of the blues.

The song most emblematic of the album's superiority is Track 2, "Heart Attack and Vine." This is an almost unbelievable recreation of Muddy waters' Chicago blues, thick with deep, raw, Boomy guitars and Hammond's Louisiana vocal accents. Wonderful lyrics, and an incredible sound; it has the ambience of a live set... somewhere in Chicago 45 years ago! It also features great work on the Hammond organ by Augie Meyers. I haven't heard anything like this in years.

Tracks 1 and 3 also merit special praise. Hammond's quick and cutting riffs on "2:19", coupled with Larry Taylor's thundering bass is head-shaking stuff. His playing somehow combines the power of electronic sound with the intimacy and personal touches of acoustic.

Track 3, "Clap Hands" fills a blues groove with the sinister spirit of a church with secrets, due, in large part, to Charlie Musselwhite's sinewy harmonica brewing darkly underneath. (It's so good to hear Musselwhite and his buzzsaw sound reminiscent of James Cotton.) The other songs take various blues routes and are uniformly excellent, including the John Lee Hooker flavor of "16 Shells...," Hammond's steel guitar on the country blues " Buzz Fledderjohn," the soulful "Shore Leave," and Musselwhite on "Big Black Mariah" Of special note is the gentle "Fannin Street," a folk-songish acoutic piece which, for some reason, reminded me of some of Traffic's (rock group) acoustic work.

There are annoying too-kewl liner "notes' by T. Bone Burnett, but no matter: This is a must have for all blues lovers.

After 39 reviews, I have some doubts about any beneficial effects the 40th may have, but I feel so strongly about this disc that I decided to weigh in anyway.

Pretty straightforward, really: Tom Waits is a musical genius. John Hammond is a great blues guitarist, and a very good singer.

Didn't they listen to this CD before they released it?

Except for the passing novelty of hearing some of Tom's (deliberately) incomprehensible growling translated into english, this disc has very little to offer.

You know that sensation you get when you hear a really great song performed as elevator music?

Bingo.