Tough Enough (Remastered) Buddy Reed & Th' Rip It Ups

• 1 (Buddy's) Big Legged Woman 04:25
• 2 Rock Me 03:26
• 3 Blues for Mud 03:29
• 4 You're So Fine 03:52
• 5 You Shop 02:45
• 6 Rialto Rock 03:32
• 7 Meet Me in the Moonlight 03:59
• 8 Sugar Bee 04:23
• 9 Lonely No More 04:17
• 10 I'm a Hog for You (Baby) 03:31
• 11 Kiss My Ass 03:39
• Total Runtime 41:18

Info zu Tough Enough (Remastered)

Recorded in the spring of ’85, this fired-up blast of West Coast blues finds former Canned Heat guitarist Buddy Reed stepping into the spotlight with gritty guitar work, feverish vocals, and a band that hits like a live wire. Tough, loose, and bursting with juke-joint energy, this session is the sound of a blues lifer finally calling his shot, and playing like everything’s on the line.

"Tough Enough completes singer/guitarist Buddy Reed’s transformation from sideman (veteran of the blues group Canned Heat) to solo star. In terms of maturity of concept, this is the newest, boldest entry in what at times appears to be a year-by-year plugging away at the blues business. Reed is finally calling his shot.

Recorded in the spring of 1985, this album features Buddy with his working band, the Rip It Ups. He has never sounded better, and it may be because he has never been recorded with such spirit or clarity before. The 1982 Tough Enough album, which had been the intention of its producer to support with larger-than-life figures like Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker, was, for some, only the beginning. Reed wrote or arranged all the songs on this album, and unlike some who ""go solo"" and take a studio approach, this album shows Buddy and the Rip It Ups played tightly like the Little Richard and Jimmy Liggins-influenced party band they are.

Drummer Bob Newham hadn’t even picked up the sticks in three years when he got together with an earlier friend and long-time Rip It Ups member Jerry Smith. When Bob heard some of Reed’s tapes, he went into the studio. If there was a key to this session’s excitement, it was capturing Reed’s infectious exuberance. He improvises joyously like a bluesy rock jester, gyrating and gesturing. His guitar is full of power, yet raw in a way no horns or keyboards could convey. The solos are not ""pretty,"" they are dangerous. His tone sounds like early Johnny ""Guitar"" Watson. The first moment the disc was mixed, the band and engineer knew this was going to take Reed rightfully far.

""Big Legged Woman"" opens the disc with Reed railing and ranting in vocal form. A sexual character study and early jump blues in design, it is not unlike any Jimmy Liggins’ rave-up. His guitar shrieks through it with tremolo and fire. ""Rock Me"" is Reed’s most intense slow blues in years. His screaming guitar and hallelujah vocals reveal the early West Coast gospel roots. Rolling Out the Blues (or some inspired title change) may follow this on future issues. ""Sugar Bee,"" originally done by Eddie Shuler’s Goldband group The Calcasieu Playboys, sounds better here than the hit version of 1961. Played by many in our own band through our childhood, it epitomizes dance swamp blues in its best form. The reverb on Buddy’s guitar is the kind we used to hear on the radio or in the only roadhouse in town. Even the more modern calypso romp (could’ve been the late 1950s or the monthly college dance) shows how well this side of life fits Buddy’s life.

Today, Reed’s approach is not unlike that of a traditionalist T-Bone Walker. Rather than appearing stiff or copying the old, Reed’s Rip It Ups are playing the blues with a fever and commitment that made the music exciting in the first place. This, in its essence, is what Buddy Reed stands for, and as this record demonstrates, he is eloquently committed. (Paul Cantrell)

"Buddy Reed, guitar, vocals, percussion
Jerry Smith, bass, backing vocals
Bob Newham, drums, backing vocals
Mark Adler, keyboards (tracks 1, 4, 6, 9)
Bill Taylor, percussion (track 7)
Nick Killian, motor-sickle (track 11)

Recorded at Rochshire Studios, Anaheim, California
Mixed by Nick Killian and Willie Harlan
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Produced and Engineered by Nick Killian and William S Taylor

Digitally remastered

Ivan Elmo "Buddy" Reed
is a seasoned performer and a vital part of blues history. As a teenage guitarist, he would play the “Battle of the Bands” at the National Guard armories around his home town of Rialto, California. Then in 1968, he met Little Walter protege George “Harmonica” Smith.

As Buddy tells it, “George had a lot going on, so I went with him. Unknown to me at the time, he was friends and neighbors with the great Pee Wee Crayton and none other than Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. They lived in the Watts district of L.A. and this is where we started school. Blues school! It was me and Rod Piazza, Richard Innes and Jerry Smith. Sometimes we’d bring down a 14-year-old guitar phenomenon, Greg “Little Guitar” Schaefer. Me from Rialto and the rest of ‘em from Riverside. Then, to round it out, from George’s neighborhood we had the great J. D. Nicholson on piano. J.D. had been a touring and recording artist in his own right for years. We were "The George Smith Blues Band featuring Rod Piazza. We became the house band at George’s neighborhood club 'The Small Paradise' on the corner of 53rd and Avalon. We just called it Small’s. We worked there every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. George was the real thing, from Chicago, actually Cairo, close by. He’d played with Muddy and everybody else. After all the years of performing, man, he had the stage thing DOWN! All the other artists, great and small, looked up to George."

The biggest names in the business passed through Small's - Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, Howling Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Johnny Otis - and Reed and his bandmates backed them up. George Smith and his disciples were soon touring the states with Big Mama Thornton, and recording and touring in England. Pressed to come up with a new band name in the studio, Reed suggested "Bacon Fat." Smith and band recorded three albums with Fleetwood Mac producer Mike Vernon for the Blue Horizon label.

Back in the States, Buddy left the band to join his rock n' roll idol, Little Richard, playing Las Vegas and touring nationally for a year. Reed then reunited with Jerry Smith and Richard Innes, performing under his own name. Since then, Buddy has traveled the Western states with his current trio (and sometimes quartet) Th' Rip It Ups.

Over the decades, Buddy Reed has crafted a unique style, combining a raw and passionate vocal style, high energy staccato rhythm guitar, and searing leads. He sings and plays with a sweat drenched intensity rarely matched by his peers. A highlight of the show is his slide guitar showcase, inspired by Muddy Waters, Elmore James and J. B. Hutto. His repertoire reflects his love for early rock & roll, including the songs of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and The Coasters. His originals speak of the hard life of an uncompromising blues veteran.

In 1998 Buddy Reed was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame. In 2012, Reed's recording with the late George "Harmonica" Smith, "Teardrops Are Falling" was nominated for Historical Album of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He has been recognized by the City of Los Angeles and the California State Senate as a creator of the West Coast Blues Sound.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet