Magic Sam - Black Magic
  • 01 I Just Want a Little Bit
  • 02 What Have I Done Wrong
  • 03 Easy, Baby
  • 04 You Belong to Me
  • 05 It's All Your Fault
  • 06 I Have The Same Old Blues
  • 07 You Don't Love Me Baby
  • 08 San-Ho-Zay (Instrumental)
  • 09 Stop! You're Hurting Me (You Better Stop)
  • 10 Keep Loving Me Baby
  • 11 What Have I Done Wrong (Alternate)
  • 12 I Just Want a Little Bit (Alternate)
  • 13 Everything's Gonna Be All Right (Alternate)
  • 14 Keep on Doin' What You're Doin'
  • 15 Blues for Odie Payne (Instrumental)
  • 16 Same Old Blues (Alternate)
  • 17 What Have I Done Wrong (Alternate)
  • 18 Keep on Loving Me, Baby (Alternate)
  • 01 I Just Want a Little Bit
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:04) [7.03 MB]
  • 02 What Have I Done Wrong
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:11) [7.3 MB]
  • 03 Easy, Baby
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:24) [10.09 MB]
  • 04 You Belong to Me
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:08) [9.47 MB]
  • 05 It's All Your Fault
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:56) [11.29 MB]
  • 06 I Have The Same Old Blues
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:35) [8.2 MB]
  • 07 You Don't Love Me Baby
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:33) [8.13 MB]
  • 08 San-Ho-Zay (Instrumental)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:57) [9.05 MB]
  • 09 Stop! You're Hurting Me (You Better Stop)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:52) [11.15 MB]
  • 10 Keep Loving Me Baby
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:55) [8.96 MB]
  • 11 What Have I Done Wrong (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:24) [7.79 MB]
  • 12 I Just Want a Little Bit (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:16) [7.47 MB]
  • 13 Everything's Gonna Be All Right (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:09) [9.48 MB]
  • 14 Keep on Doin' What You're Doin'
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (02:58) [6.79 MB]
  • 15 Blues for Odie Payne (Instrumental)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:48) [10.97 MB]
  • 16 Same Old Blues (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:45) [8.58 MB]
  • 17 What Have I Done Wrong (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (02:55) [6.69 MB]
  • 18 Keep on Loving Me, Baby (Alternate)
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:24) [7.77 MB]
Press

ALL MUSIC Review

AllMusic Review by Eugene Chadbourne

This album's color cover photo is an action shot, showing Magic Sam in the process of choking and bending his strings, a good hike up the fretboard. It isn't clear exactly what he is playing from the picture, although that certainly didn't stop dozens of pimply hippie guitar players from trying to figure it out. In the meantime, the record goes on and the first soloist out of the gate is Eddie Shaw, playing tenor sax. He is blowing over the top of an R&B riff that, although not out of the syntax of Chicago blues, would also have been quite fitting on a Wilson Pickett record. It is unfortunate that Magic Sam's recording career came to such an abrupt end, as he was one of the best artists working in the musical area between the urban blues tradition and newly developing soul music forms. This fusion was on the minds of many blues artists during the late '60s, and not just because it was aesthetically conceivable. It was also a matter of commerce, as audiences -- particularly black audiences -- didn't want to hear any blues that sounded too much like something their parents might have listened to.

The harmonica player Junior Wells was another one who decided to get a bit of James Brown into his act, not always with great results. What listeners have here, on the other hand, is frankly delicious, the results of the surplus of talent Magic Sam possessed, a triple threat as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Yet with all this talent, the label should also get some credit. This period of the Delmark discography set a high standard for blues recordings, the sound quality and tight interplay among the musicians every bit the equal of the classic jazz recordings on labels such as Blue Note and Prestige. There is nothing fancy about the production, and no gimmicks. It is just a great band, allowed to play the music exactly the way it wanted to. The musicians have obviously worked together a great deal and either had these arrangements down cold from live gigs or had plenty of time to get things tight. This doesn't mean that the music doesn't breathe, as there are plenty of little touches such as drum fills and turnarounds that show the presence of musicians thinking on their feet.

The passage of time also increases the musical value of this music, as the eventual popularity of commercial projects such as the Blues Brothers only served to dilute the power of urban blues. Labels big and small have forsaken this type of honest and straightforward production, preferring to try concocting a higher level of funkiness through extravagent over-production, boring superstar guest appearances, and insipid studio practices such as prerecorded rhythm tracks and dipstick guitar solos punched in a note at the time. Forget all this jive and check out a track such as "You Belong to Me," where the guitarist cuts loose with a restrained solo that sometimes dances ahead of the beat like a country fiddler while the band pumps away on a superb riff. The players here, including the fine guitarist Mighty Joe Young, pianist Lafayette Leake, and a muscular rhythm section, are the best of the best. No information is provided on the songwriting, so the assumption is that these tunes are all originals by Magic Sam. None are too obviously adopted from standards, but the opening "I Just Want a Little Bit" was much copied by other blues artists. "I Have the Same Old Blues" has a medium, loping blues tempo that swings so perfectly it should be used as an instruction course for lame blues bar bands.

Tahoe On Stage review
In two dazzling late-1968 sessions, Magic Sam and his crew, including sax player Eddie Shaw, pianist Lafayette Leake, and second guitarist Mighty Joe Young among them, cut one of the quintessential West Side Chicago soul/blues albums — their second in a row. But just days after “Black Magic” was released, Samuel Maghett was dead of a heart attack at the absurd age of 32.

Intensely rough and tumble, but with the soulfulness of grits and gravy, this incredible music continues to cast a very distinct spell. The men who played it — Sam included — emigrated to the North and quickly learned a whole new survival game. The turbulent streets of Chicago motivated them to spit out their blues, but with their Southern classiness still glimmering in the grooves.

A Mississippian, Magic Sam had been recording for about a decade when Delmark — the oldest blues label in the land — signed him. “West Side Soul,” his debut for the label a year earlier, set the standard and continues to reap all the attention. But “Black Magic” stands tall with it, more polished perhaps, but not one note less soulful and penetrating. The performances brim with purpose and confidence. Down-home never felt so urgent.

This new deluxe edition offers punchy, re-mastered sound and several bonus tracks. But the original album remains the focus, rightfully. Whether it’s Sam’s own “What Have I Done Wrong,” with its hair-raising melodies and his voice resonating anguish, a loose-limbed but nonetheless blistering cover of Lowell Fulson’s “It’s All Your Fault Baby,” or a neat run through Freddie King’s timeless instrumental, “San-Ho-Zay,” there’s nothing else like this.

Blues guitar fans have long championed Magic Sam’s slashing guitar work. But it’s the overall impact that makes this music truly Black and blues Magic.

-Tom Clarke
https://www.tahoeonstage.com/genres/blues/magic-sam-black-magic-reissue/

34
  • Members:
    Magic Sam
  • Sounds Like:
    Magic Sam!
  • Influences:
    Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Syl Johnson, Jimmy McCracklin, Lowell Fulson
  • AirPlay Direct Member Since:
    02/07/21
  • Profile Last Updated:
    09/24/23 08:31:15

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