An Introduction To Johnny Winter [Remaster]

Performer: Johnny Winter
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl. Before guitarist Johnny Winter stormed onto the American blues scene in the late 1960s, the lanky, hot-shot Texan cut a number of sides for small labels, and many of those tunes are compiled on this well-selected Fuel 2000 disc. In addition to tearing into originals such as the charmingly youthful "School Day Blues" and the fiery "You'll Be the Death of Me," Winter offers up a number of excellent cover tunes, including Johnny "Guitar" Watson's caddish classic "Gangster of Love." Although it's clear that the renowned six-stringer was just warming up at this early stage in his career, there are enough gems here to make AN INTRODUCTION TO JOHNNY WINTER more than just a diehards-only collection. Fuel's Introduction to Johnny Winter is not a compilation of hits from his Columbia and Blue Sky sides, but an actual intro. These sides were recorded between 1960 and 1967 for the Dart, KCRO, Frolic, Todd, Hall-Way, and Pacemaker labels -- in other words, virtually his entire recorded output prior to his Progressive Blues Experiment long-player in 1967. The music here is raw electric blues, R&B, and even a few early rock tunes thrown into the mix. The cover of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Broke and Lonely" is a highlight, as is the burning instrumental cover of Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin." "Ease My Pain" is a primitive but fantastic model for what was to come in the late '60s on Columbia. A few tunes, such as "Eternally" and "You'll Be the Death of Me," were originally issued by Frolic, but picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. "Gone for Bad" and "I Had to Cry" were issued on MGM. Neither single charted; Winter was dropped. These 18 tunes are a fine document, a lost highway to the past. Given the role Winter played in the electric blues and its mass acceptance in America, these tunes serve not as some inferior or embarrassing document, but the thing itself, raw and undiluted. ~ Thom Jurek

Texan blues guitarist Johnny Winter, surely the first albino blues guitar hero, was already a convincing artist in the '60s when still in his teens. At the dawn of the '70s, he embraced the sound of the time, adopting a louder, more frenetic blues-rock style. Backed by the McCoys, including guitarist Rick Derringer, he released a series of classic blues-rock albums, while his keyboard-playing brother Edgar, with whom Johnny played on and off over the years, achieved stardom in his own right. At the end of the '70s, Winter produced Muddy Waters, helping him make a triumphant comeback. In the ensuing decades, Winter maintained a prolific schedule of touring and recording.

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