- December '69: Johnny Winter's star rises with his second album
December '69: Johnny Winter's star rises with his second album, a blues-rock powerhouse that expands his sound. He even joins Janis Joplin onstage at Madison Square Garden for a fiery jam. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Rock Festival kicks off with a mix of rock and religion, as Billy Graham prepares to spread his message amidst the music.
In the column "Guest Album" , Dan Farte reviews the recently released "Second Winter". The transcript of the review follows
Today's column, a review of Johnny Winter's latest album, is by Dan Forte of Hayward. Readers are to submit reviews of their favorite pop albums or interviews with entertainers to the column each week. Those whose columns are published will each receive a copy of a recently released stereo pop album. Address all correspondence to: Guest Albuia, Teen Age, Oak-land Tribune, P.O. Box 509, Oakland, 94641.
"Second Winter" by Johnny Winter is literally an album and a half. As Winter explains in the liner notes, the group recorded an excess of material, planning to leave off anything that didn't satisfy them. In the end, all 11 songs were included, but put on three sides, because squeezing them all onto one record would have lost volume. As Winter stales, "We couldn't honestly give you more, and we didn't want to give you less, so here is exactly what we did in Nashville — no more and no less." "We" is Winter's group, which has now apparently added a new member. Johnny's older brother, Edgar, who was used to augment a few cuts on the first Columbia album, plays alto sax and keyboards.
The other members are Uncle John Turner en drums and Tommy Shannon on bass — both great instrumentalists. Winter plays lead mandolin and handles all vocals. All members are from Texas. "Memory Pain." minus Edgar, is an old blues which Winter has speeded up. This cut immediately displays the togetherness of the group. "I'm Not Sure," with Edgar on harpsichord, seems confusing at the start. but after a short "hoochie koochie" type of break, the group goes back to the original tempo, and gels going a lot better. "The Good Love" has its composer, Dennis Collins, on bass. This cut features Johnny using a wah-wah pedal, and shows influence of Jimi Hendrix.
Side two shows another side of Winter, with three old rock and roll tunes. "Slippinl and Slidin' " and "Miss Ann" both written by Little Ri-hard, don't come across very well. The group is more than competent in this field, but Johnny's singing is an attempt to copy Little Richard. It would have been better if the group had done it in Winter's style, like the next track, "Johnny B. Goode," On this cut the group doesn 't try to said like Chuck Berry, as the Rolling Stones and other groups have done. This is easily one of the best cuts on this album. Another great one is Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited."
This is a hard - driving blues with some of the best slide-guitar ever, It far impasses the original. Side three opens with "I Love Everybody," a Johnny Winter original. as are all songs on this side which features "I'm Not Sure." This is a fine blues, slightly reminiscent of Muddy Waters' "Two Trains Runnin'." Similarly, "Hustled Down in Texas" is close to "Got My Mojo Working," also written by Muddy Waters. Johnny again uses a wah-wah pedal, plus some fuzz effects. "I Hate Everybody" shows the group's talent in still another field — jazz. It features great guitar work by Johnny, and a few saxes and an organ played by Edgar. It continues into a drum introduction for "Fast Life Rider," which is minus Edgar.
Shannon plays some great, fast bass, and Red Twiner pounds out powerful driving drums. Stereo speaker switching makes it appear as though two guitarists are trading riffs. The song lasts more than seven minutes, and Johnny, aided only by drums throughout much of the song, shows why Mike Bloomfield once called him the greatest white blues guitarist, Personally, I doubt if any blues guitarist — white or black — could carry his pick, if possible, Winter has out-done his first Columbia al-, and also "The Progressive Blues Experiment" on Imperial. It's too bad there isn't a fourth side, but these three sides are plenty. Besides, another side would raise the price.
Janis Joplin Gives A Rousing Display Of Blues and Rock
By Mike Jahn
Janis Joplin, the Texas-born girl who has become one of the leading blues and rock singers over the last two years, gave an excellent performance before a near-capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden last night. Miss Joplin, a shouter of great energy, emerged a year ago as a solo performer with her own six-piece backup band after first coming to prominence as lead singer for a raucus San Francisco rock group, Big Brother and the Holding Company. When her new band was first heard, its main fault was that energy was being sacrificed for precision. The raw, bursting-out blues of Miss Joplin seemed inhibited by an often colorless group of musicians.
That criticism did not apply last night. At the Garden, Miss Joplin's accomplices gave a powerful and spontaneously happy display of brass blues and rock, and she let herself go in a very exciting way. Despite some problems with the vocal amplification system early in her set, she sang lustily and loud, on such material as "Bo Diddley," an old rock song, and an original blues of undetermined title written about the experiences of a hip-type in Texas. For this she was joined by the guitarist Johnny Winter, another Texan who has come to light lately. They played and sang a long duet, which grew into an informal jam session with Paul Butterfield, whose blues band shared the bill at the Garden with Miss Joplin
Blythe, 1969. A desert wind whipped across the festival grounds as Johnny Winter, a young, unknown guitarist, took the stage. With his fiery guitar solos and raw, passionate vocals, he unleashed a blues-rock storm that left the crowd awestruck. This was no mere performance; it was a seismic shift. Winter had arrived, and the world of blues-rock would never be the same.
Visit DJTEES Mid Winter Pop Festival. Blythe, California 1969 (external)
Hollywood, Fla. — The Hollywood Rock Festival, featuring 72 continuous hours of music and an appearance by evangilist Dr. Billy . Graham and 150 other clergymen, opened early today. The music began at midnight Friday in 50-degree weather for 1,500 rock enthusiasts who had paid as much as $20 a ticket for the entire 72-hour.show. Rock groups included The Turtles and The Amboy Dukes played during the early morning hours while some in the audience enjoyed the show from tents they had pitched on the festival grounds or from around camp, fires. Others scheduled to play during the festival included The Grateful Dead, the Vanilla Fudge, Canned Heat, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Bands Johnny Winter, blues guitarist B. B. King and something called The New Japanese Anti-Sterility Movement. The Rev. Graham and the other clergymen were scheduled to appear Sunday to speak and mingle with the crowd.
In a telegram sent to festival promoter Norman Johnson this week, Graham said: "I really dig this generation of young people-,they are great" Local police had devised elaborate measures to keep order on the grounds and prevent the use of narcotics. The Broward County Commission last week passed an emergency ordinance allowing sheriff's deputies to stop and frisk festival goers without the use of warrants. However, police made little use of the emergency measure in the festival opening. They also ignored the pitched tents and camp fires which also had been banned.