JOHNNY WINTER
The Best of Johnny Winter
(Columbia/Legacy)
There was a time when Johnny Winter was bigtime buzz material. A musical prodigy from Beaumont Texas, his reputation as a master of all things rootsy was probably enough to get him signed to Columbia for 1969's eponymous debut.

Over the course of ten years with Columbia and Epic's Blue Sky, he cranked out 10 albums. The earliest of these tracks were recorded as a trio, much like early Stevie Ray Vaughan (and they had bassist Tommy Shannon in common). "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo," a minor hit for songwriter Rick Derringer, is probably the most recognizable of these tracks. Save for the absence of backup singers, it's nearly identical to Derringer's.

Winter's cover of "Johnny B. Goode" is probably the earliest example of what this CD is all about: Winter whoops and hollers and plays a mile a minute. He has moments of subtlety, such as on the rare version of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" that sounds more Marshall Tucker than Marshall amp, but they're few and far between.

A pulverizing interpretation of Muddy Waters' "Rollin' And Tumblin'," which was recorded two years after Winter served as guitarist on Waters' 1977 Hard Again album, isn't even the most excessive song here. A twelve-minute rendition of BB King's "It's My Own Fault," from 1971's Johnny Winter And... Live, is jaw-dropping in its sheer audacity, as well as for a few licks. And by the way, a cut or two from Hard Again, which was also on Blue Sky, might have made nice additions to this collection; Winter did some outstanding dobro work on Waters' "I Can't Be Satisfied."

After a hiatus, Winter reemerged in the early 80s with bluesier albums for Chicago's Alligator label. Hardly models of restraint, they were nevertheless more user-friendly. Whether or not The Best of Johnny Winter is for you depends on how much time you care to spend worshipping at the altar of the guitar. Brian Briscoe [buy it]

For fans of: early Stevie Ray Vaughan''s Texas Flood, early ZZ Top, George Thorogood