Flim Doozie
Along withMagic Slim, Eddy Clearwater is a preeminent torchbearer of Chicago bar-band blues. He's not quite a virtuoso guitarist, but on this reissue from 1986, he has the guts and chops to go head-to-head withOtis Rushfor five songs. Clearwater even quotes Rush's famed "All Your Love" lick back at Rush on "Sail the Ship." On all eight cuts, Clearwater's crisp, shouted vocal delivery adds an electric charge to the works, pumping uptempo entries like his "All About the Blues" (Clearwater's own statement of purpose) and lending a defiant edge toCharles Brown's anthem of the downtrodden, "Black Night." The guitar interplay's stunning on the latter, too. The title track lays down a hearty R&B; groove, and Clearwater pays homage to one of his mentors,Chuck Berry, in the flat-four rocker "Do This Town Tonight." Song to song, the unflagging dependability of Clearwater's all-around journeyman musicianship makesFlimdooziethoroughly entertaining.--Ted Drozdowski