Magic Sam

All things considered, it took till 2011 to have a Magic Sam thread.

Magic Sam Magette is one of those musicians whose listener's memory is really based on two albums, a collection of singles, some posthumous live records and his tragic demise which either blurs or expands on what was left in the debris. Take it as it is and forget the sad tale, it is some ghostly sounding blues.

I have a collection of his Cobra recordings, and it's hot stuff. But most of the Cobra records I've heard haven't let me down. I've seen a cd of later? music, is it the same raw blues or slicker?

West Side Soul and Black Magic are both pretty amazing LPs. You can't go wrong with those two. They do have better fidelity than those earlier Cobra sides, but they still have the big echo on Sam's voice, which adds that ethereal sound to the recordings. I would say that those two later records kind of like some of Buddy Guy's records from that time are kind of Chicago blues in the age of rock somewhat and a bit less gutbucket as the earlier 60s stuff - mostly as the harp is not there and prominent.

i actualy find those delmark records kind of sloppy in the best possible way, which can't really be said of anything i've heard by buddy guy.

man this guy is great!

Kind of mindblowing that he never used a pick.

huh! yeah that's crazy, it's a pretty sharp attack for not using a pick..i'm reading this history of the blues book and checking out these guys whose names i vaguely recognized but aren't that well known

blind blake is really awesome too, way different obv but lots of guys like that...all the blind guys rule pretty much i've found

Magic Sam could really sing. His voice had a sweetness to it.

This guy is so good, just listening to West Side Soul tonight.

Good grief! Black Magic is even better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ScsUUNiuoQ

This is so good.

Remembering guitarist Magic Sam, gone 50 years this week. Here he is performing in Germany in 1969 in the last known footage of him. pic.twitter.com/R0sBNnDTrv

— Dust-to-Digital (@dusttodigital) December 3, 2019

That drummer's hyper-shuffle is crazy!

i probably watch that concert footage once a week

it is the healing force