Chuck Higgins - Blows His Wig! (2011)

Tracklist
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01. Iron Pipe
02. Blues 'N' Mambo
03. Long, Long Time
04. Boyle Heights
05. Blue Sax
06. Papa Charlie
07. The Duck Walk
08. Tortas
09. Stormy
10. Higgins Bounce
11. Higgins Blues
12. Cotton Picker
13. Motor Head Baby
14. The Rooster
15. West Side
16. Ain't Gonna Leave, Baby
17. I'm In Love With You
18. Higgins Bounce (Take 2)
19. Higgins Blues (Take 2)
20. Love Me, Baby
21. Just Won't Treat Me Rite
22. Chuck's Wig
23. Real Gone Hound Dog
24. Big Fat Mama


Blows His Wig is a stunner. There have been a few Chuck Higgins collections out there on disc; the best until this one was the great Pachuko Hop set issued by Specialty in 1992. The track by the same name is noticeably absent form this collection, so that's a downer. However, you do get the flip - the amazing "Motor Head Baby," which features a young John Watson on piano and vocals; he also appears here on "Stormy" and "Just Don't Treat Me Right" -- these are early sides that feature the R&B and funk monster Johnny "Guitar" Watson before he took up his notorious six-string. The rest of the material - 24 cuts in all - comes from the sides Higgins cut for Combo. While the mad saxophonist blew his guts out for many labels during the '50s, it's here that he did his most consistently raw and unhinged work. The music dates between 1952 through 1957. Higgins recorded until well into the '60s, and then again for Rockin' Ronnie Weiss' Rollin' Rock imprint. There are tracks here, such as the badass "Iron Pipe," written by Jake "Vernon" Porter, Higgins longest musical collaborator, along with the smokin' "The Rooster," "Papa Charlie," and the burning "Tortas." There are a number of cuts released here on CD for the very first time, many of them feature vocals by Daddy Cleanhead Higgins' brother, Geechie Howard, as well as Ora Mae Garvin. There are no duplications between the Pachuko Hop disc and this one by Ace - which sounds a hell of a lot better than anything Higgins has on CD thus far - which easily comprises the finest, rawest, honkinest sessions by a true rockin' R&B original.

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