Fans of Johnny Winter will want to get their hands on the Live Through
The ’70s DVD, a mixed bag of some of the guitarist’s most magnificent
performances, captured on film in Europe and America. Beginning with some early,
somewhat impromptu footage and finishing up with latter-day, arena-sized concerts,
Winter never loses his sense of the blues while boning down with some truly
remarkable fret work. To make it even more intiguing, the wild assortment of
talented musicians who accompany Winter, including brother Edgar, definitely
keep the master on his toes.
The DVD blasts off with a wild and raw take of “Frankenstein” from
1970 at the Gladsaxe Teen Club in Denmark. The Winter brothers are joined by
drummer Uncle John Turner and bassist Tommy Shannon, who later turned up in
Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Double Trouble. Edgar and Turner pretty much carry
the song, but then big brother Johnny moves in with the dreamy blues of “Be
Care Of The Fool” and all bets are off. While it’s hard to gauge
a reaction from the audience sitting in what appears to be some kind of multi-purpose
room for teens, Winter and company lock in and never run out of steam during
this set.
Clips from the Detroit Tubeworks, which pop up in between longer sequences,
finds Winter in a relaxed state, jawing it up about the blues, spontaneity,
levitation, the state of rock and roll and drugs with host Dennis Frawley. In
between, the guitarist rolls through standards like “Johnny B. Goode,”
“Tell The Truth,” and “Key To The Highway” — skewing
the bridges, pumping grit and iron into the melodies, and polishing each and
every verse to a bright, luminous shine.
Winter’s 1973 appearance on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert
opens with a sizzling version of Rick Derringer’s “Rock And Roll
Hoochie Koo.” The equally alluring “Stone County” is next,
and at this point you begin to wonder how Winter could get any better. How about
the 1974 Blues Summit in Chicago? Here, the guitarist leads an all-star jam
of “Walking Through The Park” with legendary blues guitarist Michael
Bloomfield, pianist Dr. John, drummer Buddy Miles and harpist Junior Wells on
board. This is truly something you have to see to believe.
Germany must have had a love affair with Winter and his brand of the blues
when you consider the range of German television clips that made the cut. “Mean
Town Blues” from a 1970 appearance on The Beat Club, filmed in
Bremen, Germany, and “Boney Maroney” from a 1974 Musikladen
show, also filed in Bremen, Germany, are prime Winter cuts — pure yet
spiked up with an extra shot of primitive Texas attitude to enrapture the listener’s
sensibilities. Winter simplified the recipe for his 1979 Rockpalast concert
in Essen, Germany, taking a breezy, bluesy walk with “Walking By Myself,”
“Mississippi Blues” and “Suzie Q.” At its heart, Johnny
Winter transports the blues to a higher plane on Live Through The 70s,
never showing any signs of retreat. And he’s been holding down the fort ever
since.
~ Shawn Perry
