Eddy Clearwater – Two Times Nine – Fan Club FC 96 CD

This 1991 French Fan Club label re-issue of the eight-song 1981 Charly R&B imprint release comes with an additional selection entitled “Chuck Berry Medley: Johnny B. Goode/Rock Around The Clock/Hound Dog/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On”, and for lovers of Clearwater’s meld of blues, rock-n-roll, and country sensibilities, this is a goldmine of high blues satisfaction and rollicking fun. 

This outing was originally produced for Clearwater’s own Cleartone imprint, and was recorded in the later part of the 1970s.  These sides indicated that Clearwater was mightily ripening as a bluesman with a unique style all his own.

Across this stellar collection we find sounds firmly rooted in Chicago’s then-fertile west side blues scene, sweltering rock-n-roll attributes, and funky, greasy outings indicative of Clearwater’s bandstand repertoire.

This assemblage features bluesmen of the highest esteem at the time including Jimmy Johnson, Mark Wydra, and Tom Eckard plying their guitar skill sets, Abb Locke unfurling his saxophone dexterities, Allen Batts lending superb keyboard knacks, Casey Jones and John Hiller ideally framing things with their percussion flairs, Dimestore Fred providing his proven harmonica assistances, both Marvin Jackson and Scott Meyer providing excellent low-end bass flairs, along with and Clearwater’s ever-present stage buddy Leroy Brown offering backing vocals.

Clearwater is in tremendous voice throughout this musical excursion, and his guitar playing is tasty, well-constructed, and delivered with the respect each tune deserves.  It is simply superlative.

While this collection may command you to do a bit of digging to find it, once in your hand and in your CD player, you will want to spin it over and over again.

Below are the running tracks of this highly recommended CD. 

Song Titles

• A Little Bit Of Blues, A Little Bit Of Rock & Roll
• Blast Off
• Came Up The Hard Way
• 2 x 9
• Chicago Daily Blues
• Nashville Rd.
• The World Is In A Bad Situation
• Payments On My Woman
• Chuck Berry Medley: Johnny B. Goode/Rock Around The Clock/Hound Dog/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On