John Hammond & The Wicked Grin Band – Wicked Grin – Live
“John is a great force of nature,” enthused Tom Waits after he produced Hammond’s 2001 album Wicked Grin, which almost entirely consisted of interpretations of Waits compositions. “I don’t know anybody that can play guitar like that except guys that are old enough to be his grandfather. And for a writer it’s flattering to have someone like John do your songs. He has invaluable experience and finesse. He makes me sound good.”
On „Wicked Grin“ John Hammond was accompanied by a small group of musicians, all of whom had previously worked with Waits. Most of these musicians subsequently gigged the album with Hammond but by the time of the Bremen gig that comprises „Wicked Grin – Live“ in 2002, the line-up consisted of guitarist Frank Carillo, bassist Marty Ballou and drummer Stephen Hodges.
All the songs are extraordinary. Here are compelling and surreal despatches from America’s demi-monde, with the songs peopled by billiard-playing midgets, blind firemen, drunks, junkies, losers, inadequates, cheating women and hobos with Runyonesque names like Slaughterhouse Joe, Jack The Cutter, Little Joe from Kokomo, Jimmy The Harp and The 44 Kid.
Hammond has always regarded „Wicked Grin“ as a career highlight. But if the album is a landmark in his recording career, it is surely equally true, on the evidence of „Wicked Grin – Live“, that the gigs he played in support of it were amongst the most remarkable of his glorious, ongoing, six decade career as a travelling bluesman.
Tracklist:
CD1:
- 2:19 05:04
- Clap hands 03:32
- Heartattack and vine 04:54
- Til the money runs out 04:42
- Gun street girl 05:17
- Fish in the jailhouse 04:44
- Shore leave 04:06
- Gin soaked boy 04:10
- Get behind the mule 05:39
- Murder in the red barn 07:07
total: 49:15 Min.
CD2:
- Big black Mariah 05:11
- Jockey full of Bourbon 03:48
- Fannin' street 05:16
- 16 shells from a thirty-ought six 04:26
- Low side of the road 05:42
- Buzz Fledderjohn 05:48
- I know I've been changed 03:06
- Cold water 05:29
total: 38:46 Min.
CD1+CD2 total: 88:01 Min.