Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Intro - Tom Marker
2. Soul Fixin' Man
3. Cherry Red Wine
4. Move from the Hood
5. Bad Love
6. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
7. Big City
8. Give Me Back My Wig
9. It Hurts Me Too
10. Medley: Gambler's Blues/Sweet Little Angel

Disc 2:

1. Party Time
2. All the King's Horses
3. What Have I Done Wrong?
4. Walking Papers
5. Think With Your Heart
6. What's Going on in My Home?
7. Will It Ever Change?
8. You're Gonna Make Me Cry
9. Everything's Gonna Be All Right

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84202 in Music
• Released on: 1999-08-24
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live

Album Description
The first CD contains the complete set of his live-appearance at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival, which was hyped up by the press as the hottest gig of the entire Festival, and celebrated by thousands of fans. Recorded by radio and broadcasted nationwide, this great moment of blues live performance has been documented for the posterity. The bonus track (Gamblers Blues/Sweet Angel) delivers the Jam Session with Otis Rush and Eddie C. Clearwater of the same evening. CD 2 contains a live appearance at Buddy Guy's Legend, Chicago's famous live club, recorded in September of the same year. "Live In Chicago" is the first document out of the archive of the Luther Allison Holding Co., which was founded by Luther and his longtime companion Carolyn Brown (Rocky) some days before he died.

Amazon.com
The blues world lost a treasure when Luther Allison died in 1997, just as he was finally garnering the recognition he so richly deserved. If there's any question of that, this live album, recorded at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival and at Buddy Guy's Legends, will dispel any such notion. A performer and songwriter of the first order, Allison had the sort of mastery of his instrument that comes from long experience; whether rolling off licks on the "Gambler's Blues/Sweet Little Angel" medley, or playing extended solos on "All the King's Horses," Allison's on the ball and in control at all times. This album contains mostly newer material previously recorded for Alligator Records, like "Soul Fixin' Man," "Bad Love," "All the King's Horses," and "What Have I Done Wrong?" Overall, this is an excellent memorial to a musician who should be remembered. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews

Chicago axe wielder attacks thousands of listeners !
The first C.D of this double set was recorded at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1995. I first heard this concert while I was living in Chicago and I taped it from the radio. I didn't even hear it at the time but I played it on my car cassette player a few weeks later and I had to pull the car over and just listen. The soulful singing, the diamond sharp tone of the guitar, the lightning fast fretwork simply blew me away. It's hard to pick out any particular high points on a record with so many of them but the guitar solos on both "Cherry Red Wine" and "It Hurts Me Too" will leave you gasping for breath. Not just because of the skill of his playing but for the sheer intensity, power and gut wrenching emotion that pours out of every note. Towards the end of the set he pays tribute to Hound Dog Taylor. "Give me back my wig" features some of the most ferocious slide guitar work you'll ever hear. It's a tribute to the rest of the band that they actually stay in touch with him on this form. Also, the Memphis Horns can sometimes be intrusive but on this C.D they embelish Luther's guitar work, add texture to the sound and are so tight they squeak when they walk. He was probably on his finest form ever at this gig as it was his first big date back in his hometown since he left to live in Paris several years before due to a lack of recognition in the U.S.A. He had a point to prove and boy did he prove it. The second disc, recorded at Buddy Guy's Legends Club in Chicago, shows a different side to Luther's playing because it's a small, smokey, sweaty and intimate club and he seems really intense and more introspective. This second C.D. would probably have won a W.C Handy award for best live blues album in it's own right but it pales into insignificance when placed alongside the first one. Beware because this record will haunt you. Every time you browse your blues collection your hand will be drawn to it. And you know what ? You won't care. I was fortunate enough to catch him playing live a year after I returned to England and the friends who came to the gig always talk about it when I see them. He played a three and a half hour set almost non-stop (except when he paused to talk for five minutes to three young kids in the audience)in a small club and if I'd died the next day I would have died a happy man. That's the effect his concerts can have on people and this C.D will do it for you too. I'm finding it hard to come to terms with the death of this man. Like many people I'd never heard of Luther Allison until just before he died and now I miss him as though he were one of my own family. If you're going to buy one blues C.D this year, this is the one.

I' ve been lucky ....
I have been lucky to have the opportunity to see him playing at one of the most famous Blues festival in Italy many years ago.
His performance was absolutely outstanding! I thought at the time that it would have been impossible to do any better than that. I was wrong! This is by far the best live Blues performance I have ever heard. Highly reccomended!

God I miss this man!
I can't believe this man is gone. We are fortunate he left us with Live In Chicago. As said in another review, Luther Allison is Blues....he's Rock and Roll...he's Funk...he's Soul. But beyond all else he wraps these all in an unequaled energy and passion. The two performances are quite different due to the venues. He was a master at adapting to the space. The disc from the Chicago Blues Festival is more wide open, the second at Buddy Guy's is more soulful, pointed at reaching deep into his audience. I must second a comment made in a prior review...you will be haunted by the power of Luther Allison. Over the years I never missed a chance to see him live. We'll never be able to see him again...but Live In Chicago is a marvelous set of memories of this masterful artist. I salute the Alligator Records people for bringing it to us.