Southern Soul and Blues – Otis Rush and Friends, featuring Eric Clapton and Luther Allison Live At Montreux 1986

Otis Rush

Otis Rush and Friends, featuring Eric Clapton and Luther Allison Live At Montreux 1986

Eagle Records 20084-2

What a pleasure to have this great concert available on CD! Otis Rush is vibrant throughout the show on every one of the nine cuts. His guitar soars through each number, and his vocals shine as well. Otis leads off with a hot blues instrumental, "Tops", and the stage is set for a solid 54 minutes of sheer musical pleasure.

The bonus is that halfway through his set, Otis is joined by Eric Clapton, who had long ago paid tribute to Otis by doing his "All Your Love (I Miss Lovin’) with John Mayall. Eric also recorded the Otis Rush classic "Double Trouble" on his 1976 album release [it]No Reason To Cry[it] and did a live version of the song on his 1980 release [it] Just One Night[it]. They perform both of these numbers here and they also join forces on a great rendering of Albert King’s "Crosscut Saw".

On the final song of the evening, Memphis Slim’s "Every Day I Have The Blues", the crowd goes wild as Otis and Eric are joined onstage by Luther Allison, who had looked up to Otis as a mentor for many years. A great way to end a terrific show, with each guitarist working the audience into a frenzy, of course leaving them wishing for more.

Otis Rush became an icon in Europe and Japan, but never quite attained superstar status in the blues world here in America and I have often wondered why. I think you will as well after hearing this great CD.

This concert is also available from Eagle on DVD.

—Dan Guilfoyle