An Introduction to Johnny Winter

Fuel's Introduction to Johnny Winter is not a compilation of hits from his Columbia and Blue Sky sides, but an actual intro. These sides were recorded between 1960 and 1967 for the Dart, KCRO, Frolic, Todd, Hall-Way, and Pacemaker labels — in other words, virtually his entire recorded output prior to his Progressive Blues Experiment long-player in 1967. The music here is raw electric blues, R&B, and even a few early rock tunes thrown into the mix. The cover of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Broke and Lonely" is a highlight, as is the burning instrumental cover of Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin." "Ease My Pain" is a primitive but fantastic model for what was to come in the late '60s on Columbia. A few tunes, such as "Eternally" and "You'll Be the Death of Me," were originally issued by Frolic, but picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. "Gone for Bad" and "I Had to Cry" were issued on MGM. Neither single charted; Winter was dropped. These 18 tunes are a fine document, a lost highway to the past. Given the role Winter played in the electric blues and its mass acceptance in America, these tunes serve not as some inferior or embarrassing document, but the thing itself, raw and undiluted.