Southern Comfort

This loose, raggedy session took place on one afternoon when Big Walter Horton, Jerome Arnold, and Jesse Lewis were in England to perform at a folk festival. British guitarist Martin Stone and his two pals, Peter Sherster and Ian Sippen formed the Underground Recording Corporation and rented time in a shabby, ramshackle recording studio. Horton, as legendary a drinker as he was a harmonica player, got pissed off and eventually passed out with two-thirds of the album finished. Stone, Arnold, and Lewis created a psychedelic raga called "Netti-Netti" (clocking in at over 12 minutes) to close it out. Horton is fine form here, but it's a bit difficult to say exactly how fine, given all the reverb on his voice (it was 1968 after all) but his playing is solid throughout. Stone is a sharp, biting guitarist who had been influenced by everyone from Michael Bloomfield to Eric Clapton and Peter Green. The material ranges form Horton originals — including "Easy (No. 2)," "Sugar Mama," "Train Time," and "Need My Baby" — two fine tunes by Lewis, "Found a New Love" and "Same Old Blues," and Arnold, "Paying Double." "Netti-Netti" doesn't even fit on the set given all its backwards-playing tracks, noodling guitar (Stone was completely under the influence of Jimi Hendrix but couldn't play like him at all) and sound effects; it should be avoided like the plague. The rest of Southern Comfort will be enjoyed by the Horton faithful, but those novices interested in checking his sound would be well advised to look elsewhere first.