When “Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues” came out on CD in 1991, Buddy Guy’s first album in nine years, it kinda took the (blues) world by storm, saying Buddy was back and in a big way, and the rest of the 90s and 2000s proved that out. We had seen him just the summer before this release at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and were blown away, and when this came out he was regularly visiting the area so it really seemed like The Year of Buddy Guy.
Of course, I was completely out of vinyl buying by then, so my copy was a crisp CD that we played endlessly. It wasn’t until the very end of 2022 that I found out there even was a vinyl release, and, perhaps more importantly, a re-release in a nice limited edition on blue vinyl. The Music on Vinyl label hypes that Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler are on the record, and I know that hype was part of what got the record attention back in 1991, but there’s almost nothing I could care about less than who guest stars on a Buddy Guy record. The overall sound is amazing, energetic, electric Chicago blues, with some hard-rocking blues and that Buddy Guy voice hollering out, especially on the title track. Ever since we got it, we’ve been playing it repeatedly, reminding us how great this album is.
This is the Music on Vinyl release, with a really nice linen cover, and it’s been in constant rotation for the past month and a half, and isn’t leaving the “new vinyl” shelf anytime soon. Honestly, if you only have one Buddy Guy album, this is the one. If the first two tracks don’t make you a lifelong Buddy Guy fan, I don’t know what to do with you.
