Now this is more like it --
Tony McPhee alone in his home studio with just his Yamaha FG180 on the first six tracks, doing whatever comes to mind. Mostly, as the title suggests, he plays some nimble slide guitar through some appropriately raspy-voiced renditions of "Reformed Man," "Mean Disposition," "Tell Me Baby," and the obviously autobiographical "Hooker & the Hogs." The other nine songs were cut solo by McPhee in concert during 1993, and he comes off even better there, his playing even more nimble and his singing far more expressive on songs like
Son House's "Death Letter,"
Muddy Waters' "I Just Can't Be Satisfied," and
Howlin' Wolf's "Down In the Bottom" and "No Place To Go," among others. The fidelity on the live stuff, cut with a Yamaha APX-6 in Vienna, is also excellent. ~ Bruce Eder