In the liner notes for
Tear This World Up,
Eddie C. Campbell makes an interesting observation about 21st century guitarists who try to emulate the West Side Chicago blues of the 1960s. "Not too many people can play it,"
Campbell asserts, "A lot try, but then, they get mad and change it into
Jimi Hendrix." Indeed, going for that
Magic Sam-type of sound isn't easy -- add too much psychedelic feedback, amplification, and distortion, and you can end up in
Hendrix/hard rock/early heavy metal territory. Don't add enough, and the results can sound like electric Chicago blues in the 1950s rather than West Side Chicago blues in the 1960s. But having worked with
Magic Sam himself and having been very active on Chicago's West Side in the 1960s (and Chicago's South Side as well),
Campbell has no problem achieving that type of sound on
Tear This World Up. If
Campbell's electric guitar solos bring to mind
Hendrix in any way, it would be pre-1967
Hendrix -- that is, before the formation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience (when
Hendrix was a sideman for Curtis Knight and
Lonnie Youngblood). But the most obvious stylistic comparisons on this 2008 session include
Magic Sam (
Campbell even performs
Sam's "Easy Baby"),
Buddy Guy, and
Junior Wells. Like
Sam circa 1967-1968, this is a blues-oriented CD that occasionally detours into straight-up soul.
Campbell, who was 69 when
Tear This World Up was recorded, isn't oblivious to non-Chicago blues; "Makin' Popcorn" has a
John Lee Hooker-ish appeal (electric Detroit by way of Mississippi), and the unplugged "Bluesman" is Mississippi country blues. But 1960s-style electric Chicago blues is the main focus of
Tear This World Up, which recalls that era with enjoyable results. ~ Alex Henderson