''Somebody Loan Me a Dime'' is a 1974 studio album by blues

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

ist Fenton Robinson, his debut under the

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using ...

imprint. Blending together some elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

with

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

and

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900s ...

, the album was largely critically well received and is regarded as important within his discography. Among the album's tracks is a re-recording of his 1967 signature song, "Somebody Loan Me a Dime". It has been reissued multiple times in the United States and Japan, including with bonus tracks.

Critical reception

The album overall received good reception by critics and is described by the 1993 ''The Big Book of Blues'' as "essential listening."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

in its review characterized the album as "one of the most subtly satisfying electric blues albums of the '70s". New York based WGMC blue radio host Jeff Harris describes the album as "one of the era’s true masterpieces", Robinson's "pinnacle". ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' Robert Christgau offers some dissent; though he graded the album a B+ overall, indicated that Robinson's voice (though well utilized) lacked power, his songs lacked hooks (aside from "Gotta Wake Up") and his music was "stylish and thoughtful" but restrained. AllMusic's Bill Dahl, by contrast, praised Robinson for the power of several composition and focused particularly on his voice, a "deep, rich baritone

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

sounds more like a magic carpet than a piece of barbed wire," indicating that Robinson "speaks in jazz-inflected tongues, full of complex surprises." Harris, too, pays particular attention to Robinson's voice, which he describes as "a thing of beauty, a deep, rich baritone that glides along and is a perfect counterpoint to his elegant guitar work."

Music

The album includes a new recording of "Somebody Loan Me a Dime", that Robinson had originally released in 1967 for the Palos label. The song is regarded as Robinson's signature piece and his best-known number. In 1969, Boz Scaggs popularized the song with rock audiences, when he recorded it with

Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...

on lead guitar for his second album. Although Scaggs is listed as the songwriter on the original album, later reissues credit Robinson. The title song serves as the background music during the opening scenes of the movie ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

'', a movie responsible for revitalizing Aretha Franklin's career. Jeff Harris identifies as among Robinson's influences on the album

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

and

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

, "but with a strong jazzy inflection and plenty of grit". All About Jazz, concurring with those influences, places the musician on "the smoother side" of the genre of

with some elements of

Release history

The album was Robinson's debut for the

label, the first of three for the label. (For his second, ''I Hear Some Blues Downstairs'', Robinson was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

.) Prior to his contract with Alligator, Robinson had encountered difficulties finding a studio home for his music. The album has been subsequently reissued a number of times by Alligator in the U.S. and internationally by Japanese labels

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

and

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

. The 2001 P-Vine re-issue includes two bonus tracks: "I Hear Some Blues Downstairs" (4:16) and "As the Years Go Passing By" (4:49).

Track listing

''Except where otherwise noted, all tracks composed by Fenton Robinson'' #"Somebody Loan Me a Dime" – 2:54 #"The Getaway" – 4:17 #"Directly from My Heart to You" ( Little Richard) – 4:17 #"Going to Chicago" (Traditional) – 3:46 #"You Say You're Leaving" ( Big Joe Williams) – 3:15 #"Checking on My Woman" – 3:23 #"You Don't Know What Love Is" – 3:50 #"I've Changed" – 4:23 #"Country Girl" (

Rudy Toombs Rudolph Toombs (1914 – November 28, 1962) was an American performer and songwriter. He wrote " Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B song, and other hit songs for her, including "5-10-15 Hours". He also wrote " One Min ...

) – 4:55 #"Gotta Wake Up" – 4:25 #" Texas Flood" (Larry Davis, Don Robey, Joseph Wade Scott) – 4:12

Personnel

* Fenton Robinson – guitar, vocals *Dave Baldwin – tenor saxophone *Cornelius Boyson – bass guitar *Elmer Brown – trumpet *Tony Gooden –, drums * Bill Heid – keyboards *Norval D. Hodges – trumpet *Bill McFarland – trombone * Mighty Joe Young – guitar *

Bruce Iglauer Bruce Iglauer (born July 10, 1947) is an American businessman and record producer who founded Alligator Records as an independent record label featuring blues music. Early life and career Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States ...

–

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

References

{{Authority control Fenton Robinson albums 1974 albums Albums produced by Bruce Iglauer Alligator Records albums P-Vine Records albums