''Still Alive and Well'' is an album by
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
guitarist and singer
Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...
. It was his fifth studio album, and his first since ''
Johnny Winter And
''Johnny Winter And'' is the fourth studio album by Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter, released in 1970. Besides Winter, the group included guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs and drummer Randy Zehringer, all former members of the ...
'' almost three years earlier. It was released by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 1973.
Many of the songs on the album have a more rock-oriented power trio sound, with
Randy Jo Hobbs
Randy Jo Hobbs (March 22, 1948 – August 5, 1993) was an American musician born in Winchester, Indiana. Hobbs played bass for The McCoys during the 1965-1969 period and in the bands of the brothers Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter during 1970-1976 ...
playing bass and Richard Hughes on drums.
[ ]Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...
, who produced, plays guitar on three tracks. ''Still Alive and Well'' features two Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
songs — " Silver Train" and "Let It Bleed
''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 28 November 1969 on London Records in the United States and shortly thereafter by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. ...
".
Critical reception
In ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', Tony Glover
David Curtis Glover (October 7, 1939 – May 29, 2019), better known as Tony "Little Sun" Glover, was an American blues musician and music critic. He was a harmonica player and singer associated with "Spider" John Koerner and Dave "Snake ...
wrote, "Yes, he is. In this long-awaited return album, Johnny Winter takes up where he left off. His fingers are fleet and sure as ever, his vocals have bite and growl, and the flash and power of yore are hanging right in there."[
On ]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 databas ...
, James Chrispell said, "''Still Alive and Well'' proved to the record-buying public that Johnny Winter was both. This is a truly enjoyable album, chock-full of great tunes played well."[
]Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
wrote, "Winter will never be an especially personable singer, but I like what's he's putting out on this monkey-off-my-comeback: two late-Stones covers, plenty of slide, and a good helping of nasty."[
]
Track listing
:''LP side one:''
#" Rock Me Baby" (Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...
, Arthur Crudup
Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...
) - 3:48
#"Can't You Feel It" (Dan Hartman
Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Among songs he wrote and recorded were " Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits ...
) - 2:54
#"Cheap Tequila" (Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...
) - 4:04
#"All Tore Down" (Joe Crane) - 4:28
#"Rock & Roll" (Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...
) - 4:51
:''LP side two:''
#" Silver Train" (Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
, Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
) - 3:37
#"Ain't Nothing to Me" (Leon Payne(as Pat Patterson)) - 3:06
#"Still Alive & Well" (Derringer) - 3:43
#"Too Much Seconal" (Winter) - 4:20
#"Let It Bleed
''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 28 November 1969 on London Records in the United States and shortly thereafter by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. ...
" (Jagger, Richards) - 4:09
:''Bonus tracks on remastered release:''
#" Lucille" (Richard Penniman
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
) - 2:45
#"From a Buick 6
"From a Buick 6" is a song by Bob Dylan from his album ''Highway 61 Revisited'', which was also released as a single on the B-side of "Positively 4th Street". It was recorded on July 30, 1965.
Musical style
The song is a raucous blues song played ...
" (Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
) - 2:38
"Can't You Feel It" is incorrectly listed as 5.04 on early pressings.
Personnel
;Musicians
*Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...
– 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 stri ...
, slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
, mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, vocals
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 without ...
*Randy Jo Hobbs
Randy Jo Hobbs (March 22, 1948 – August 5, 1993) was an American musician born in Winchester, Indiana. Hobbs played bass for The McCoys during the 1965-1969 period and in the bands of the brothers Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter during 1970-1976 ...
– bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
*Richard Hughes – drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
*Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...
– slide guitar on "Silver Train", pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
and click guitar on "Ain't Nothing to Me", electric guitar on "Cheap Tequila"
* – flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
on "Too Much Seconal"
*Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
– Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
on "Cheap Tequila"
*Mark Klingman
Mark "Moogy" Klingman (September 7, 1950 – November 15, 2011)
– accessed November 17, 2011 was an American musici ...
– piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
on "Silver Train"
;Production
*Producer: Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...
*Reissue Producer: Bob Irwin
*Digitally Remastered: Vic Anesini
*Cover Design: John Berg, Ed Lee
Legacy
*New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band Circus of Power
Circus of Power is an American hard rock band formed in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1995 and reformed in 2014. To date, they have released four studio albums and three EPs.
Overview
With a sound similar to Alice in Chains, AC/DC ...
, covered and released the Derringer song "Still Alive and Well" on their 1989 live EP ''Still Alive...''.
*Austin, Texas-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Carolyn Wonderland
Carolyn Wonderland (born Carolyn Bradford, November 9, 1972) is an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. She is married to comedian and writer A. Whitney Brown.
Early life and education
Carolyn Wonderland was born Carolyn Bradford i ...
covered "Still Alive and Well" on her 2008 album, ''Miss Understood''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Still Alive And Well
1973 albums
Johnny Winter albums
Albums produced by Rick Derringer
Columbia Records albums