''Stone Crazy!'' (originally released as ''The Blues Giant'') is an album by the American musician

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

. It was recorded and released in 1979.

History

Only one Buddy Guy studio album had been released in the seventies ('' Hold That Plane!'' – recorded in 1969 and released in 1972), until he and his band entered Concoret Studios in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France, for these sessions. The album was produced by Didier Tricard. To release this album, Tricard founded a new label, which Guy named "Isabel" after his mother.

Recordings

On October 31, 1979, Guy and his band recorded 13 songs, for two albums – this one and the

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

album '' Pleading the Blues'' (Wells only played on the tracks for his album, but the band is the same on both albums). Guy's brother

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * Phil (film), ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as ...

played rhythm guitars, J. W. Williams played bass, Ray "Killer" Allison played drums. "Are You Losing Your Mind" is a version of Guy's earlier song "Stone Crazy", retitled due to copyright issues at the time.

Releases

Originally released on the French label Isabel in 1979 as ''The Blues Giant'', in France and the U.K., but with alternate covers. It was first released in the U.S. in 1981 by Alligator Records (retitled ''Stone Crazy!''). It was released in Brazil in 1988 (with an alternate cover). It was released on CD in 1990 (in the U.S. by Alligator as ''Stone Crazy!''), in the UK by Isabel (as ''The Blues Giant''). It was released on CD in France by Isabel in 2002 as ''Stone Crazy!'', but with an alternate cover to the U.S. release.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

considered the album to be "wilder and more jagged" than ''

A Man and the Blues ''A Man and the Blues'' is the second studio album by blues guitarist Buddy Guy. It was recorded and released in 1968 on Vanguard Records. It features four Guy originals, a cover of Barrett Strong's Tamla Motown hit "Money", and a playful adaptat ...

''. The ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' called the album "arguably the finest example of blues guitar this decade."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that "Guy mostly indulges his histrionic side throughout this high-energy set." ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' deemed the album "righteously wailin."

Track listing

All tracks written by Buddy Guy, except "Outskirts of Town" by

Casey Bill Weldon William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901, or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an American country blues musician. Some details of Weldon's life are unconfirmed. According to some sources, he was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, ...

and

Andy Razaf Andy Razaf (born Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo; December 16, 1895 – February 3, 1973) was the American lyricist of such well-known songs as " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose". He was also a composer, poet and vocalist. Biograph ...

. # "I Smell a Rat" – 9:31 # "Are You Losing Your Mind" – 6:33 # "You've Been Gone Too Long" – 5:38 # "She's Out There Somewhere" – 4:26 # " Outskirts of Town" – 8:13 # "When I Left Home" – 8:20

Personnel

– lead guitar, vocals *

Phil Guy Phil Guy (April 28, 1940 – August 20, 2008) was an American blues guitarist. He was the younger brother of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Phil and Buddy Guy were frequent collaborators and contribute both guitar and vocal performances on many o ...

– rhythm guitar *J.W. Williams – bass *Ray Allison – drums

References

{{Authority control Buddy Guy albums 1979 albums JSP Records albums Alligator Records albums