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Review (+++++)

In 1976 Jimmy Dawkins returned to the Delmark label. The credits for this must go to the albums producer Steve Tomashefsky. He even was ready to pay for the sessions if Bob Koester didn´t like the recordings. The goal with the recordings was to capture how the Jimmy Dawkins band sounded live at the time. If you compare this album with the actual live recordings available from the same time I can´t say the goal is achieved - luckily enough! The live recordings are full of lengthy guitar solos over slow shuffles. Not too inspiring... Blisterstring on the other hand showcases the whole band, not just Jimmy´s guitar. Jimmy Johnson plays excellent rhythm guitar, Sonny Thompson´s piano fits surprisingly well and Sylvester Boines and Tyrone Centuray is a driving solid funky blues rhythm section. I think this is the best band Jimmy Dawkins ever had. 
This is a complex album. The first time I heard it, on the ugly yellow and gray vinyl, I didn´t like it. The wahwah effects, the at first hand sloppy backup and Jimmy´s hoarse voice - it all seemed as a big disappointment. Today I think this is the most interesting and most exciting and actually the best album Jimmy Dawkins ever made. Take a look at Blue Dog News 9 for further discussion on Blisterstring. 

• Feel so bad (7.34)
  "I feel so bad - just like a ball game on a rainy day." I was never shure if I understood the lyrics correctly. Ball game? Well, Otis Rush sounded in deep anguish when he sang it in the sixtie´s and Jimmy Dawkins hooks up on that mood here. Jimmy growls and moans and distorts this song into a mesmerising experience. Jimmy Johnson uses a wahwah pedal and Jimmy Dawkins guitar is ugly and contorted. He hits a note, kills it immediately, hits it again and holds it forever. Very typical Dawkins guitar, I love those blistering runs he plays in the last solo. This is not everybody's cup of tea, the song is too long and too strange to be loved by everyone. Some of us though will love it.
• Blue Monday (4.15)
  "Blue Monday"! One of the coolest song Dawkins ever recorded. A great tribute to the New Orleans sound. Listen especially to the credit Jimmy gives to Smiley Lewis! Sonny Thompson´s piano is, of course, great here. Okedoke from N.O!
• Chitlins con Carne (3.48)
  Jimmy Dawkins guitar is razorsharp on the instrumentals. This is the first one on the album and it´s a solid warm-up for what´s coming. The song is faded out after 3.48 - a sign that nothing really happened in the studio. See this as Jimmy Dawkins stretching his fingers and adjusting his amp before he gets deep in the groove later on. But beware! A Jimmy Dawkins in training mode still crushes almost every other guitar player.
• She got the blues too (6.55) (CD bonus track)
  A slowblues with some nice guitar from Dawkins, especially in the last solo where he plays his trademark tremolo notes. This song is bit too stylized to fit my taste, I guess some might find this song to be the best on the album. If this track had appeared on almost any other of Dawkins 70's album I had ranked it very high.
• If you´re ready (5.05)
  I copy what I said in Blue Dog News 9:
  "I recently bought the CD reissue of Blisterstring (Delmark DE-641) and I found myself listening to the same tune again and again. And it was a tune which I never paid any attention to when I played the LP! "If you are ready" is the tune. It´s not a straight blues. Dawkins and the tight band churns a relentless soul/funk beat in a Chicago soul mode. Dawkins starts the song with fat ugly chords and then the band lurks in. First a little bit laid-back, but when Jimmy Johnson's perfect driving Chicago soul backup guitar comes in the band really swings. Dawkins singing is hard, grunting and ugly, almost as ugly as his guitar tone. Listen carefully to his solo guitar. Often just a single note, a note which Dawkins hits hard and then holds. Incredibly aggressive. Dawkins in the seventies have always made me nervous. His guitar playing is irregular. First he seems totally uninterested, playing some random notes and, suddenly. Wham! Rapid-fire licks and an almost insane attack. You can never be sure of what Dawkins is going to do."
• Blues with a feeling (5.51)
  I just say three keywords to describe this song: Fat chords (West Side touch), Wahwah and tough singing. Straight blues.
• Ode to Billie Joe (4.32)
  My favourite track! This country standard was very popular among the Chicago blues bands in the 70´s, the Dawkins band turns it into a driving soulblues funk workout. Jimmy plays his best and most aggressive guitar on the album and the band rocks! This is as good as blues could get in the 70´s, using soul/funk/rock elements and blending them into the blues without losing the blue feeling.
• Welfare Line (7.53)
  An archetypical blues. Everything from the lyrics to the guitar fills makes this song to a timeless piece of music. Note that is the same song as on "Hot Wire 81", this take is more aggressive. The best (or worst) part of this song is that Jimmy´s guitar never really gets loose. He starts a run, chokes it, tries again and gives up and start singing again. As a listener you get as frustratated as Jimmy!
• Shufflin´ the blues (4.45) (CD bonus track)
  I thought the first CD bonus track, "She got the blues too", was a bit too traditional, this the second bonus track gives me a thrill. The song is a kind of soulfunk blues workout similar to "If you´re ready" In the middle of the song there´s a nice break and then the groove continues. I like this mix between a funk/soul beat and fat blues guitar!
• Peeple will talk (6.10) (CD bonus rack)
  Again a slowblues. Though this is also kind of traditional, I somehow like it better than "She got the blues too". Why I prefer this one I can´t say! A quite typical Jimmy Dawkins slowblues, e.g. it doesn´t get much better than this.
• Sea of love (3.42) (CD bonus track)
  A bouncy shuffle! Sonny Thompson´s piano is in the forefront. Dawkins song style in the 70´s doesn´t fit these kind of songs.