Buddy Reed & Th' Rip It Ups - Tough Enough (Remastered) (1985/2025) [Official Digital Download 24/48]

Recorded in the spring of ’85, this fired-up blast of West Coast blues finds former Canned Heat guitarist Buddy Reed stepping into the spotlight with gritty guitar work, feverish vocals, and a band that hits like a live wire. Tough, loose, and bursting with juke-joint energy, this session is the sound of a blues lifer finally calling his shot, and playing like everything’s on the line.


"Tough Enough completes singer/guitarist Buddy Reed’s transformation from sideman (veteran of the blues group Canned Heat) to solo star. In terms of maturity of concept, this is the newest, boldest entry in what at times appears to be a year-by-year plugging away at the blues business. Reed is finally calling his shot.

Recorded in the spring of 1985, this album features Buddy with his working band, the Rip It Ups. He has never sounded better, and it may be because he has never been recorded with such spirit or clarity before. The 1982 Tough Enough album, which had been the intention of its producer to support with larger-than-life figures like Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker, was, for some, only the beginning. Reed wrote or arranged all the songs on this album, and unlike some who ""go solo"" and take a studio approach, this album shows Buddy and the Rip It Ups played tightly like the Little Richard and Jimmy Liggins-influenced party band they are.

Drummer Bob Newham hadn’t even picked up the sticks in three years when he got together with an earlier friend and long-time Rip It Ups member Jerry Smith. When Bob heard some of Reed’s tapes, he went into the studio. If there was a key to this session’s excitement, it was capturing Reed’s infectious exuberance. He improvises joyously like a bluesy rock jester, gyrating and gesturing. His guitar is full of power, yet raw in a way no horns or keyboards could convey. The solos are not ""pretty,"" they are dangerous. His tone sounds like early Johnny ""Guitar"" Watson. The first moment the disc was mixed, the band and engineer knew this was going to take Reed rightfully far.

""Big Legged Woman"" opens the disc with Reed railing and ranting in vocal form. A sexual character study and early jump blues in design, it is not unlike any Jimmy Liggins’ rave-up. His guitar shrieks through it with tremolo and fire. ""Rock Me"" is Reed’s most intense slow blues in years. His screaming guitar and hallelujah vocals reveal the early West Coast gospel roots. Rolling Out the Blues (or some inspired title change) may follow this on future issues. ""Sugar Bee,"" originally done by Eddie Shuler’s Goldband group The Calcasieu Playboys, sounds better here than the hit version of 1961. Played by many in our own band through our childhood, it epitomizes dance swamp blues in its best form. The reverb on Buddy’s guitar is the kind we used to hear on the radio or in the only roadhouse in town. Even the more modern calypso romp (could’ve been the late 1950s or the monthly college dance) shows how well this side of life fits Buddy’s life.

Today, Reed’s approach is not unlike that of a traditionalist T-Bone Walker. Rather than appearing stiff or copying the old, Reed’s Rip It Ups are playing the blues with a fever and commitment that made the music exciting in the first place. This, in its essence, is what Buddy Reed stands for, and as this record demonstrates, he is eloquently committed. (Paul Cantrell)

"Buddy Reed, guitar, vocals, percussion
Jerry Smith, bass, backing vocals
Bob Newham, drums, backing vocals
Mark Adler, keyboards (tracks 1, 4, 6, 9)
Bill Taylor, percussion (track 7)
Nick Killian, motor-sickle (track 11)

Recorded at Rochshire Studios, Anaheim, California
Mixed by Nick Killian and Willie Harlan
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Produced and Engineered by Nick Killian and William S Taylor

Digitally remastered.

Tracklist:
01 (Buddy's) Big Legged Woman
02 Rock Me
03 Blues for Mud
04 You're So Fine
05 You Shop
06 Rialto Rock
07 Meet Me in the Moonlight
08 Sugar Bee
09 Lonely No More
10 I'm a Hog for You (Baby)
11 Kiss My Ass


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