Mr. Stress Blues Band ‎- Live At The Brick Cottage 1972-1973 (USA, Blues)

Mr. Stress Blues Band ‎- Live At The Brick Cottage 1972-1973 (USA, Blues)

for early in the Mr. Stress Blues Band’s Brick Cottage run the frequently shifting lineup included eventual Rocket from the Tombs/ Pere Ubu guitarist Peter Laughner, though it’s important to understand the outfit’s importance lay not in connections to punk/ new wave (Anton Fier, the common denominator with X__X, and Chrissie Hynde make a long list of participants) but as the creative vehicle for a man bowled over by the blues.


Vocalist and mouth harp maestro Bill “Mr. Stress” Miller, who passed last May 18, was the leader and sole constant of a group coalescing in 1966 and clearly inspired by Paul Butterfield’s work of the period. While Miller shared Butterfield’s (and Charlie Musselwhite’s) instrument, he was far from a mere imitator, and through changes in personnel and the spurning of a contract from Capitol Records in ’69 he remained in close proximity to the Windy City blues root into the ’70s and beyond.

Kenny Ruscitto’s drumming on the opening inspection of Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years” to the contrary, Mr. Stress favored the ‘60s Chicago sound as defined by Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, and Junior Wells; like Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Walter before them, theirs was a music perfected in drinking establishments with very little in the way of fanfare.

Instead the appeal is that of local ritual; the obvious intent throughout the nearly ten minutes of “How Many More Years” is to get people dancing, for if the floor in front of the stage is full of movement than it’s safe to assume things are going well. Of course, being three sheets to the wind can make any handful of fifth-rate hacks come off as the be-all and end-all of organized sound making, but listening at home and stone cold sober Mr. Stress gets the job done.

“How Many More Years” does find them knocking the dust off, but after a solid electric piano solo by Mike “The Professor” Sands comes a burning guitar passage by Charlie “Pontiac Slim” Drazdik; Miller’s emotive singing avoids histrionics as his raw harp carries the track to its conclusion. Ruscitto’s rock/ R&B-inclined rhythmic attack works just fine, but I’ll admit to preferring the lighter touch of Dr. Pete Sinks on a Latin-tinged dive into Muddy’s “Walkin’ Through The Park.”
01. How Many More Years — 0:00

02. Walkin’ Through The Park — 9:34

03. Good Time Charlie — 13:45

04. Scratch My Back — 17:34

05. Chicken Shack (Break Song #1) — 22:49

06. Get Out Of My Life Woman — 24:42

07. Big Boss Man — 31:47

08. I Feel So Bad — 35:03

09. Sweet Little Angel — 39:25

10. Rock Me Baby — 49:27

11. Crosscut Saw — 54:10

12. Help Me — 59:13

13. Black Night — 1:05:13

14. Chicken Shack (Break Song #2) — 1:13:43


Personnel:

Bill «Mr. Stress» Miller — vocals, blues harp
Chuck Drazdik — electric guitar
Tom Rinda — bass
Mike Sands — electric piano
Kenny Ruscitto, Pete Sinks — drums