Baby Huey's only album, released after his untimely death, is titled The Living Legend with good reason. He was legendary in his appearance, a 400-pound man with a penchant for flamboyant clothing and crowned by a woolly Afro, a look that is best illustrated by one of several rare photos included in the Water Records edition that shows our man in a wide-lapeled polka-dot shirt with a lime-green jacket. Beyond his unusual appearance, though, he was graced with a stunning, fierce voice on par with Otis Redding and Howard Tate, wailing and howling one moment and oddly tender and sentimental the next. Nowhere on Living Legend is his range more apparent than the opening track, "Listen to Me," where listeners are introduced to both the enigma of Baby Huey and his diamond-tough psychedelic funk backing band, the Baby Sitters. The high-energy instrumental workout "Mama Get Yourself Together" is worthy of the J.B.'s and a hazy, spiraling ten-minute rendition of Sam Cooke's chestnut "A Change Is Going to Come" confirms that the Baby Sitters could hold their own with Blood, Sweat & Tears. Further lore that catapults The Living Legend from good to great: the production was helmed by Curtis Mayfield, reason enough to make it near essential, and is highlighted by three of his compositions, "Mighty Mighty," which Mayfield and the Impressions recorded a few years earlier; "Running," a classic Mayfield cut that can only be heard here ripped to glorious bits by a band that is trying to let every member solo; and "Hard Times," which Mayfield himself would revisit on his 1975 album There's No Place Like America Today, although Baby Huey's razor-edged reading remains the definitive version -- no small caveat considering Mayfield not only wrote the tune, but could rightfully be considered one of the architects of soul to boot.
Kicking around iTunes the other night I ran across this album and was so intrigued I had to email it to myself to make sure it was for real. Tonight, I bought it and have been listening in awe. After some background reading online, I learned that Baby Huey was somewhat of a local favorite on the Chicago scene but because of a glandular disease that caused him to weigh in at about 4 bills and ...
More >
About 96 minutes..Cover Artist-Song-Covered Artist/WriterSide 1Booker T. and the MG's-Hang 'em High-Ennio MorriconeLee "Scratch" Perry- Tighten Up- Archie Bell and the DrellsGang Do Tagarela - Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill GangThe JB's-Watermelon Man-Herbie HancockWillie Bobo-Shotgun/Blind Man- Jr. Walker and the All StarsJimmy Smith-I got a Woman- Ray CharlesHerbie Mann- Hold On I'm Comin' - Sa...
More >
About 96 minutes..Cover Artist-Song-Covered Artist/WriterSide 1Booker T. and the MG's-Hang 'em High-Ennio MorriconeLee "Scratch" Perry- Tighten Up- Archie Bell and the DrellsGang Do Tagarela - Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill GangThe JB's-Watermelon Man-Herbie HancockWillie Bobo-Shotgun/Blind Man- Jr. Walker and the All StarsJimmy Smith-I got a Woman- Ray CharlesHerbie Mann- Hold On I'm Comin' - Sa...
More >
Picture books in ParisHe hit death hard and it heard ItDid impress and muse the red cross barons and whiskey lipped angels,Baby to the world bit blueone dragon, two...A native of Richmond, Indiana, James Ramey moved to Chicago, Illinois at the age of nineteen, and worked with several local bands as a singer. Due to a glandular disorder, Ramey was a large man, weighing about 350 pounds (160 kg)....
More >
Kicking around iTunes the other night I ran across this album and was so intrigued I had to email it to myself to make sure it was for real. Tonight, I bought it and have been listening in awe. After some background reading online, I learned that Baby Huey was somewhat of a local favorite on the Chicago scene but because of a glandular disease that caused him to weigh in at about 4 bills and ...
More >
I have a theory, but I'm to lazy to venture into the other parts of the non-mog internet. Plus, with all our combined libraries we can probably make a substantial case for this theory. So here it is:Is the song "California Dreamin'" by The Mama's and the Papa's, the funk standard, or equivalent there of, to a jazz standard such as George Gershwin's "Summertime", or a song like "Misty"? I find...
More >
I didn't know about the Chicago soul band Baby Huey & The Babysitters (or Baby Sitters? I keep finding it both ways) until this year. What a find! They only released one album, with only eight tracks, as Huey himself (born James Ramey), a four-hundred-pound heroin addict, passed away due to a heart attack in 1970, at the age of twenty-six. The record, called The Baby Huey Story: The Living Lege...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Listen to Me |
|
|
| 2 Mama Get Yourself Together |
|
|
| 3 A Change Is Going to Come |
|
|
| 4 Mighty Mighty |
|
|
| 5 Hard Times |
|
|
| 6 California Dreamin' |
|
|
| 7 Running |
|
|
| 8 One Dragon Two Dragon |
|
|
Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend")
