Live at the Mayfair Hotel

AMG Review of Live at the Mayfair Hotel

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

Running 64 minutes, this compact disc gives us the complete contents of two British Red Lightnin' LPs, and McDowell's complete 1969 show from London's Mayfair Hotel. He is completely in his element here, scratching out dazzling licks on his hollow-body electric guitar, which is turned up loud enough to crunch and grind as he strums and sting real loud when he picks, but not so loud as to distort or overwhelm his singing. The highlights, which could really be the entire album, include "61 Highway," "Shake 'Em On Down," Willie Dixon's "My Babe," Mance Lipscombe's "Evil Hearted Woman," and McDowell's own "Kokomo Blues." Renowned British blueswoman Jo Ann Kelly sits in on one song, "When I Lay My Burden Down," which builds in intensity almost hypnotically, on what may be the best single CD in McDowell's output, and certainly his best concert release.