Magic Sam West Side Soul Master Quality Reel To Reel Tape (Quarter Track)

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One of the greatest blues albums of all time, West Side Soul was chosen by Living Blues magazine as one of its top ten Desert Island Blues Discs. The source material for the album is the original 1967 analog stereo mix by Stu Black who recorded many of Delmark's classic 1960s blues and jazz recordings.

Sam's Singing and playing have their roots deeply implanted in the Mississippi soil of his youth as well as in the traumatic everyday life of the raw West Side. But like all good blues and all great art, he reaches far beyond his ethnic origins and his everyday experiences and speaks for us all. That is why you will like this album regardless of your previous taste if you are reasonably "aware," "hip," "turned-on" or whatever your generation's slang may be for being in touch with humanity and life.

To create the production master for this product the original analog master tapes were played on an optimized Otari MTR10 and copied to a newly refurbished Ampex ATR 102 using RMGI SM-900 tape stock. Subsequent copies were made on more Otari MTR10s using SM-911 tape stock. Recorded at 7.5ips on one seven-inch reel housed in a cardboard box with UV-coated cover art and liner information.

** It is standard practice in all recording studios to keep the tape "tail out". This reduces "pre-echo" and it means that the tape should be placed on the right hand side of the recorder, re-wound and then played.

This is a record that is exploding with life, a record with so much energy, it doesn't sound old. Of course, part of the reason it sounds so modern is because this is the template for most modern blues, whether it comes from Chicago or elsewhere. Magic Sam may not have been the first to blend uptown soul and urban blues, but he was the first to capture not just the passion of soul, but also its subtle elegance, while retaining the firepower of an after-hours blues joint... This music is alive, vibrant, and vital — nothing sounds as tortured as 'I Need You So Bad,' no boogie is as infectious as 'Mama, Mama Talk to Your Daughter,' no blues as haunting as 'All of Your Love.' No matter what year you listen to it, you'll never hear a better, more exciting record that year.