Johnny Winter - The Progressive Blues Experiment (1968) {2000, Reissue}

The Progressive Blues Experiment is the debut album by Johnny Winter. The Progressive Blues Experiment was originally issued on Austin's Sonobeat Records label in 1968. When Winter signed to Columbia Records, the rights were sold to Imperial Records who reissued the album in 1969. Winter plays here in a trio with his late-sixties band. Several blues artists are covered including B.B. King ("It's My Own Fault"), Sonny Boy Williamson ("Help Me"), and Slim Harpo ("I Got Love If You Want It").

Although his early Columbia albums brought him worldwide stardom, it was this modest little album (first released on Imperial before the Columbia sides) that first brought Johnny Winter to the attention of guitarheads in America. It's also Winter at the beginning of a long career, playing the blues as if his life depends on it, without applying a glimmer of rock commercialism. The standard classic repertoire here includes "Rollin' and Tumblin'," "I Got Love if You Want It," "Forty-Four," "It's My Own Fault," and "Help Me," with Winter mixing it up with his original Texas trio of Red Turner on drums and Tommy Shannon (later of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble) on bass. A true classic, this is one dirty, dangerous, and visionary album.