"What else you got then,", they asked. Eh...actually, I hadn't planned for that contingency. And so, I had to come up with something else in a hurry. In a separate conversation it was pointed out to me that I had misinterpreted a line in the song "I Ain't Superstitious". In the third verse, one of the lines goes: ".....always two sides of death." I had listened intently to both the Howlin' Wolf version and the Jeff Beck Group's version, too, and I had always heard the line as "always two sides of if." No, it didn't make sense to me either, but then again it's not unusual for lyrics to be ambiguous, especially in blues.

    In any event, it struck me as an appropriate title as it speaks of two sides, and this record is to show another side of me than that already known. Besides, I'd already sung it and didn't realize it was wrong till months after the event, which I thought was a pretty cool case of serendipity. Thus we had a title.

Below you will find the tracklisting of "Two Sides Of If" and track-by-track comments from Vivian. Please check back regularly as new samples and comments will be added every few days.

1. MESSIN' WITH THE KID - listen sample 

Rory Gallagher was, for those of you who don't know, an Irish blues guitarist who happened to be my first album purchase and first concert experience. He always played "Messin' With The Kid" in concert, and always differently each time, too. For many years I thought that it was a song that he wrote. The version I recorded owes a lot more to Rory's interpretation than to the Junior Wells version that made the song popular. Confused? I was, too, especially as I later found out that Junior Wells didn't write the song either! Apparently it was written by a chap called Melvin London, whose version I have yet to hear. Enjoy.

2. I'M READY - listen sample

One of Muddy Waters' better known tunes, and one of three on this album that are Willie Dixon compositions. Buddy Guy did a great version of it, too. Although it by no means showcases Muddy's guitar chops as well as some of his other songs, it was still one of his most important cuts, career wise. Speaking of Muddy Waters' guitar abilities, during research for this record I realized that he more than any other was the guy who took the instrument from acoustic to electric, and when listening to him play I hear guitar licks that eventually went on to be signature licks for Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and countless others, too. Muddy was the man.

3. CALLING CARD - listen sample

As I mentioned before, Rory Gallagher gave me my first taste (no pun intended) of the power of rock and blues. He was most certainly a blues man, although he brought a strong rock edge into everything he played. "Calling Card" was the title track of his 1976 album, one of several records that I shamelessly plagiarized as a guitar-hungry kid. Although this song might seem a strange choice to those who are familiar with his work, to me it showed Rory's willingness to stretch out a bit, and on this song he fuses a jazzy style to his blues chops.

4. COME ON IN MY KITCHEN - listen sample 

I always enjoyed the Robert Johnson original, but when I first heard Keb Mo's version I remember thinking that here was a song that might be really suited to my voice. And so, I gave it a go, playing it out at various blues jams and slowly working to make it my own. The rhythm of my version is not as funky and off-beat as Keb's, but it still drew upon that version more than the original. One big difference was that I put in an extra turnaround after verses 3 and 5, thus emphasizing the title line and, I thought, adding a little more drama to it.

5. THE HUNTER - listen sample

Another song that came to my attention first as a cover, and thus had me thinking, for many years, that Free had actually written it. Free's version rocks a bit more than the Albert King original, and had more influence over the sound of what you hear on "Two Sides Of If". In the rush and excitement of making this record (against the clock, as we had a very limited budget!), I actually forgot to play the lick over the introduction, and actually didn't even realize it till much later. We cut this album live in the studio, and I didn't want to overdub the part, so, like many other little bits on the record, I just had to learn to let it go.

6. LIKE IT THIS WAY - listen sample 

Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac was an amazing guitarist and soulful blues singer. The early line up, with fellow guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, John McVie on bass, and Mick Fleetwood on drums was the version of Fleetwood Mac that wrote and recorded this song. It always struck me as a great tune to do with another guitarist as it has a trade-off guitar line that runs through the entire song. When I first approached Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top to guest on my record, I did so having no idea that he, too, was a big fan of this era of the Mac. He was familiar with the song and actually, when we were cutting it, had us slow it WAY down till it became a sort of Texas shuffle version. Incidentally, we also cut another Mac song, "Stop Messin' Round", during the manic sessions, but unfortunately it won't be featured on this record.

7. I AIN'T SUPERSTITIOUS - listen sample 

The Jeff Beck Group (featuring Rod Stewart on vocals) did an excellent version of this on their TRUTH album many, many moons ago, so I suppose that version was in my mind, also. But in terms of lyric and arrangement (Rod rewrote some of the lyrics), I adhered to the Howlin' Wolf version of this Willie Dixon classic. And speaking of lyrics, it was from a mistake that I made in singing this song that I got the title for this album! But that's a different story (see top of page). At one point while cutting this track, I looked up and it dawned on me that here I was playing this song with Terry Bozzio, and how many times must he have played it with Jeff Beck. I felt compelled afterwards to apologize to Terry as I'm sure that having played it with a master like Beck, it must have been something of an anti-climax to have to endure my attempts -- still, Jeff Beck never tried to sing it at the same time, too! Speaking of which, this was the one song on the record that I really had a hard time singing and playing simultaneously, as the rhythm of the riff bears no relation to the cadence of the vocal. Much practice was required.

8. SPOONFUL - listen sample

Willie Dixon, again! This man wrote an amazing number of blues classics, and again this was a song popularized by Howlin' Wolf. Actually, this one was an afterthought for us which we hastily recorded at the very end of our hectic three day session. In all the madness I had forgotten that we had discussed cutting a track for Joan Osborne to sing, and even though we hadn't actually even contacted her yet, I was determined that she was to be the female guest on the album. To be honest, I'd never before played the song, nor did I know the lyric and we had to scribble out the words for me to do a scratch vocal. In hindsight, if we hadn't been so rushed, I might have thought to cut it in a different key to be more accommodating to the female voice. It's a testament to just how good a singer Joan really is that she could sing it in the register that she did!
This is the one song on the record that I overdubbed a part on with the addition of the slide guitar track I did after Joan had cut her vocal.

9. RECONSIDER BABY - listen sample 

This song first came to my attention on the excellent Eric Clapton album FROM THE CRADLE. In fact, that album inspired me to make this record the way I did - live in the studio. Clapton's version is so full of life and features, to my ears, some of his most natural playing, the kind that can only come about from that live and spontaneous environment. The original is by Lowell Fulson, but the Clapton version is so ingrained in my DNA that I must confess to having to try really, really hard to not play his licks verbatim. I'm not sure that I totally succeeded. My apologies Eric.

10. GOOD OR BAD TIMES - listen sample 

I first heard this song one Saturday afternoon while listening to KKJZ in Los Angeles. As soon as I heard it I immediately took notice as it has such a distinct vibe and a great loose feel to it. I knew then and there that here was a song I wanted to put on the record. Trouble was that I was driving on the freeway at the time and the song wasn't back announced till much later, by which time I was deep in the throws of picking up after my young children and missed the title. I resigned myself to having to play some other tune instead and that's how it was going to be - until the very weekend before we were to start the record, when I was again listening to KKJZ, and amazingly they played the song again! This time I was able to listen till they announced that it was "Good Or Bad Times" by Snooky Prior. What was even more amazing was that I found it available on iTunes! I immediately bought it and proceeded to learn it. This song is such fun to play. Thank you KKJZ. Thank you Snooky Prior.

11. 32/20 BLUES - listen sample

The second Robert Johnson song to be featured on the album, but this version is more akin to Eric Clapton's interpretation in that it's more uptempo and has almost a ragtime feel to it. The solo on this take is rather abysmal, if truth be told, as I found it difficult to solo in that meter. I guess I should have figured that out before entering the studio, but there you go, I had a lot on my mind. You can actually hear me laugh as I drop the ball midway through the guitar solo. Other than that, I think it's alright, actually, and I hope you do, too.

12. WILLIN' FOR SATISFACTION - listen sample

We recorded this album over three days, a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Monday was mostly given to setting up, so we didn't get to record anything worth keeping till the second day. When Billy F. Gibbons came in on the Tuesday afternoon, we all had such a great time recording "Like It This Way". So much a good time that, to our amazement, Billy asked if we would like to record this brand new song that he was working on and could he come back the next day to do it! Well, I had to think about that all of about half a second: hell yeah! And so, on the afternoon of our last day, Billy was leaning over the piano writing out the lyrics to the last verse. Tor was looking at the clock and reminding me that we had a couple more things to record yet, and that there was another band loading in at 7:30! To add to all the chaos, minutes before we track, Billy informs me that I'm to sing the song...something I hadn't anticipated at all. So here I am, playing a song I don't know, reading lyrics fresh from the mind of the reverend Billy F. Gibbons, and all the while with one eye on the clock. Under the circumstances I think it turned out quite well.

13. BLOW WIND BLOW - listen sample 

This song is not on the regular album release and is only available through the online Yahoo! Music service.
Although Muddy Waters wrote and recorded this song in G, my interpretation, in the key of F, follows the Jimmy Rogers version as featured on the "Jimmy Rogers Allstars" album of several years ago. Jimmy was the guitarist in Muddy's seminal blues band in Chicago in the late 1940's and, as such, was a true pioneer of the electric blues guitar.

14. STOP MESSIN' ROUND - listen sample 

This song is not on the regular album release and is only available through the American iTunes Music Store.
The second of two Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac songs that I recorded for the album, and to be honest, I'm not totally convinced about the quality of the vocal as it's right up there at the very top of my register! I'll let you be the judge. That said, it was a fun song to play.

Back to main page