In the first part of our interview with Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer, he talked about Hound Dog Taylor as the inspiration for starting the label, and discussed some of his favorite blues artists. We pick up the conversation where we left off, with stories about Iglauer's favorite Alligator Records releases during the past 40 years.
Fenton Robinson's Somebody Loan Me A Dime
"I mentioned the first Fenton Robinson record, Somebody Loan Me A Dime," says Iglauer. "I almost didn't know how good a record we were making when we made it. Fenton was such a sophisticated and subtle musician, a brilliant guitarist, but not as flashy as some. He had a lot of guitar knowledge, but also this beautiful, soaring voice that he could almost anything with. He wasn't a showman, but over the years, that record is one I've come back to again and again as one that's so emotionally satisfying. I really feel that it's one of the meatiest records in the catalog in terms of providing the soul-soothing that blues is supposed to do."
"Son Seals' second record, Midnight Son," Iglauer also cites as one of his label favorites, "where he grew by leaps and bounds over his debut record," he adds. "It was really the explosion of his talents, and so much of it was his vision coming to fulfillment, including the way the horns were being used; he was very much in control of that record. We rehearsed it in a third-floor walk-up, an un-air-conditioned apartment on the south side, with the windows open in the middle of the summer."
Son Seals' Midnight Son
"Everybody was sopping in sweat," Iglauer remembers, "it was very hard for anybody to hear each other. I remember one day the piano player showed up with a virtually newborn baby that was his. He had no diapers, no formula, nothing...just the baby. Another time the bass player showed up with a big bandage on his arm because he and his girlfriend had gotten into a fight and she had cut him."
"We were so excited, making that record," he adds. "We made the record in two-and-a-half evenings. At that time, I was making most of my records in two sessions, usually five or six hours long. With that one [Midnight Son] there was so much to do, we went over time and had to put in another three hours. I was horrified about what it was doing to the budget. That record is another one that has withstood the test of time, and it also got Son written about in Rolling Stone and the New York Times, got him a gig at the Bottom Line (famous New York City club), and just exploded his career."
Directness of Emotions
"Son is very close to my heart," says Iglauer. "When people heard him, they said 'he sounds so angry,' but in fact his music was all about releasing anger. It was about ringing anger out of you, and for me, I often said that if I was a bluesman, Son Seals would be the bluesman I would be. He was the closest to expressing my inner feelings. He never held back, but that's true for so many Alligator artists. I love artists that just go for it...who have that 'balls-to-the-wall, turn it up to eleven' attitude."
"Sometimes the directness of the emotions beats the precision of the studio," Iglauer says. "Hound Dog Taylor is a perfect example. There are all kinds of things that are technically wrong on his records, none of which keep you from grinning like hell when you listen to the music. If I'd tried to make them more precise, I would have killed their essence. When we did Midnight Son, there are mistakes, little small things wrong, but it feels so good!"
Shemekia Copeland's Turn The Heat Up
"I'd like to mention a couple of albums where artists were kind of finding themselves musically," says Iglauer. "That was certainly true for Son. The first Shemekia Copeland album, Turn The Heat Up, was a very exciting record to make. She was so young at the time; the first session we did she was only 17. But seeing and hearing the maturity of her talent in the studio…I'd heard her live, and I almost couldn't believe how good she was. I thought, 'will this translate to records? Can we make a record that has that intensity that I heard live?' I was also struck by her sense of humor, because there's a lot humor in some of the songs she does. She has the ability to laugh at herself, which is something that you don't often see in teenagers, but you did with her because she was grown beyond her years."
"Watching, and hearing that album – which I co-produced – come to fruition in the studio, and hearing her talent being so ready...I love when I can open doors for musicians," says Iglauer. "Koko Taylor always said 'never curse the bridge that carried you across,' and she was referring to me, considered me her bridge. I love being in that role, if I can be the individual, or my company can be the means by which a worthy artist reaches his or her potential audience, that's the fulfillment of my vision. If, in addition, I can help the artist express themselves in the studio, I love doing that. But even when I'm not the producer, anything I can do to bring an artist like Shemekia Copeland or Son Seals to their potential audience, makes me feel pretty great."
Corey Harris' Greens From The Garden
"Another record that falls into the category of an artist finding themselves, or making a statement that shows a huge amount of growth is one that I had nothing to do with artistically, and that's Corey Harris's Greens From The Garden record. Corey came to us as a solo acoustic, Delta-styled bluesman who was singing for tips in the streets of New Orleans," remembers Iglauer. "By his third album, he had become a true visionary for African-American...and I just don't mean American, but also Caribbean-American...to see Corey's growth was amazing."
