Snooks Eaglin, Baby, You Can Get Your Gun (Hep Cat)

sept 09 reviews eaglinVery much a politically incorrect album title, this is a reissue of the album that marked the beginning of Eaglin’s long and fruitful association with Camp Street’s Black Top label. Recorded in 1986, our man is on fire here for sure, and in good company, with a posse of New Orleans veterans—Smokey Johnson, Erving Charles and David Lastie in the trenches. As per most Eaglin albums, this is largely a collection of covers, but well-chosen ones by Guitar Slim, Tommy Ridgley, and the title track is Earl King’s. Eaglin even recycles one of his own Imperial singles, “That Certain Door.” His six-string mastery is on display on “Profidia,” and his long-time bandstand favorite, “Drop the Bomb!” sho’ ’nuff proves the man indeed was funky. There’s a particularly attractive blues ballad here, Percy Mayfield’s “Baby Please,” and a spectacular invitation to the dance floor with Eugene Church’s “Pretty Girls Everywhere.” In all, a wonderful reminder of Eaglin’s eclectic talent. My only bitch is that like a lot of these Hep Cat reissues, this one has second-rate scans of the original art work. In fact, if you compare this to the original CD/LP, Eaglin gets cut off at the knees! Still, it’s the music that counts, so I hope they keep mining his Black Top catalog and get to Earl King’s soon, too.