Although
It's My Life, Baby!
was decent mid-'60s
electric Chicago blues
, coming so soon after
Junior Wells
' 1965 classic
Hoodoo Man Blues
-- one of the greatest
blues
LPs ever -- it was something of a disappointment.
Wells
' chief right-hand man for
, guitarist
Buddy Guy
, was still on board for these recordings, but the band arrangements weren't quite as tight. More crucially, the material wasn't as good or innovative, giving far more weight to slow
with standard progressions, and relatively little attention to the
funk
-
soul
Latin
influences that had supplied several of
' finest moments. Finally, the decision to mix studio recordings with live tracks (recorded at
Pepper's Lounge
in Chicago) could be questioned, as it lent the record an inconsistency, particularly as different bands were used live and in the studio. Taken on its own terms, however, it's certainly respectable, at times revving up the energy for an infectious bounce.
"Country Girl,"
for instance, stands in peppy contrast to the relatively sleepy slow tunes;
"Shake It Baby"
revives some of the
feeling of the
sessions; and
"(I Got A) Stomach Ache"
is funky in a silly but fun way. ~ Richie Unterberger