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Canned Heat: Livin' The Blues (Liberty) The Band: Music From Big Pink (Capitol)

Charlie Gillett, Times Educational Supplement, 14 March 1969

IF YOU'RE A young white man who digs the blues and who likes to make music, what do you do about it? Your decision used to depend on your feelings about making money – if fame and fortune were among your ambitions, you kept your passion secret and played dance music for the kids. But things aren't what they were, and now a group need only add "Blues Band " to its name to get an audience. But still a choice remains – do you play in a style based as closely as possible on others you've heard, or do you set out to recreate the feeling of the blues in what ever manner suits your own particular voice and instrumental facility?

Total word count of piece: 651

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