Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (1974)

I learned blues licks on the guitar by listening to Shuggie Otis on Al Kooper's 'Kooper Session' (1970), and the then-teenage sensation's second solo album, 'Freedom Flight' (1971). Boy, that kid could really feel and fire up the blues!

Both LPs got a lot of spinning time on my turntable, and when they vanished through the years, I began to really miss them. This CD reissue of Otis's somewhat patchy 1974 album 'Inspiration Information' comes with four bonus tracks from 'Freedom Flight', including the Otis-penned 'Strawberry Letter 23', which is far superior to the Brothers Johnson hit version despite being marred by poor production. But the real cracker here is 'Freedom Flight', an extended cosmic blues-jazz instrumental that takes you on a bracing and blissful mind-trip.