The Wham of that Memphis Man

Infobox Album
Name = The Wham of That Memphis Man
Type = Album
Artist = Lonnie Mack


Released = 1964
Recorded = Cincinnati, Ohio
Genre = Blues-Rock
Length = ?
Label = Fraternity Records
Producer = Harry Carlson
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:mym8b5n4bsq0 link]
Last album =
This album = "The Wham of That Memphis Man"
(1964)
Next album = "Glad I'm in the Band"
(1969)

"The Wham of That Memphis Man" is a 1963 album by Lonnie Mack.

Discography

#Wham!
#I'll Keep You Happy
#Susie-Q
#Further on Up the Road
#Bounce
#Where There's a Will There's a Way
#Chicken Pickin'
#Baby What's Wrong
#Down in the Dumps
#Down and Out
#Satisfied
#Memphis
#Why

This album contains the first collection of hits from Mack, recorded between March and November, 1963. Critic Jimmy Guterman ranked this album No. 16 in his 1992 book, "The 100 Best Rock & Roll Recordings of All Time".

Mack is considered by many to be the founder of the Blues-Rock guitar genre, for his recordings of "Memphis", "Wham!", "Chicken-Pickin'" and "Susie-Q". The first of these, "Memphis", released as a single in early 1963, was considered unique for its incorporation of "blues stylism" into a full-length rock guitar instrumental. (See, Pinnell, "Lonnie Mack's 'Memphis': An Analysis of an Historic Rock Guitar Instrumental", Guitar Player Magazine, May 1979, p. 40).

In 1976, Eric Clapton re-recorded "Further On Up The Road" in Mack's style. The tune also appeared on a 1980 Clapton album. The late Stevie Ray Vaughan, a life-long Mack fan, recorded "Wham!" three times during the 1980s. He also covered "Chicken-Pickin'" under the title "Scuttle-Buttin'".

Mack was one of the earliest of the "blue-eyed soul" singers. His 1963 soul ballads, "Where There's a Will", "Satisfied" and "Why?" still rank among the all-time best of the genre. Although "Why?" was never promoted as a single, over the years it became something of a cult classic for the quality of Mack's "soul screams".

The album has been re-released at least nine times, most recently on the Ace label in 2006. It is also currently available (along with 23 other Mack recordings from the early 1960s) on the Flying V record label as the two-volume set "Direct Hits and Close Calls".

For further information about this historic album and the artist who recorded it, see the Wikipedia article on Lonnie Mack.