Johnny "Guitar" Watson Albums (16)
'Funkstrumentals'
Release Date 2/11/2008
Tracks 26
Label Shout! Factory
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Strike on Computers'
Release Date 1/8/1993
Tracks 8
Label Valley Vue
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Johnny "Guitar" Watson and the Family Clone'
Release Date 1/1/1981
Tracks 8
Label DJM
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
This intriguing and bizarre album was originally released in 1981, and features Johnny "Guitar" Watson playing all the instruments and singing all the vocal parts. The end result has a surprisingly contemporary 21st century feel, and sounds a bit like Shuggie Otis' similarly lost-solo sessions from a decade earlier, mixing hard blues, jazz, soul and touches of funk into a fascinating hybrid that is remarkably fluid and light on its feet. The whole album is of a piece, but some obvious highlights include "Family Clone," "Ain't Movin'," "Voodoo What You Do," and some mind-blowing vocoder guitar on "Come Dance with Me." Not quite a great lost classic, but it comes pretty darn close. [Also released with bonus tracks.] ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
From 1974 through 1980, Johnny "Guitar" Watson was on a tear no one, including George Clinton or Bootsy Collins, could equal. While the P-Funk machine began to run out of steam by 1978 -- with the exception of the Brides of Funkenstein -- Watson kept churning out the weird, kinky funk well into the era of Rick James. Love Jones, his last fine record for quite awhile, had all the trademarks in place: the choppy, heavily reverbed and wah-wahed guitar that had made Watson a blues sensation, the sci-fi keyboards, the handclap that Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards ripped off for Chic, the expandable horn section that intertwined with the guitar riffs, and the punched up basic basslines that kept the funk a simple but ultimately moving thing. It's true that some of the crazy lyrics that graced Ain't That a Bitch had given way to chanted clichés by this time, but it hardly mattered since Watson was making music for discos and clubs, and not for radio play any longer. He got hip to the fact that if you wanted to break a record you had to get a club DJ to play the hell out of it. Here, the standouts are "Booty Ooty," the truly weird and wonderful "Goin' Up in Smoke," "Telephone Bill," and the hilarious -- and extremely funky -- "Lone Ranger." This may have been the last real winner in Watson's catalog for a long time, but there is plenty of magic still present in these grooves. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The disco period in Johnny "Guitar" Watson's catalog was spotty at best. You gotta hand it to Watson; during this period he maintained a sense of humor with tongue firmly in cheek. The Gangster of Love refused to become a dinosaur "R&B" oldies artist, referred to only in "Whatever Happened To..." articles. That doesn't mean, however, that this material is recommended. Giant includes a few fun moments in the form of the reworked but still blues-drenched "Gangster of Love" and "You Can Stay But the Noise Must Go," but doesn't make up for the awful "Guitar Disco," which is as hokey as it sounds. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide
'Gettin' Down with Johnny "Guitar" Watson'
Release Date 1/1/1978
Tracks 8
Label Cadet
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
That same Chess jazz piano set again. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
'Funk Beyond the Call of Duty'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 7
Label DJM
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Less consistent than its immediate predecessors but still a reasonably good funky time, as Johnny Guitar once again displays his streetwise humor on "It's About the Dollar Bill" and "Barn Door" on the 1977 set. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
