| Black Tornado | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Magic Slim & the Teardrops |
| Cover: | Black Tornado (album).jpg |
| Released: | 1998 |
| Studio: | Hot Ham & Cheese |
| Genre: | Blues, Chicago blues |
| Label: | Blind Pig |
| Producer: | Dick Shurman |
| Prev Title: | See What You're Doin' to Me |
| Prev Year: | 1998 |
| Next Title: | Snakebite |
| Next Year: | 2000 |
Black Tornado is an album by the American musician Magic Slim, released in 1998.[1] [2] He was backed by his band, the Teardrops.[3] Magic Slim supported the album with a North American tour.[4] The album title is a reference to his nickname.[5] Black Tornado won a AFIM Indie Award for electric blues album of the year.[6]
Recorded at Hot Ham & Cheese, in Chicago, the album was produced by Dick Shurman.[7] [8] Shurman urged Magic Slim to choose songs that he had not before recorded. "Still a Fool" is a cover of the Muddy Waters song.[9] Magic Slim's son Shawn Holt made his recording debut on "Young Man's Blues", contributing guitar and vocals.[10] The title track is an instrumental.
The St. Petersburg Times called the tracks "studies in wrenching guitar jams."[11] The Dayton Daily News labeled the album "elegant in its simplicity... No one instrument dominates on any track."[12] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Magic Boogie" "treads the line separating John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top."[9] The Los Angeles Times deemed Black Tornado "sweaty, rockin', roadhouse blues by a master of the craft." The San Diego Union-Tribune praised the "passionate, full-force style of Chicago blues that doesn't concern itself with dressing up."[13] The Boston Herald included Black Tornado on its list of the best albums of 1998.[14]
AllMusic noted that "the original material is up to the 50-percent mark, making this their most adventuresome outing to date."