Bow Wow

by Al CampbellNo matter how you felt about changes that Johnny Guitar Watson made during his long career, he always tried to keep current and go with the funky flow. Bow Wow finds Watson treading on disco, funk, and early rap territory. Even though Watson produced, wrote, and arranged these sessions, it often sounds as if someone else should have been in control to help keep up the energy. Most of this material would have been more effective if a funkmeister like George Clinton could have been at the production helm, found some better material, and completely pushed Watson to simply have fun as an innovator and elder statesman to an up and coming generation primed for the kind of mischief unfortunately missing from Bow Wow.