Blues CD Reviews 6-25-06 -- Plus
Cephas & Wiggins – “Shoulder to Shoulder” (Alligator) A-Good acoustic blues is a tough find these days. Cephas and Wiggins have been some of the best. Cephas with his gruff vocals and guitar work, and Wiggins with his stellar harmonica, put out some good stuff on this disc. All tunes good for morning mix.
DeAdder, Lou – “Slow Down” (Indie) C+
Clean vocal with guitar gymnastics; music leans toward Stevie Ray Vaughan. Songs over-arranged with backing band that doesn’t measure up to guitar chops; and guitar tone is annoyingly sharp. Not recommended.
Dickinson, James Luther – “Jungle Jim” (Merless Records) B
Veteran sideman Dickinson pulls together a rough vocaled, country rock disc with a good-ol-boy sound. Okay, nothing too special. Like the Ry Cooder-ish sound on some tunes though.
Funky Nashville – “Hitch a Ride” (Iceberg) B
Wow…this one is a strange ranger. Kind of a cross between the Beatles, the Ventures, and a Spaghetti Western. Nice vocals, pop-y songs, interesting backup vocals, and bizarre electronic touches. I hardly know what to say but wow—it’s different. I have to hand it to them though, it’s verrrrrrry interesting. Not sure I could recommend it for early morning mixes. A Norwegian band?
Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials – “Rattleshake” (Alligator) B
Lil’ Ed has been a Chicago blues club fixture for years and well known for his lively and electric blues club performances. This CD is full of his trademark rave-ups, that for my money, don’t translate all that well in recording. His live shows are entertaining and get the folks dancing and partying, but the recordings don’t catch fire. Still, there are keepers here, all punctuated with his stinging guitar tone – a bit over the top sometimes, but that’s Lil’ Ed’s trademark. Not much for morning mix here.
Linwood Slim – “Last Call” (Delta Groove) A-
Harp playing crooner Lynwood Slim hosts another album of very tight blues (featuring his favorite guitar player Kid Ramos) and incredibly smooth vocals. For my money Slim vies with Darryl Nulisch or Sugar Ray Norcia for top blues vocal honors, and this record bears that out. Does some really good change ups in tempos and serves up a tasty banquet of blues here. (Slim doesn’t back away from a challenge.)
Mystics – “Satisfy You” (Mystic Eyes) B-
Gruff lead vocal over a tight band that leans toward country, but liberal popular sound. Duke Robillard’s favorite drummer heads up tight rhythm section that puts things over nicely, but can’t say I’d pass around the cigars. #2 a straight lift from “Send me Someone to Love.”
Rogers, Robin – “Crazy Cryin’ Blues” (95 North) B
A clear-voiced blues singer with a fine band backup. Husband guitarist has a heavy hand in arranging music to good effect. Smooth vocals sound odd in blues (as I’m first to attest), but Rogers pulls it off well. Sneaks up on you. Big horn backups. Fantastic version of “Come on In This House” and stand-out vocals on a spiritual (#8).
Thackery, Jimmy – “In The Natural State” (Rykodisc) B
Thackery pulls together reknowned Cate Brothers to do a disc of music from his Home State (Arkansas). Some of the usual rave-ups from Thackery, punctuated with some favorite covers that, in my opinion, don’t quite cut it. Unusual for Thackery. But his usual fine rock guitar chops shine in an early instrumental (#2), and an incredible standout, both spare and beautiful, is done with minimal backup (#4) – another unusual Thackery offering.
posted by Cathi N @ 9:06:00 AM
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