CD Reviews--Cathi 11-13-06
Daddy Mack Blues Band - “Bluestones” (Inside Sounds) - CGrowly vocals over very run-of-the-mill blues. Bass is mixed in a bit too loudly and distorted. Instrumentalism so-so. Relentlessly average. Produced by Billy Gibson.
Gibson, Billy – “Southern Livin’ (Inside Sounds) – C+
Serviceable blues, serviceable vocals, add really FINE lady backup singers, a funky bass player and horns, and you’ve got a little-better-than-average blues record. I liked the fixin’s, didn’t like the main dish.
Guy, Buddy – “Can’t Quit the Blues” (Silvertone) A+
What a cool compilation! Forty-seven songs of great, great stuff from a wonderful blues guitarist who has a great singing voice. That’s a tough thing to find these days. There are a couple of great tunes on here from his pairings with Jr. Wells, but mostly it’s pure Buddy…stinging guitar, gritty vocals, sometimes screaming, sometimes just talking his way through, but always engaging. Great stuff. I wrote home to mama about it.
Strifler, Volker – “The Dance Goes On” (Blue Rock It Rec.) B+
German guitarist best known for his guitar work with Robben Ford’s Band, Stifler carries on here with some great guitar work and a surprisingly supple voice. All tunes self-penned except a couple by Willie Dixon, the material is more pop than blues, but I ain’t complainin’. His vocal treatments sometimes falter, but there’s nothing wrong with the guitar work. Nice treatment of Dixon’s “Evil” on resonator guitar, and an interesting popish tilt to “Spoonful.” It’s easy to see how this player would complement Ford, both guitar- and vocal-wise.
Wood, Charlie – “Lucky” (Inside Sounds) C+
Piano man Wood adds fairly nice vocals to an okay selection of tunes with nothing either terribly bad or terribly good about them. Nothing to complain about, yet nothing that really kicks behind. Liked his one very New Orleans-ish (#3) tune, and even got a little worked up over “What’s It Gonna Take” (#4), but then he added in “ass” and ruined it (smile). Not bad, not great.
posted by Cathi N @ 1:58:00 PM
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