Cathi's Reviews - 1/25/09
Davis, Guy – “Sweetheart Like You” (Red House) 2009 AStoryteller par excellence, Guy Davis is back with some great stories. With some live cuts and others purely acoustic living room stuff – at which Davis always excels. Very personable stuff and some nice blues laced throughout. Good for all mixes.
Marshall, Bex – “Kitchen Table” (House of Mercy) C-
Scratchy voice chanteuse with some occasional nice pickin’, but songwriting and overall sound – no cigar. House of mercy might need some. Not recommended.
Saffire-Uppity Blues Women – “Having the Last Word” (Alligator) A
Well it had to happen. After 25 years Saffire is calling it quits. They’re leavin’ at the top of their game and this CD reflects that – filled with Gaye’s baudy double-entendres, Ann’s rollin’ piano, and Andra’s sassy vocals, layered with everyone’s skills on a variety of instruments and all singing. We’re gonna miss that sass and the regular doses of “girl-big bod” pride. Most tunes here good for all mixes…but watch out for the slippery suggestions and an occasional “damn.” (See FCC listings below.) I hope they do lots of great things in their separate careers—they certainly made good stuff of this one.
Various – “Cadillac Records—Music from the Motion Picture” (Sony-BMG) A
Music from the upcoming release “Cadillac Records” this disc comes chock full of some heavy hitters. Famous arsenal-of-styles-guitarist Billy Flynn leads off the weaponry along with guitar heros, Eddie Taylor Jr., Hubert Sumlin, Danny Kortchmar; Kim Wilson on Harp, Steve Jordan driving the beat on drums and sit ins with Mos Def, Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce covering the songbird seat, and others – wicked good music to tell what I hope will be a great story about a record company that really supported the blues. You heard Beyonce’s version of At Last all over the place as it was the “first dance” for Obama and his wife throughout inauguration night.
WSNB – “Oktibbeha County” (WSNB - Independent) C+
“We Sing Nasty Blues” (WSNB) – a southern blues band with harp, slide guitar, rough singing voice…a little Creedence-like, but medium-tempo songs run together nothing really stands out for me. Every song has some kind of kick in the arrangement a la ZZ Top. Not too enthusiastically recommended.
Wonderland, Carolyn – “MissUnderstood” (Bismeaux Productions) B+
A Texas shouter a la Janis Joplin, yet she can back off and sing texas country ballads and jump right into a rocker a la Zepplin (5). Plays some nice steel guitar, but the voice does the talkin’ on this disc. Songwriting vies with beat changeups to draw attention. She’s more rock than blues. I think we’ll hear a lot from this gal…she can carry her weight vocally and then some.
posted by Cathi N @ 2:44:00 PM
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