Neil Young / Lou
Reed hybrid. Interesting. Not bad at all. Really pretty
good. Probably more so to people who aren't already hip
to Neil Young and Lou Reed.
Chris Beard
Live
Wire
Northern
Blues Music 0028
www.northernblues.com
It rolls down the
runway, faster and faster, gaining momentum, beginning to
lift and bounce, but it never quite leaves the ground. A
studio effort by this self-styled "Prince of the
Blues" might be interesting, but the repeated
between-and-within-song announcements that X player or
the whole band is about to do something spectacular,
repeatedly not followed by anything spectacular, just
makes the listener feel painfully embarrassed for the
act.
Jeff Black
Tin Lily
Dualtone
Records 80302-01202-2
Jeffblack.com
Jeff Black, a renowned
singer songwriter, is releasing his album "Tin
Lily" on July 26th. Jeff has been receiving
raves reviews about his latest album, such as this quote
from George Lewis of Popular Music and Society: "Did
you ever have the feeling--putting on an album that you
knew nothing about and had no expectations of at all--and
having it reach out and rip the air out of your lungs?
Take your breath away like that? Just
happened to me with Tin Lily. I seldom hear a
"perfect" album, but this, I think, is one of
those few."
Jeff is also loading up and hitting the road, and in
addition to his regular touring schedule, he'll be
hitting the rails. In August and September, Jeff is
embarking on the "Black on the Tracks" tour
where he and his fans will journey on trains to different
venues. These are excursion trains with concerts
during the layover and then everybody rides back to the
originating city. Cities confirmed so far are Nashville,
Kansas City and Asheville, NC.
Curtis
Stigers
I Think
It's Going to Rain Today
Concord
Jazz CCD-2275-2
www.curtisstigers.com
Lounge versions of
vintage pop, R & B and country songs. Clever idea.
Well executed. Its nice to have a lounge CD or two in
ones collection for that sort of ambiance when one wants
it. The albums flawless, but is restricted by its nature,
much like the creatures in Winnie the Pooh's "Cottleston
Pie.""Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston
Pie / A fish cant bird, but a bird can fly / Ask me a
question and I reply / Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston
Pie.'"
"Cottleston Pie,"
like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game,"
"Crazy," "My Babe" and the rest
of the songs on this record, could only get so lively
while wedged into the sub-genre of lounge music. It's the
nature of the beast.
Terry Robb
Resting
Place
Yellow Dog
Records YDR1177
www.yellowdogrecords.com
There's a popular
coffee table book out called, "The
Book of If." You may be familiar with
this collection of "If" questions like:
"If you
were sentenced and scheduled for execution, what would
you choose as your last meal?"
(I wouldn't care,
as long as I could cook it)
"If you
could go back into the past and kill one historical
figure, who would it be?"
(I would choose
Yoko Ono)
"If you
could go into the future and kill one person, who would
it be?"
(Probably not
really among the questions in the book)
"If you
could exchange your rectangular front door for a door of
any other shape, what shape would it be?"
(Mobius strip)
"If you
could take one unwieldy item and make it portable, what
item would that be?"
(I would choose a
javelina. Also known as the peccary or musk hog, this
80-200-pound wild pig is native to the American Southwest
and parts of Mexico. Cursed by Nature with tusks much
longer than its attention span, this creature, in
briefcase or pocket edition could, in my opinion, liven
up the dullest social affairs. Why, you might as well
throw those coffee table books away once L'il Musky gets
down to business amidst the guests at your next suburban
soirée).
"If you could teach
one thing to your local entertainment decision makers,
what would it be?"
(I would choose to
teach them what Terry Robb already knows, which is that
if they promote and support real blues, theyll get one
hundred percent of the five percent of the population
that cares about real blues, and theyll get them every
weekend, whereas, if they book general purpose cover
rock/pop stuff to appeal to the general public, theyll
get five percent of the one hundred percent that
constitutes the general population, which adds up to the
same number of patrons, but they wont get them every
weekend).
That's right. Terry
Robb, whose understated passion, devotion, material
selection and delivery I've admired since Hell was no
bigger than Portland, Oregon, simply doesnt give a damn
about people who don't give a damn about what he gives a
damn about, which is nailing great roots music. He
doesn't step out of character or personal interest to
entertain anyone. His market consists of people who know
and love authentic, exquisitely delivered, traditional
blues and ragtime. The critics's job is to encourage
those people to seek his recordings and performances.
Only if a large percentage of that small part of the
general population knows about him and supports him can
we teach entertainment decision makers what they need to
know about refined, specialty music.
JOHNNY
"GUITAR" WATSON
What The
Hell Was That? The Funk Anthology
Shoutfactory.com
D2K31771
Texas blues/rock
guitarslinger/effects innovator-turned funkmeister Johnny
"Guitar" Watson, huge influence on Jimi Hendrix
and Steve Miller, was a name in the '70s. His distinction
lay in never abandoning his phenomenal mastery of his
instrument while riding high on the crest of the gimmicky
wave of mainstream funk in its classic period. If this
material is a new discovery for you, congratulations. If
it's a rediscovery, you'll be sorry it took so long for
Shout Factory to make it possible with a 31-track CD
anthology.
Shout Factory is a
broad-based audio and home video entertainment company
whose cofounders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos
share a passion for pop culture of the 20th century and
beyond. Video and DVD projects include television
programming spanning 75 years, live music concerts,
animation and sports collections and special interest
documentaries. Audio products from Shout! Factory
consist of GRAMMY®-nominated box sets, anthologies and
"best of" collections, as well as new music,
soundtrack releases, deluxe album reissues and quirky
compilations. Shout! Factory's catalog features vintage
and legendary performances from some of the greatest and
most eccentric artists of our time. Shout! Factory
products are distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Inc. www.shoutfactory.com
He played
spectacularly well without ever playing pretty. That made
him a hit with the guitar volume, effects and speed fans.
That was his bad crowd. There was a good crowd, too,
composed of music fans deep enough into the British
Invasion to be into acts from far-off, exotic Ireland,
and into spin-off acts &ndash Gallagher began playing
Hamburg three years after the Beatles had graduated to
super stardom, and his first big splash tracks were cut
with a drummer who'd formerly been with Them, Van
Morrison's first hit act.
He made it, too, as
part of the generation that brought improvisation to Rock
& Roll, along with Cream, Hendrix, Canned Heat and
the Butterfield Blues Band. God knows, all musical genres
need periodic shots of improvisation and reminders
between those shots. Finally, Rory Gallagher was
important because he knew what to do when he didn't know
what to do &ndash an intense student of the blues in
all its manifestations, his interviews and liner notes
taught any aspiring guitarists willing to take on the
challenge of caring as much as he did.
Rory Gallagher died
in 1995, at age 47. The two dozen recordings on this
anthology, astutely chosen, beautifully remastered and
accompanied by a thorough, respectful, altogether well
done biographical booklet, remind us of the important
contributions of a man who was just under the tip of the
iceberg of Rock & Roll.
