New Releases -
February 2002
Duke Robillard Living With The Blues Stony Plain SPCD 1277/Warner Music
Of the fifteen albums Robillard has released under his name, this is only the third pure blues one. You could do far worse than have all fifteen in your collection but readers here I think will put these three in first and this one would be a crown jewel. Duke and the band get off to a roaring start with Little Milton's Chess-era masterpiece, "If Walls Could Talk" and go immediately into a Freddy King slow blues, "Use What You Got", that he's been performing for years but never recorded. After these two, an excellent choice was to program an instrumental, "Stratisfied", 8' 24" that should keep imitators studying for months, it's another unrecorded set list entry. A first-time-on-disc solo acoustic performance is up next with Tampa Red's "Hard Road (Blues)", from a 1940 Bluebird 78. A new original about man's best friend, "Buy Me A Dog", is up next and then back to older set lists for James Cotton-inspired version of "Good Time Charlie". "Painful Memory" is a new tribute to Guitar Slim, based on his "Things You Used To Do" hit. Willie Dixon's classic contribution to Muddy Waters' catalogue, "I Live The Life I Love", is a good place to mention the band: Bruce Katz adds fine piano to this one especially, although he appears throughout, as do regulars Doug James, tenor & baritone sax; Sax Gordon Beadle; Carl Querfurth, trombone; John Packer, basses and Mark Teixeira, drums. Some of these names go back to the first edition of Roomful Of Blues, (he must be a good employer), which was useful, as after woefully-unknown Willie Egans' "I'm Mad About It", he does an old Roomful tune, "Sleepin' On It", which was the "B-side" to the early `80's indie single "Let Me Love You". The title song is by Brownie McGhee from his Savoy R&B, pre-folk blues, days. The CD ends with an obscure B.B. King song, "Long Gone Baby", an early `60's Kent single. Knowing where the songs come from is, I hope, a useful way of describing in words the jump-out-of-the-speakers sound on this disc. The only slight drawback being Robillard's somewhat mannered singing on some of the songs. There is roaring guitar, solid band work and blues galore here. I hope he plays all these songs at the Dollar on February 9th.
Jerome Godboo Deja -Vu Baby JGGD112
His third solo album gets off to a very strong start with the Junior Wells-ish
"Jungle" with Suzie McNeil helping out on vocals and Jose Gonzales on congas, a sort of appropriate Santana touch; "Go Go" sounds like it's based on Smokey Robinson meets the Stones but is not worse for that and "High School Reunion" has a strong, catchy reggae flavour and a good lyric. "Cook It Up" is a simple funk piece that begins to bring up the realization that there are just too many styles present here for enjoyable listening. "Home" is a song from Pleasure Puppets, the Phantoms LP from 1990 and doesn't improve on the original, unfortunately although not everyone will have the LP, I guess. The title song includes psychedelic effects and has some nice lyrics that get lost in endless repetition. "Street Detective" is a pleasant instrumental workout with some good harp/guitar work, from another former Phantom, Gregory-Ray Tunis, who was the drummer then. "Bye Bye Love" is Godboo's vocal workout, a demented ballad with French cabaret overtones and odd pop song quotes in the harp solo. JJ "T-Bone" White's bass kicks in "Mr. Natural", another slab of funk that I hope works better on the dance floor. "I Wanna Go Home" is a phrase repeated a few times too often during the next song, making it seem much longer than its 3:34 running time. "Vulture Culture" is a Jim Morrison-like list of environmental offences over a nice band groove with some amplified harp from Godboo. Derek Lindo is on drums except on the last song where Chris Perra takes over and John Daly is the other guitarist. So, four songs that are pretty good and some others that are more for Godboo's fans than general listeners. Godboo has talent to spare, I just wish he would concentrate on one style and run with it. I'm going to follow him for a while longer, though. The three CD's plus the two Phantoms albums are available at www.jeromegodboo.com.
Big Daddy G Blue Sound - Live At The Harvest
Fest Reggie's Records DGCD200/Festival
The recording devices have been busy at Fredericton's Harvest Fest recently, with Rick Fines, Glamour Puss and now Big Daddy G recording their sets and making them available. The band is the same as on the marathon Topless CD: Dave Glover, guitar; Tortoise Blue, B3, harp and vocals; Wayne Deadder, bass & Ted Peacock, drums and we get live versions of three songs from that CD, "Stringbean `N Tater", here the opening instrumental, "New Man Blues" and "You're Cute", Glover's song for his daughter (a song that gets better with each performance, it seems). Guesting this time are Richard Bell on piano and Blue's protege Southside Steve Marriner on harp. New to disc in this hugely entertaining, enthusiastically-received performance are their versions of "Tramp", "Tigerman" (from Joe Hill Louis via Kim Wilson), "Mohair Sam", "Help Me", Rod Piazza's "Honey Bee" and "Rocket 88". Big Daddy G
(Dave Glover) is in excellent form throughout and Tortoise Blue is clearly enjoying himself with this crowd although he doesn't quite make me forget Lowell Fulson on "Tramp". The harp duets help bring the set (and the disc) to a powerful finish. Danny Greenspoon gets the kudos for a truly fine live recording, especially the drum sound. "The Best Live Act - Eastern Canada" covers a lot of competition, but on this night, as showcased here, they provide some strong proof. Go to www.bigdaddyg.com.The Odyssey Blues Band Something Borrowed Something Blues No #/Indie
The band features Suzanne Hyatt as lead vocalist fronting a veteran trio with a steady gig at the Odyssey Tap & Grill at 131 King St. in St. Catharines The trio is: Ed Pryla is on guitar & vocals; Dave Mullen, bass and Rick "Preacherboy Boogie" Scriver, drums. For the recording they've added some guests who've performed with them over the last year or so: Jerome Godboo with the kind of supportive blues harpwork missing from Deja-Vu Baby, Meyer Steinberg, keyboards; Eddie Baltimore, specialized guitars, vocals, percussion (and recording); Steve Grisbrook, guitar and John Bride, lead guitar. Front and centre, though, is Hyatt, a powerful singer with a great deal of presence, able to switch easily from Koko Taylor (on "Beer Bottle Boogie") to Nina Simone
("Do I Move You") to Bonnie Raitt ("Love Me Like A Man"). As promised in the title, these are borrowed classics but the assembled cast performs with enthusiasm and talent, even "Stormy Monday" holds interest with Hyatt & Bride leading the way. Contact them at www.odysseybluesband.com or better yet, go to their Saturday matinee, from 4 until late, er, 8.
Son Seals Deluxe Editions/AlligatorALCD5610/Warner Music
Koko Taylor Deluxe Edition Alligator ALCD5611/Warner Music
Although he is now signed to Telarc Records, Son Seals' eight-CD catalogue for Alligator ranks as one the label's very finest. It stands to reason that a `best-of' would be exactly that and as a bonus, there is another song from that famous first album, The Son Seals Blues Band. That was just ex-shipping clerk Bruce Iglauer's third album and he was taking a huge chance. It was worth it and you can hear how well it paid off. You may quibble about the song selection and you may even have a CD or two of his, but you should get this one as it's some of the toughest Chicago blues you'll ever hear on one CD. "The Queen Of The Blues"' Deluxe Edition is also a strong selection from her eight albums, the unreleased track being "Man Size Job", from her last CD, Royal Blue. It's not a sequence of fifteen examples of Koko's famous roar, this `best-of' does very well showing the variety in her repertoire. Although "Up In Flames", the ballad she recorded for David Lynch's movie "Wild At Heart" is not here, it would not have been as out of place as it would have been on earlier albums. Now that her CD's are coming at ever longer intervals, this timely retrospective will keep you very happy indeed `til the next one. As usual with this Alligator series, there is marvellous sound and artwork to assist in your enjoyment.
Rory Block I'm Every Woman Rounder 3174/Universal
This guest-laden effort will surprise most readers here. Ms. Block has done contemporary rock before
(I've Got A Rock In My Sock) and folk rock (Tornado) (She has dis-owned the pre-Rounder earlier albums) but I'm Every Woman , with a few short exceptions, is her first stab at contemporary R&B and soul. Exceptions first: Gaye Adegbelola duets on an a capella "Sea Lion Woman", Jordan Block Valdina on an a capella "Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down", Paul Rishell & Annie Raines join in a fun "Rock Island Line", Kelly Jo Phelps on "Pretty Polly" and the CD opens and closes on short slide pieces "Guitar Ditty 1 & 2" that borrow from Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground". So far so good, about fifteen minutes of "normal". The rest: a couple of Ashford & Simpsons, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Sam & Dave (with Reverend Herb Sheldon), the Womack Bros. - it all is a little too much to take in quickly but these are good performances, with a band that includes the obligatory string synthesiser. Do I like it? Ask me in a month or two.J. Thibodeau Everyday Shoes Ruination RRCD1001/Indie
John Thibodeau lives in Providence, RI but lived here long enough to make the acquaintance of Colin Linden who arranged a recording session with a few friends: Chris Whiteley, harp; Dennis Pendrith, bass and himself on the usual assortment of instruments & voice. Mark Thibodeau contributes piano with John on acoustic guitar and vocals. This is mostly an acoustic folk CD with some folk blues: a nice version of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Bad Luck Blues" which brought to mind David Rea's version, "Mr. Jelly Lord" from Jelly Roll Morton, "Tattler" from Ry Cooder's team and "Yas Yas Yas" from Tampa Red. The rest are mostly originals sung in an understated, unassuming style. Thibodeau says in an accompanying letter that he has quite a few of these CD's in his closet and you can have one for US$12. You could do a lot worse. He's at 414 Benefit St. 02903.
Not forgotten, just delayed slightly:
Jack de Keyzer Six String Lover Blue Star
Jay Douglas and the ALL-Star Band Live In
Toronto Deep Jamm
Jimmy Thompson She's A Snake In The
Grass Fox Lake
Chuck E. Weiss Old Souls & Wolf
Tickets Rykodisc
Cathy Jean Marshall Road
Apocalypse CJ
The Converters You Got `Em Voodoo Pie
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2002