Xmas
Blues
The
Annual gift buying guide issue is in your hands and we want to make sure you
have the nominees for the Maple Blues Award for Recording of the Year
in your collection or arranging to get them as a gift. We're sure you have a
goodly number already. As usual a further list of suggestions follows.
Mel Brown Homewreckin' Done Live Electro-Fi/Festival
With nominations for Entertainer, Electric Act and Guitarist, Mel Brown & The Homewreckers add up to four. This snapshot of the band during their lengthy engagement at Wally's in downtown Guelph will explain why. Now if only the fine folks at Universal Music could see their way clear to making some or all of Mel's impossible-to-find Impulse LP's from the 60's available once again.
Michael Jerome Browne Drive On Borealis/Festival
Entertainer, Acoustic Act, Male Vocalist, Guitarist, Songwriter (often with B. A. Markus) and Producer nominations bring Browne's total to seven _ a remarkable reward for individual effort even before the votes are counted.
Fathead First Class Riff Raff Electro-Fi/Festival
Nominations for John Mays as Male Vocalist, Al Lerman as Harmonica player, Omar Tunnoch as Bassist and new member Chuck Keeping as Drummer add to Co-Producer Alec Fraser's nomination for six more chances for this consistently productive and successful band. First Class Riff Raff will supply all the evidence you need for the value of hard work.
Sue Foley Where The Action Is KOCH
To paraphrase a baseball saying, if something's not broken, don't fix it. The multi-award-winning duo of producer Colin Linden and Sue Foley are back. Foley's first nomination for Songwriter adds to the ones for Electric Act, Female Vocalist, Entertainer plus the one for her drummer, Tom Bona for a total of seven.
Jack De Keyzer 6-String Lover Blue Star
There are seven nominations (a new high, congratulations, Jack!) also for de Keyzer with Entertainer, Electric Act, Male Vocalist, Bassist (for Alec Fraser's work), Songwriter and Co-Producer (with Fraser).
Christmas Gift Guide:
Ian Angus
Let The Good Times Roll
If you can't find these titles on local store shelves, please try the Internet. Web-shopping makes many titles accessible that otherwise can't be found in Canada.
1. The only problem with King of the Blues, a four CD boxed set of B.B. King music released in 1992 by MCA, was the limited coverage of his early years. That gap has been totally rectified by another four CD box on Britain's Ace label. B.B. King: The Vintage Years includes 106 beautifully re-mastered tracks recorded between 1950 and 1962 for Modern Records and other labels owned by the Bihari Brothers. The set includes a 74-page book with track-by-track notes written by Toronto's Colin Escott. A stunning tribute to a musical genius.
2. People who only know Chris Thomas King from his appearance in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou expect him to perform prewar acoustic blues all the time. But he performs in many styles _ and in particular he has been a pioneer in bringing hip-hop to blues and vice-versa. Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues, on his own 21st Century Blues label, is his best yet. It's not for traditionalists, but essential for anyone who wants to know what the future of blues might be.
3. Talk about an all-star band. Get Pinetop Perkins, Mel Brown, Jeff Healey, Bob Stroger and Willy `Big Eyes' Smith together in one room and you're certain to hear good music. But add 80-year harmonica master Snooky Pryor to the mix, and you might just produce a great blues CD. That's what Electro-Fi Records did a year ago. Snooky Pryor and His Mississippi Wrecking Crew was recorded in Toronto by Alec Fraser _ and it is the very best Chicago blues session released in 2002.
4. Over the past forty years, Solomon Burke has made some superb soul records, but his recordings rarely capture how much greater he is as a live performer. The next best thing to actually seeing him live is Soul Alive! (Rounder) recorded in a Washington nightclub in 1981 and now reissued as a two CD set by Rounder Records. As Peter Guralnick writes in the liner notes, "the songs themselves become something like soul anthems, [and] the emotional transport of the crowd inspires Solomon to new heights."
5. Who needs another CD of bluesy covers of hit songs, even songs by the bluesiest of the British Invasion bands? Answer: everyone who likes either blues or the Rolling Stones. Stoned Again (Texas Music Group) features thirteen brilliant instrumental versions of Stones songs, performed by a band led by Barry Goldberg, one-time keyboard player with the Electric Flag. I've heard many "blues tribute" CDs _ this is by far the best.
Steve Gash
Blues du Jour
1. Solomon Burke Don't Give Up On Me Fat Possum/Epitaph
The king of "rock & soul" is back and sounding better than ever. Tunes written for Burke by Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson and others prove to be the perfect vehicle for his gritty and emotional voice. Backed by an incredibly sympathetic rhythm section that includes Burke's church organist, this album that is sure to be hailed as the comeback of the year. A gift for those who thought they didn't make great soul music anymore...
2. Rick Holmstrom Hydraulic Groove Tone-Cool/True North/Universal
The blues has been combined with dj's, electronic samples and drum loops increasingly over the past few years, but few projects have managed the careful relationship between new musical technologies and the blues like Holmstrom's album. Rather than trying to sound hip, Hyrdraulic Groove is chuck-full of stinging guitar runs, fine vocals and funky beats mixed with thoughtful samples and programming. Those on your list with 'big ears' will love this one.
3. Albert King Born Under A Bad Sign Stax/Fantasy/Universal
Albert King's classic album is finally available as a domestic release! Song after song, many of King's best-known tunes are here including "Crosscut Saw", "The Hunter" and the unforgettable title track. This re-release adds new liner notes detailing the important role that Born Under A Bad Sign played in attracting a new auidence to the blues when it first appeared in 1967. If you're looking for an album to give to those on your list who aren't yet blues devotees, here's a CD that is sure to win them over.
4. Syl & Jimmy Johnson Two Johnsons are Better Than One Evidence
This marks the first time these two talented Chicago musicians have teamed up for a full-length studio recording, and it was well worth the wait. With ample doses of moody contemporary Chicago blues courtesy of Jimmy and hard-hitting Chi-town soul thanks to Syl, the brothers Johnson complement each other well. An all-original program of tunes by the brothers (including Jimmy's haunting "Ashes In The Ashtray") further strengthens the project.
5. Guy Davis Give In Kind Red House/Festival
With this release, his fifth for Red House Records, Guy Davis proves once again that he's one of the most gifted acoustic blues artists on the scene. Traditional material by Sleepy John Estes, Fred McDowell and Henry Thomas is combined with Davis' own impressive storytelling and imaginative instrumentation. Give In Kind achieves the rare feat of sounding both fresh and traditional at the same time.
John Valenteyn
John's Blues Picks
1. Omar & the Howlers Big Delta Blind Pig/Stony Plain/Warner
Fine rocking blues from the closest voice to Howling Wolf since Captain Beefheart. This CD has the best songs of his career, so far, played very well indeed.
2. Harry Manx Wise and Otherwise NorthernBlues/Festival
Then put this one on for some fine acoustic listening. The Mohan Veena adds colour but the songs put it on this list.
3. Corey Harris Downhome Sophisticate Rounder/Universal
This one gets my vote for modern directions in the blues, looking backward and across the ocean as well as forward, using the recording medium to its fullest and capitalizing on the interaction of his band, 5 X 5. Fred McDowell himself would be dancing listening to this "Lamp".
4. Bill King's Saturday Night Fish Fry Jump, Shout-Rock Da House Radioland/Universal
Blues meets jazz in Toronto and he is Louis Jordan dressed up for the new century with a cooking band. They are even better live.
5. Precious Bryant Fool Me Good Terminus
This wonderfully sympathetic recording is like finding a time capsule. Bryant was born in 1942 and rarely travelled from her rural Georgia home.
-John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com