November
2003
Matt Minglewood Band Live At Last Norton NR0803
Road warrior Minglewood invited a few friends to Sydney NS for his first live recording. Dubbed "Minglefest", Jeff Healey, Michael Pickett, Billy Joe Green and Rita Chiarelli were all on hand to celebrate his eleventh album and all ensured that it was a memorable event. He has always straddled rock & country as well as blues but this CD oozes blues no matter the style. No one sings about life on the road quite like he does, just listen to the closer "Can't You See". For all the wonderful contributions from Michael Pickett, Billy Joe Green, Rita Chiarelli, Sam Moon & Dennis Parker, this is Minglewood's life, no one else's. Healey is on lead guitar throughout and shows no sign of leaving electric blues behind. The songs here draw from the history of the band, with some from his last one, Drivin' Wheel. Howling Wolf's "Tell Me" starts things off in fashion, though, with Minglewood & Healey trading choruses. His road band is in fine form throughout with Grant Leslie, bass, Neil Robertson, drums, Jim Ralph on keyboards and all on background vocals. Other road-tested highlights here are "Let Somebody Else Drive", "Me & the Boys", "Travelin' Man", "Rockin' the Blues" & "East Coast Blues". "Night Creeper" is new to the discography and is a fine feature for Mr's. Pickett & Healey. The proceedings were preserved for posterity by Trevor Turnbull and you should get one for your collection, as not all eleven have been transferred to CD yet and only grizzled collectors like myself would notice any repetition. For more info, samples and ordering, go to his excellent web site, www.mattminglewood.com.
Colin James Traveler WEA 47389/Warner
Traveler opens with John Lennon's "I'm Losing You", which, shorn of his trademark vocal mannerisms, turns out to be a very good soul tune and a nice way for James to open his new CD. "I Know What Love Is' has a nice "Harlem Shuffle" feel to it and "She Can't Do No Wrong" is a good, funky, rave up with group vocals that I'm sure will be a live show highlight. After these three songs, though, there isn't much for blues fans. His guitar work is stellar, as always, and the sound, by Mark Howard, is up to JUNO-winning standards. While I wish him every success in the mainstream market, his blues fans may be forced into compiling their own CD's, it's still worth the effort.
The Perpetrators The Perpetrators
Stringbreakin' PERPCD01
Big Dave McLean's Blues from the Middle, on Stony Plain, featured his electric backing band in a setting that perfectly captured the Muddy Waters style that McLean works so well. On their own, this CD shows a re-constituted Perpetrators trio that is one of the hottest bands working in Winnipeg right now and their style takes us into Nu-Blues territory. By that I mean high energy, riff-laden new songs that borrow sounds instead of songs. R.L. Burnside is often credited with providing the starting point here, in his work with the John Spencer Blues Explosion. But fear not, blues fans, these young players don't wish to start by obliterating history, just creating within it, "12,000 Miles" opens the CD with a classic Hound Dog Taylor lick that will transport you to alligator heaven. Jason Nowicki played that guitar, Ryan Menard, an ex-Rockin' Highliner (winning a Maple Blues Award nomination), plays bass and Scotty Hills is on drums although they've been known to switch instruments on stage. They all sing. Dave McLean returns the favour on harp and Grant Siemens helps out on organ. The twelve songs are all originals with "1/4 to 5" particularly noteworthy for new sounds. "Look at You" and "Garmonbozia" are also highlights. "Six Pack" shows they've learned their Burnside lessons very well indeed. I hope this band stays together to develop some of ideas here, they show great promise. You can reach them at jsun101@hotmail.com but www.perps.ca isn't quite ready yet.
Guy Belanger/Claude Fradette Gaz Bar Blues BROS 13002
This is "music inspired by" the Louis Belanger movie that won three awards at the Montreal Film Festival and much critical acclaim at ours. It features harp ace Belanger in mostly all-instrumental settings with soundtrack veteran Fradette on various guitars. Other players contribute cello, drums and bass. While it's clear that you should be watching something while listening, these songs do form a pleasant, atmospheric album in their own right and the playing is excellent. Three vocals round out the package: Bob Walsh's glorious voice contributes a live "Summertime" with Belanger and the string quartet forces from his Blues sessions. The original recording of Little Walter's famous "Sad Hours" is here and Chris Whitley (the US one) sings Lou Reed's "Perfect Day' accompanied by his rhythm section in an understated acoustic performance. Something a little different.
Loco Zydeco Yeah, You Right, Eh! Indie
This is a very strong album! Not much has been heard from the land of Zydeco recently but you would never be able to tell that to this local group. They present a fine set of zydeco standards and originals in the style as well as some contemporary songs that are not zydeco but use the same instrumentation. "Sameday Ray" Walsh is the accordionist and producer, Rob "Bango" Urquhart is the lead vocalist and harp player, Dave "The Cat" McLean is on guitar & vocals, Kris K.K. Walsh is on rubboard & vocals, Les Graham is on bass and was the engineer, and Mike Menheere is on drums & percussion. Credentials are quickly established with rousing takes on "Zydeco Boogaloo" and "Give Him Cornbread" before the first original, "I Don't Mind", shows they can write in the style successfully. "Use Me" and "Shame on You" don't work quite as well for me in that they are farther from zydeco and seem handicapped by the accordion. Many bands in this situation might switch to a piano or organ here. The only other (slight) quibble I have is that all of these songs are uptempo, a slow one or two was missed. Even the fine straight blues, "The Spell" is fast. www.locozydeco.com seems not quite ready so check the listings pages and prepare to dance!
Various Artists Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook
Rounder 1866/Universal
Memphis Slim, Big Bill Broonzy & John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson Blues in the Mississippi Night Rounder 1860/Universal
The "official" Year of the Blues releases continue to impress, with the Lomax Songbook saluting a contribution to blues whose extent will still not be fully understood for years to come. The field recordings, done over some fifty years by John Lomax & son Alan, have been and will continue to be enormously influential. This carefully compiled 2-disc selection will hopefully bring them to an entirely new audience. That Blues in the Mississippi Night is also available again will also help. This 1946 radio documentary, with the three blues men describing life in the South in detail so harrowing they asked to remain anonymous at the time, is vital to an understanding of the environment that gave birth to the blues. The Songbook adds to the catalogue Lomax recordings done at the Newport Folk Festival, of which he was a prime mover. Of the 41 songs here, 12 are new to re-issue, for you longtime collectors, and with transfers done using DSD technology even the oldest recordings sound fresh. As if this wasn't enough, after the foreword from Martin Scorsese, there's an excellent essay by John Cowley plus a song-by-song analysis. The documentary features the original notes by Lomax plus a transcript of the interview portions. These are absolutely essential purchases. For more info, please visit www.rounder.com and www.alan-lomax.com.
Big Joe Williams I Got Wild Delmark DE-767/Festival
Country blues man Big Joe recorded off and on for Delmark from 1956 `til 1961 when his inability to turn down other offers led to Koester's decision to stop recording him. They did stay friends for years afterwards and Williams' stay in the basement at 11 West Grand in Chicago is the stuff of legend. This CD consists of out takes from those LP's but his work was so consistent, that you'll wonder why they've not been issued before.
Johnnie B. Moore Rockin' in the Same Old Boat Delmark DE-769/Festival
Just two guitars, bass & drums, almost an hour of West Side blues by one of the masters, that's all that's here. A thirty-year veteran of the Chicago club scene, Moore's Eddie Taylor-derived guitar style was a treat to catch whenever I was in Chicago. He recently suffered a serious stroke so this CD will have to do until he recovers. Fortunately recordings don't get much better than this. Moore's voice doesn't quite reach some of the notes in the `60's soul songs he's chosen but the blues are covered just fine. The title song is a Bobby Bland song that sounds just fine here, as does his "Broke Man" and Buster Benton's "Lonesome for a Dime".
Recommended, especially if you can't get to the West Side anytime soon.
Jimmy Burns Back to the Delta Delmark DE-770/Festival
Burns' first career was as a soul singer in that heyday in Chicago but left music for a career as a carpenter. Since his retirement, and still in fine voice, he has returned to music full time and this is his third CD, all for Delmark. The theme this time is memories of the Delta where he grew up and thirteen of the sixteen songs here are new compositions built on those memories, not songs he remembers from his youth. These new songs are uniformly excellent, both lyrically and musically, and with a crack band of piano, second guitar, bass & drums the result is a Chicago blues album of distinction, well worth acquiring.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2003