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October
2005
Long John Baldry It Ain't Easy Stony Plain SPCD 1310/Warner Music
Long John Baldry Everything Stops For
Tea Stony Plain SPCD 1311/Warner Music
For those of you who've retired your turntables these albums are a distant memory. "Don't
Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll" was only rarely heard but
fondly remembered. No longer. The re-release of these two albums on CD was to announce a major
summer tour with a highly anticipated Toronto date and then a European tour. Unfortunately the
albums are all we will have. A bit of history is in order.
Long John Baldry started his own blues bands in England in the early sixties after apprenticing with
Alexis Koerner. Among the members of his bands were two men who went on to much greater fame and fortune than did
John. Rod Stewart and Elton John thought they'd return the favour by producing an LP,
each producing a side. It Ain't Easy was enough of a success to do another, more ambitious one.
There were of course two sides to Baldry's career, the blues & R&B belter and the pop balladeer
and both are represented here. It Ain't
Easy opens, though, with three strong songs with
"Conditional Discharge" being the name given to the delicious monologue that leads into "Don't Try to Lay
No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll".
Ian Armit supplies the boogie woogie piano.
Sam Mitchell & Ron Wood supply the guitars and are especially notable on
Leadbelly's "Black Girl", a duet with
Maggie Bell. The title song rounds out this fantastic opening sequence.
The Elton John `side' has a fine version of Randy
Newman's "Let's Burn Down The Cornfield" and
Rod Stewart's "Flying". As if it weren't enough to have these songs back, there are seven
extra songs now with different versions of "Black Girl', "It Ain't Easy" and "I'm Ready" plus
"Blues", "Going Down Slow", "Midnight Hour Blues" and "Love in Vain". The second album has less blues
and less of a distinct sound between the two `sides'. Still "Seventh Son", "Iko Iko" and "You
Can't Judge a Book By the Cover" are excellent. The title song combines a radio playlet with
an English music hall tune that must have been fun to record but probably will not survive
repeated listenings. It seemed a curiosity even then. Three extra songs are added to this CD, a
live "Bring My Baby Back", a duet with
Joyce Everson on "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and
"I'm Just a Rake and a Gambling Boy'. These LPs came out in 1971 and 1972. Shortly afterward,
Baldry moved here and while he recorded fairly frequently, he never found that international hit
song again. He is a member of that select group of blues musicians recognized as such by
most Canadians, partly as a result of this music. It's good to have it back.
Colin James' tenth album finds him paired once more with old friend
Colin Linden. Their last effort was the excellent
National Steel from 1997. Linden's journey through the music
of the US South fit in perfectly with his interest in singing more soul music and indeed a
couple of these songs would not be out of place on Linden's
Southern Jumbo. While much of this CD is aimed at the pop mainstream, the two guitars, with Linden often on slide, are a
treat throughout. Bob Dylan's "Watchin' the River Flow" gets a very bluesy treatment and
James' "Weeping Willow Tree" harkens back to
National Steel with its acoustic mood. And then
there's the wonderful version of Nick Lowe's "When I write the Book" from his
Rockpile days, it sounds great here.
Jimmy Bowskill has shown the way and twelve-year-old Elyssa looks to be on that road for
a while too. She's been performing since she was eight and the experience shows. I don't
think she's quite as good a singer as Bowskill yet but her performance of
Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" shows a very impressive range. Her program consists of two of her own songs plus
a selection of R&B and pop songs. Chuck
Jackson co-produced, along with fellow
Downchild members Pat Carey and Michael
Fonfara and he duets with Elyssa on "Hold On I'm
Coming". Another highlight is the duet with Virgil Scott on "Mockingbird". The electric
Jeff Healey plays guitar on four songs and Jimmy Bowskill is on hand on guitar for two more. So she
has gathered some pretty impressive support for her young career. Some of the song choices seem
poor - she doesn't seem to have a handle on "Mojo Boogie" although Bowskill has a very
impressive solo. Reports from the Southside Shuffle, where she performed throughout the weekend were
very positive. Check out the web site at
www.elyssamahoney.ca or get her CD at Sam The Record Man.
Zoe is a regular contributor to this publication and a volunteer at many TBS functions.
She is also an accomplished and original songwriter and performer. This is her sixth
self-produced album and it's a double disc. Perhaps all those hours commuting between here and her home
in Haliburton provided the opportunity to compose. It seems to have inspired the titles. One
disc is Blues Boulevard, the other Jazz
Junction. As before, she has assembled some our finest
to play her always interesting music and Blues
Boulevard features two songs with the late
Eddie Baltimore on guitars. "Rats & Welfare (the fat cats don't care)", with
Denis Keldie on piano & accordion, later generated an animated film. "No Spring Chicken" has Eddie on slide
guitars. Two other songs are dedicated to Eddie, "Red Shoes Blues" was performed at the Tribute
and "L'etheramour" her own thoughts. There are other highlights too, "Basement Blues" and "If
You Lie to Me" among them. Not 12 bar blues perhaps but blues none the less. "My Man is Special"
is the one song on both discs with the second disc using a somewhat larger group of jazz
players. The songs on Jazz Junction, it seems, just required that sound. The result is over two hours
of music that will be debuted at the Black Swan on Saturday, October
29th. Get the CD there or go to
www.zoechilco.ca.
The Blue Monday Band Highways BMB005
This is a young power trio from Halifax with
Diann Gaudreau on powerhouse vocals &
bass, Paul Cole on guitars and Ken
Moss on drums. They're clearly not afraid to crank it up
and Gaudreau is more than capable of making herself heard which is helpful because she's also
the principal songwriter. "Inner You" and "Why You, Why Me", while being more rock than blues,
have some interesting lines. Most of the songs here are short but sound like they're constructed
for much longer versions if necessary and they seem to have the musical ability to do that. This
is their third CD and perhaps the next one will have what it takes to go to a wider audience.
Their web site is www.thebluemondayband.ca.
Blues Tribe Soul Medicine Indie
Blues Tribe is a veteran band from Kelowna B.C.
Terry Biggar, harmonica; Robert
Johnson, vocals & guitar; Art
Jacobs, bass; John Modder, drums, Ray
Volk, tenor sax and Sig Schnellert, keyboards describe themselves as a dance band and they are not making that
up. They have an excellent ensemble sound, with everyone very well matched in terms of ability
and talent. Johnson reminds me of the late John
Witmer, he has that same raspy vocal style.
The program is a well-chosen mix of originals and seldom-performed covers and well chosen
for variety and for dancing. "26 Miles from Memphis" is particularly good, capturing that `been
on the road too long' feel and perfect for substituting the name of the town you might happen
to be in. Another highlight is "Call Me the Breeze", a mid tempo rocker that leads nicely
into "Willie Nelson's "Night Life" for them that want a slow dance. If you're in Kelowna, you
should check out the Blue Gator, Blues
Tribe might even be there that night. Otherwise, you
could check out www.bluestribe.com, but it was under construction as I write this.
David Mcgee "B.B. King-There Is Always One More Time" Backbeat Books
B.B. King turned 80 on September
16th and these two `gifts' to us are well matched.
McGee masterfully combines the existing material on B.B. with new interviews and analysis.
Charles Sawyer's "The Arrival of B.B. King" and "Blues All Around Me" the autobiography written
with David Ritz did not need competition anyway. Ace Records in England are engaged in an
extensive re-issue program of the Modern Records era and the book in their 4CD Box set
The Vintage Years was also used extensively. About two thirds of this book deal with the next period, up to
"The Thrill Is Gone" and afterwards to the present. If it seems to you that there are far too
many albums to deal with then this book is for you. McGee's enthusiasm for his task forces you to
re-evaluate albums thought by many in the blues community to be a waste of time and money. He
does not like all the albums and even ignores a couple but in interviewing producers and
record company executives a clearer picture emerges of what was attempted. For all of this period
he was with a major label and was accorded star treatment. No one, it seems, ever doubted that
a blues man deserved this _ if the project warranted a big budget it got it. It's clear that
B.B. was involved in every album, understanding that this was the way to reach as many people
as possible with his music. McGee is a veteran Rolling Stone contributor and a former
assistant curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His writing ability is a major strength of
this book, you'll be astounded to think that you are reading a discography _ those things
are supposed to be dry as dust. Not here. Album covers, personnel and song titles are
all conveniently provided.
- John Valenteyn,
jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Colin James Limelight MapleMusic MRCD6449/Universal
Elyssa Mahoney Try to See Me Like
That EMCD001/Iridescent
Zoe Chilco Up the Highway Indie
B.B. King & Friends 80 Geffen B000526303/Universal
The new CD provides a perfect example of the kind of thinking described in the book. For
the third of the recent duets albums, a bewildering variety of "Friends" are brought in. It
should be said right away that B.B. is in excellent voice, especially after the
Reflections CD, which while a beautiful ballads album, was sung by a man obviously in his late seventies. He finds
his old voice here. The question is, do his duet partners carry their end and here the results
are mixed. Van Morrison has sounded better in these situations, particularly with
John Lee Hooker and he insists on blowing harp but it's not bad overall.
Billy F. Gibbons, a young Memphis singer does very well on "Tired of Your Jive" a rarely done song from
Blues is King and also an uncollected single.
Eric Clapton does not sing on "The Thrill Is Gone" but we get
some lovely soloing from both. Sheryl Crow is there I guess because she's Sheryl Crow,
there doesn't seem to be another reason. Daryl
Hall holds his own on "Ain't Nobody Home" is
an arrangement which comes close to the original. Another chestnut is "Hummingbird" but it gets
a stunning contribution from John Mayer, whose own next album is said to be a blues
tribute. Mark Knopfler joins B.B. on guitar for "All Over Again", another less often heard tune.
Ex-Eagle Glenn Frey is not convincing on "Drivin' Wheel" but oddly enough, I find
Gloria Estefan quite good on "There Must Be a Better World Somewhere".
Roger Daltrey is completely over the top on "Never Make Your Move Too Soon" and unfortunately he takes B.B. along with
him. The highlights are saved for the end with Bobby
Bland joining B.B. for Willie Nelson's
"Funny How Time Slips Away". These two have known each other for decades and it shows.
Elton John, with his own band, just roars through "Rock This House" with B.B. not missing a beat. A
real barn burner for an album closer. The arrangements here are always interesting, the
vocalists `live' in the studio together and enough of the songs are fresh. Overall, I think this hits
its mark: bringing B.B. King's blues to more people.
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