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May
2006
The last album was acoustic and spontaneous, this one is rehearsed & produced and she's strapped that paisley electric guitar back on! It signals a return to raunch
'n' roll, with the title
song leading the way - she wants to be someone's new used car, taking the old automobile euphemism to new lengths. Although some of the guitar licks are a little used as well, the song's a good
one. She has her regular band with her: Tom
Bona, drums, Graham Guest, keyboards and
Mike Turenne on bass with co-producer Corey
Macfadyen adding percussion. There are also a couple of
very good rocking blues songs in "Make It Real" (written with
Lynn Miles) and "When I Come Back to You". "Absolution" is a tough slow blues that finds her deep in
Otis Rush territory. The grinding "Do It Again" has a distinct (and pleasing) mid-period
Rolling Stones feel to it. The band takes a break for a tender acoustic parting ballad "Long Tomorrow". "Change Your Mind" has a
catchy melody played by twin acoustic/electric guitars. It works very nicely. The acoustic album was good but I think I prefer the electric Sue Foley. This one is album #10 for Ms. Foley and a DVD,
Live in Germany, will soon be available as well. Her
Blues Guitar Women double CD (reviewed in the February John's Blues Picks) is part of a larger book project along with her own record label.
Find out more at www.suefoley.com or
www.guitarwoman.com.
The "Queen of Montreal Folk" is how she's sometimes billed in recognition of the quality of her work since her 1963 start at the Café Andre there and this may be the finest album in her
illustrious career. A fan for almost that entire time and an accompanist for a spell, filmmaker and performance art producer
Roma Baran has created a stunning aural landscape for some truly fine songs. Her
work with Laurie Anderson might have predicted otherwise but she has used a folk instrument palette to great effect. Percussionist
Vivian Stoll is co-producer with Baran, a pairing that was
Grammy-nominated for their work with Rosalie
Sorrels. "Careless Love" is simply magnificent. This blues-drenched lesson of the price of careless love (paid many years later) makes most other
versions redundant. An original by Penny, "Diamonds on the Water", with just two acoustic guitars and bass, is another highlight as is the traditional gospel song "Let Me Fly", with son
Jason Lang on electric guitar. Many of Montreal's finest are present, including
Kate McGarrigle and Michael Jerome
Browne, but Penny Lang's warm, full-bodied voice is what stays with you, showing no
signs of her recent stroke. She'll be presenting the album, with her
producers as guests, at the NOW Lounge on May 11.
Trouble & Strife Trouble &
Strife T&S
I've not made it to Orangeville yet to catch this band on their home turf. If you haven't either, get this CD. Get it anyway _ it's a good one. The band is
Larry Kurtz on harp & vocals, Bruce
Ley on guitar, keyboards & vocals, Michael
Ley on lead guitars, Greg Smith on bass and
Maureen Brown on drums. They've been performing for a while now and it shows. They've also come
up with some fine original songs in the electric blues tradition. The best of these is "Hard Times on a Blue Planet", a stomping rocker that could be a single. The CD opener, the traditional "Keep
On Drinking", gets a rousing performance, it should go down well at the Winchester Arms or any blues club. "Millie's Blues" is an autobiographical piece, perhaps placed second to show they
can be serious as well but the rest of the songs easily dispel that notion. "Slow Down Baby" and "Dead End Blues" show what these players can do if there's a power failure _ no need to
worry. Www.troubleandstrife.ca is still under construction but you can contact them through it to get a CD _ do it!
The cover shot and title song ask the rhetorical question. The slow
Nina Simone blues builds to a crescendo behind Janiva's sultry vocal and this is the seventh song on her new CD!
Colin Linden is on board again as co-producer and guitarist as is long time accompanist
Jeff Turmes and his baritone sax. The CD has a strong set list of lesser-known songs, with only a couple of
Jeff Turmes originals. "I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')", originally recorded by
Clarence Carter and Delbert
McClinton's "You Were Never Mine" being particularly noteworthy.
Linden's "I Give Up" is a strong song but loses something for having appeared on his own
Southern Jumbo so recently. Rick
Holmstrom guests on guitar and Linden's partners in crime,
Richard Bell and John Whynot excel as usual. I was struck in listening to this CD by how similar Janiva's voice is to
Rita Chiarelli's. Check out
www.janivamagness.com.
Various Artists 35 X 35 Alligator/Fusion
With the Stony Plain celebration still happening, it was a bit of a shock to realize that Alligator was started five years earlier! This celebration is a two-disc set surveying those thirty-five
years in thirty-five songs. It is a stimulating listening experience with constant reminders of the many magnificent albums on the label and the enjoyment those albums brought at the time. The
opening track here is "She's Gone", the opening track of
Hound Dog Taylor's first Alligator album and the first Alligator album. Thirty-five songs later, with
Mavis Staples' "A Dying Man's Plea",
you've covered an enormous chunk of contemporary blues history.
Son Seals, Professor Longhair, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, Corey Harris, Shemekia Copeland, Marcia
Ball, all are Alligator artists and all are still available. Get it and enjoy.
Guy Davis has made a career out of adapting and even writing pre-World War II acoustic blues to fit the modern era. On this album only two of the songs qualify under that over-simplified statement,
the rest are now Davis originals. He has also often used other musicians on these albums but doesn't until now seem to have thought of recording with them as an electric band. Just listen to the
performance of "Going Down Slow". The
St. Louis Jimmy classic would hardly seem to need a new version but this one quickly takes on a life of its own. This band includes
Mark Naftalin (Paul Butterfield Blues
Band) on keyboards, the veteran Davis accompanist
T-Bone Wolk (Saturday Night Live
Band) on banjo & accordion and John
Platania (Van Morrison Band) & Neil Roth
Patterson on guitars. Much of the new material seems to have been sparked by the passing of his father, the actor
Ossie Davis, and the reminiscing that often results. "Hooking Bull at the Landing" is credited as co-written with his
father. It comes from a line from his own childhood _ a `bull' is a railroad policeman, in this case one with a hook used to keep hobos from riding. "Skunkmello" is, or was, or may not have been, a famous
chicken thief and liar - the thread of storytelling runs strongly through the new songs. I suspect you are going to hear more of one of the new songs. "Blues in the Midnight Hour" is that wonderful combination
of lyric and melody that stays with you and will surely be recorded by many others. "Uncle Tom Is Dead", the rap/blues hit with son
Martial from the last album, Legacy, is included here as well, as a
bonus track in its `milk & cookies' mix. The song was so popular, particularly on NPR, that a cleaned up version was requested. It's good to hear it again and be reminded, as Guy Davis has been, of the past.
I want to briefly mention a few excellent new releases because there isn't room to do more. As
Otis Rush slowly recovers from a major stroke, live album releases continue.
Live at Montreux 1986 (Eagle) documents a show there with the late
Professor Eddie Lusk's band. Eric
Clapton was playing the next night and showed up early to guest.
Luther Allison jumped on stage as well. Beautifully
performed and captured on audio and video, the DVD has four more songs.
John Long is an acoustic blues man who's waited decades to record.
Lost & Found (Delta Groove) shows that to have been a criminal
oversight. Cassandra Wilson is normally filed in jazz but
Thunderbird (Blue Note), with Colin
Linden & Marc Ribot on guitars, is a strong roots album, particularly her atmospheric take on "Easy Rider".
Coming May 16, a searing new CD by Charlie
Musselwhite, Delta Hardware (Realworld) which trades world music for
Fat Possum-style electric blues. And as you read this a series of re-issues through
Emarcy/Universal France will make available many
Memphis Slim & Champion Jack
Dupree albums along with newly available Montreux
Festival recordings.
- John Valenteyn,
jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Sue Foley New Used Car Justin Time/Fusion
Penny Lang Stone + Sand + Sea +
Sky Borealis/Koch
Janiva Magness Do I Move You? NorthernBlues/Festival
Guy Davis Skunkmello Red House/Festival
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