Owner: M.D. Spenser URL:http://mdspenser.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:09:34 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Music site devoted to reviews of blues CDs and live shows; also features interviews with prominent artists. Site statistics:Click here
Lizz Wright -- Soho Revue Bar, London, 21/4/08 2008-05-10 03:05:00 By M.D. SpenserLizz Wright
walked on stage slowly, regally, eyes downcast, hugging herself, almost oblivious to the audience. Then, from deep within herself, she thrilled the Soho Revue Bar with some of the finest singing to be heard anywhere today.Her voice is a rich and vibrant instrument, capable of rattling the rafters one minute and conveying great subtlety the next.Wright was pegged early as
Mavis Staples -- The Barbican, London, 15/4/08 2008-04-26 03:19:00 By M.D. SpenserIll with a throat infection, Mavis Staples
, a consummate entertainer, pranced across The Barbican stage, lifted people up, inspired them and left them yelling until their own throats were sore.Staples found her greatest fame as lead singer of the Staples Singers in the ’60s and ’70s. But, even as she approaches her 69th birthday, she’s no oldies act.The bulk of her set was fro
Bettye LaVette -- Jazz Café, London, 13/04/08 2008-04-21 10:47:00 By M.D. SpenserNo one can put over a song like Bettye LaVette, the greatest unheralded soul singer in the world. And the incomparable Ms LaVette proved that again at the Jazz Café.Slinky in black silk pantsuit, she strutted and danced, her songs a defiant assertion of who she is. “So proud I was built this way,” she sang in ‘The Battle Of Bettye LaVette’, a song about how, uncompromising
The Fried Okra Band – From Denmark To Mississippi And Back 2008-04-20 14:41:00 By M.D. SpenserIt’s a mighty long way from Denmark
to the Mississippi
hill country. But if you think that’s far, consider the distance between Whitney Houston and Robert Belfour.But Morten Lunn, the lead singer of The Fried
Okra Band, has covered both.A native Dane, like the other three members of the band, he came of age listening to what everybody else was listening to: Whitney Houston, Mich
CD Review - Michelle Shocked 2008-03-27 05:07:00 ToHeavenURideMighty SoundBy M.D. SpenserWhoda thunk we’d ever read about punk folkster Michelle
Shocked in a blues review? But she makes a deserved appearance here with this excellent gospel album.This set was recorded live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2003. From its song selection, to its musicianship, to Shocked’s vibrato-soaked singing, almost everything about this album makes it
CD Review - Lizz Wright 2008-03-23 18:48:00 The OrchardVerve ForecastBy M.D. SpenserThis beautiful album transcends genre. It has elements of blues, gospel, R&B, jazz and folk; but more than these, it has a gentle honesty that's deeply moving.It’s tempting to talk about the musicians (wonderful) or Craig Street’s production (flawless) and especially Wright
’s voice, a rich and vibrant instrument.But what makes this an album for all
Big Brother Runs Amok in the U.K. 2008-03-16 19:21:00 By M.D. SpenserThe British government, believe it or not, wants to examine every single purchase I made in the course of a year. And I have no choice but to let them.It is yet more evidence that George Orwell, when he imagined the future in his novel “1984”, did not go far enough. Big Brother
is watching us – and entering much of what he sees in computer databases.The immediate cause of my d Read more:Big Brother
CD Review -- Black River Bluesman & The Croaking Lizard 2008-03-10 15:07:00 Rat Bone M.D. SpenserThis CD attempts to sound raw and unpolished but winds up sounding dreary and uninteresting.It’s a slow-motion distortion-drenched collection of bass-heavy songs so similar you wonder why the band bothered to stop playing in between.The BlackRiver
Bluesman himself, Jukka Juhola, wrote all of them. They have names like the title cut, ‘Rat Bone’, and lyrics like, “Rat b Read more:Lizard
Sleep Eaters, Unite! 2008-03-09 18:30:00 By M.D. SpenserSleep
eaters of the world, unite.Together we can share information on what works in fighting this disorder. And together we can show the scientific community that there are far more of us than is commonly known, giving greater impetus to research for a cure.Those who suffer from this problem need no description. For those who have never heard of it, it involves compulsive eating whi
CD Review - Taj Mahal 2008-02-25 05:49:00 Oooh So Good’n Blues/Recycling The Blues & Other StuffRavenBy M.D. SpenserTaj Mahal
is one of the great Blues revivalists. The two early ’70s albums collected here capture him in peak form, devoted to reviving – literally, giving new life to – country Blues.Taj’s interests over a 40-year career have ranged from reggae to Hawaiian music, from West African to R&B – all in his own Read more:Taj Mahal
CD Review - Jimmy Blythe 2008-02-24 04:56:00 Messin’ Around Blues: Enhanced Pianola RollsDelmarkBy M.D. SpenserJimmy Blythe was one of the originators of boogie-woogie piano. Hats off to Delmark for producing this amazing and valuable album of his work.Little is known of Blythe’s life other than that he was born in Kentucky around 1901, moved to Chicago in his teens, and died of meningitis in 1931.An esteemed sideman, he accompanied Loui
CD Review - Warner Williams and Jay Summerour 2008-02-11 02:16:00 Down ’N’ DirtyPatuxentBy M.D. SpenserThis is an enjoyable and good-humoured CD, featuring low-key acoustic Blues interspersed with low-key acoustic country.The album is based entirely on a singer with a guitar backed by a guy with a harmonica: think Cephas & Wiggins. This may be the Blues, but there’s no anguish, no intensity – just laid-back good times.Williams
, a retired government o Read more:Warner
CD Review - Blind Willie Johnson 2008-02-10 05:21:00 Nobody’s Fault But Mine: Original Recordings 1927-30 Rev-OlaBy M.D. SpenserBlindWillieJohnson
recorded just 30 songs over three years, yet his influence remains pervasive. Twenty-three are collected on this fine CD.They’ve been covered by people from Ry Cooder to The Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal and Chris Thomas King. Johnson’s gruff, agonized singing surely influenced Howlin’ Wolf, who in t
CD Review - Dennis Binder 2008-02-09 01:18:00 Hole In That JugEarwig Music Company By M.D. SpenserThe basic structure of the 12-bar blues is so rigid that it imposes on the performer special demands of individuality. And this is where Dennis
Binder fails.You want to like the guy. His album’s got a snappy title. He wears an even snappier green jacket. He sounds like he’s having a good time.But something’s missing – namely anything that
CD Review - Root Doctor 2008-02-05 01:39:00 Change Our WaysBig OBy M.D. SpenserRoot Doctor
’s web site declares that the band offers “Blues for what ails ya!” And it’s true. This enjoyable album offers ’70s-era Blues, soul, R&B and bit of funk – mostly designed not to make you feel blue but to make you feel better. Root Doctor is not a person, by the way; it’s the name of the band. The album features the vocals of Freddie C
CD Review - Swingadelic 2008-02-03 13:08:00 Another Monday NightMediamix By M.D. SpenserThis is not a proper album; it’s a sampler for a high-class wedding band, helpfully arranged for easy browsing – all seven instrumentals first, followed by the five vocal numbers. It’s mostly big-band jazz – think Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Tony Bennett. The web site says the band “adds just the right dose of some swingin’ Sixties groov
CD Review - Jon Bickley 2008-02-02 04:52:00 House CarpenterTigerBy M. D. Spenser Unfortunately for Blues lovers, this album owes as much to traditional English folk as it does to Blues. And that adds a touch of dreariness that makes this album a chore to listen to.Bickley styles himself a poet as well as a songwriter. But he should take to heart an observation by the poet Ezra Pound: “The poem fails when it strays too far from the song, a
CD Review - Tim Lothar Petersen 2008-01-30 02:21:00 Cut To The BoneBy M.D. SpenserEvocative guitar and haunting vocals grace this impressive collection of Delta Blues.Petersen, a Dane, recorded this debut in his living room, and it was well worth the effort. The album does more than echo the past: seven of the 10 cuts are originals, and a fine batch of songs they are. The opener, ‘Easy Baby’, is gentle yet insistent, propelled by Petersen’s a
CD Review - Jim Murray 2008-01-25 10:58:00 My Time To Be AloneJim Murray
This collection of pre-war Blues makes for a pleasant but undistinguished CD. It features fine acoustic guitar work – old-timey, relaxed, but remarkably proficient.It’s the solo debut for Murray, a long-time sideman in his mid-50s. “I now feel for the first time that I have something to say solo,” he writes in the liner notes. Well, not really, other than that
Music Interview - Solomon Burke 2008-01-23 04:40:00 Soul Great Looking Toward The Future at Age 67By M.D. SpenserThe phrases roll off his tongue like songs, no less heartfelt for having been polished over the years. Solomon Burke
is one of the greatest soul singers in history; he knows how to communicate from the heart.“The wonderful thing about being in England and being in Great Britain,” he says by telephone from his home in California, “i Read more:Music
Pain, Me and the Voodoo Doctor 2008-01-20 09:58:00 By M.D. SpenserI lay face down on the treatment bed whilst a man I’d met only a few minutes before used his forefinger like a hammer to drive needles into my flesh.He chatted all the while, trying to divert my attention.“What do you do for a living?” (Thwack!) “Oh, that’s so interesting.” (Thwack!) “How long have you been doing that?” (Thwack!)I’m a sceptic by nature and a bit of Read more:Doctor
, Voodoo
CD Review - Craig King 2008-01-20 09:53:00 BreakthroughBonedogIf you have any feelings for classic soul-blues, Craig
King’s debut CD could be one of the better albums you’ve run across in years.King’s impassioned vocals make him sound like Robert Cray before he lost his way, only grittier. King is backed by a fine horn section, with killer guitar, sizzling organ and a good chorus of back-up singers.The thing here is the funky beat. T
Music Interview - Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir 2008-01-09 15:03:00 Canadian Band Combines Blues, Bluegrass for Raw, Honest SoundBy M.D. SpenserOut of Canada, howling like wind through the chinks of a cabin, comes a sound so traditional it evokes something primal and yet so new you’ve never heard it before.It is the AgnosticMountainGospelChoir
, a four-piece band from Calgary that combines Blues, bluegrass, Appalachian folk and attitude into a rough, raw soun Read more:Music
CD Review - Bessie Smith 2008-01-09 15:00:00 Blues Queen: The Definitive CollectionDefinitiveTutored by Ma Rainey and an inspiration to Janis Joplin, Bessie Smith
was vital to the development of the Blues. This superb overview of her recording career, which began in the early 1920s and lasted a decade, gives voice to all the emotions that make up the Blues – sadness, defiance and joy.“I swear I won’t call no copper/When I’m beat up b
CD Review - porterdavis 2007-12-30 16:19:00 Live At Eddie’s AtticIndependent ReleaseThere’s a rare magic in music when exceptional players mesh perfectly.Porterdavis’ music is deeply traditional yet totally new. It is of no genre yet of them all – Blues, folk, jazz, bebop. Before every show, band members pour a drink on the floor in homage to their heroes: Ray Charles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, Townes Van Zandt,
CD Review - Temple of Soul 2008-05-30 02:43:00 Brothers In ArmsHypertensionBy M.D. SpenserThis debut by a supposed supergroup begins well, but the synthesizers and drum programming wear thin well before the album ends.The best-known member of Temple
Of Soul is Clarence Clemons, sax player in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Like Clemons, the other members have stellar contributing credits but no solo albums: Narada Michael Walden on drums,
CD Review - Congregation 2008-06-03 03:56:00 CongregationBronzeratBy M.D. SpenserThis alternative, post-punk album is a very dark affair but a musically inventive and exciting one, too.Congregation is two Brits – Benjamin Prosser and Victoria Yeulet – collaborating on an album that is based largely on 12-bar Blues yet is quite experimental.Prosser plays slide guitar and bass drum. Yeulet sings and, oh, yes, that’s her on the leg bells. Read more:Congregation
Eric Bibb -- Birmingham Town Hall, 31/5/08 2008-06-09 01:34:00 By M.D. SpenserThere is something about Eric Bibb that cannot be captured on record, as he proved again with this extraordinary concert at Birmingham
Town Hall.Yes, his albums are good. But he’s one of the greatest live musicians in any genre.And as for genres, Bibb is a master of many.He began with a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Goin’ Down Slow’, the old Blues about a man anticipating dea
CD Review - Brad Wilson 2008-06-15 09:07:00 Blues AliveCali BeeBy M.D. SpenserThis album of live electric Blues would be great fun to blast into your backyard while you’re having a party, but if you haven’t heard these songs before, you haven’t been listening to the Blues.Brad Wilson
is a California act; he pretty much confines his touring to that state. He’s a good guitar player, in the show-off, amps-up style where you grimace co
CD Review - Magda Piskorczyk 2008-06-29 16:38:00 Blues TravellingMTJMagda LiveArtgraffBy M.D. SpenserNouveau Blueswoman Magda Piskorczyk is on the right track, as these two innovative CDs illustrate.She chooses from a wonderfully eclectic array of sources – from Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Jacques Brel – and has the courage to use new instrumentation.The better of the two CDs is “Blues Travelling,” the studio set. It’s a spare affair. Som
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