| CD REVIEW |
| While I wasn't that keen on the first disc, which is mostly a mish-mash of Celtic, country, bluegrass, zydeco, gospel, and folk/roots music, I found at least half the tracks to be at least palatable, if not downright excellent. My favoured selections, because either the vocals or the instrumentation (especially slide guitar) appealed to me, are "The Price to Pay" (Ray Bonneville), "Hometown Blues" (Steve Earle), "Boulder to Birmingham" (Emmylou Harris), "Lost Herd" (Ian Tyson), "I Don't Want to Know" (Bobby Charles) and "Can't Pull This Train" (Valdy & Gary Fjellgaard). The final track on the first disc ("Train to Texas") is a snappy little jazz instrumental performed by Duke Robillard & Herb Ellis, which I'm surmising couldn't be accommodated on, but which serves as an incentive to take a listen to, the otherwise blues-formatted second disc. I found Disc 2 much more to my liking, but mostly because of a personal preference for keyboard-drenched blues. There weren't actually many tracks on this CD that I didn't like, and it makes for a great collection by itself. These tracks are mostly upbeat shuffles or outright boogies and include the cream of the crop where blues musicians are concerned - Rosco Gordon ("Just a Little Bit"), Duke Robillard ("Don't Leave Me Baby"), Billy Boy Arnold ("Let's Work It Out"), Professor Longhair ("Doin' It" - and doin' it right!), Amos Garrett ("Bert's Boogie"), Maria Muldaur, with Bonnie Raitt ("It's a Blessing") and the Rockin' Highliners ("Sassy Sally"). Sonny Rhodes, with his T-Bone Walker vocals and pedal-steel guitar, gets a showcase entry with the slow-blues "Blues on My Birthday" - dedicated to the CD's producer, Holger Petersen - which has become a classic in my own "house of blues". Come on back to the Mermaid's, Sonny! Notable Canadian blues artists included on the CD are the Powder Blues Band, featuring Lowell Fulson ("Reconsider Baby"), Dutch Mason - what a voice! ("I Must be Crazy"), Downchild Blues Band ("It's Been So Long (Since I Felt Like Clapping My Hands)"), King Biscuit Boy ("Going to the River"), Rita Chiarelli ("Tupelo") and Ellen McIllwaine ("Born Under a Bad Sign") - the weirdest (flamenco-scat?) version I've ever heard of that tune! Kinda grows on you after a few listens... I wasn't that thrilled with Long John Baldry's roots-blues chant ("Linin' Track"),as he seemed to be exaggerating his own infamous baritone until it sounds (superficially) like Louis Armstrong. A much better selection from his tribute CD to Ledbelly would have been "Good Mornin' Blues". "Linin' Track" is one of four previously unreleased tracks on the CD, along with the aforementioned "Blues on My Birthday", "Train to Texas", and "Going to the River". A pleasant but surprise entry on this disc was David Wilcox's "I Need a Vice". I reviewed this CD a couple of years ago for to-nite magazine, praising it highly and speculating that it would surely garner some major air play, especially with this particular track, at least on the radio stations who support a fusion of blues and rock, but the entire CD was seemingly ignored. Damn shame. My personal favourites on this CD came from the female artists, which is unusual for me, but the harmonies and slide guitars on "It's a Blessing" are irresistibly sweet, and "Tupelo" shows why Hamilton's Rita Chiarelli ought to be considered Canada's "Queen of the Blues", both vocally and instrumentally! Kristi Johnston rocks it right up on "If I Ain't Got" but again the otherwise intense vocals are slurred to superficial exaggeration. I've also become a new fan of the Rockin' Highliners, whose sexy, swaying sound reminds me of Gary Wright and whose vocalist sounds like a blues version of Tom Jones! An immensely entertaining package! |
| 25 YEARS - STONY PLAIN RECORDS (CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF STONY PLAIN RECORDS) |
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