BLUE RODEO-john emms cd reviews-the things we left behind

Thank God and the passion within that BLUE RODEO still have FIRE IN THEIR  BELLY. Think that’s easy. Did you get this memo?

Conventional wisdom states that after countless albums, tours and the music business being what it is few artists can still dig deep to come up with the goods late in an already successful career.

Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor, Bazil Donavan, Glenn Milchem and Bob Egan apparently never recieved that memo. Instead the band has forged an album rich in lyrical content and high in muscianship.

Should anyone care that a band spreads out and tackles a double album opus in these non attention to detail times?

That would depend on who’s listenening. I stil listen  to records the old fashioned way.

 WITH MY EARS. The disc opens with a soon to be Greg Keelor classic. (You may recall he has written a few already)  It’s the title track and offers up shimmering colors, intimate lyrics and a powerful Beatlesque chorus that blows you out of the room. Jim Cuddy fires up the “rhodes” piano mid tempo One More Night with his passionate vocal,   small town vibe and everyman stance it displays Cuddy and the band at the top of their game.

Despite these new inflections fans can still take stock that Waiitng for the World, One Light Left In Heaven and Sheba all three Cuddy tracks offer up craftsmanship without sacrificing melody and depth.

However, Keelor always known to take chances with his material spreads the sound into a wide  open D concept soundscape  with the refreshing Million Miles and his gorgeous “Harvest’ era Neil Young inspired  Don’t Let The Darkness In Your Head.

The beauty of Blue Rodeo as an outfit is that multi-instrumentalistist Egan, Milchem’s expressive stickwork and Donavan’s always vital bass lines invoke musicanship first and foremost providing Keelor and Cuddy’s song framework with emotion. With this in mind it should be said that as a recent add in tour and  studio player piano man Bob Boguski adds tremendous depth and clarity to a lot of the material

Other highlights include the big ambience of Venus Rising, The Band Stage Fright era roots inflections of  Arizona Dust and Keelor’s own Lost Togther era track Wasted.

Earlier in the year as this album was being mixed I had conversations with Keelor and Cuddy about how this album was going to be meant and conceived as a double album/four sided opus. For the band to pull this off with integrity intact remains a testament to the band’s musicality.   Yes, it’s good, and I’m still waiitng on my vinyl copy

joss stone/carrie underwood.john emms cd reviews/play on

 

 

JOSS..STONE/COLOUR ME FREE/CARRIE UNDERWOOD/PLAY ON.

 

As most people are aware both Stone and Underwood are exceptional vocalists. The difference on these releases is that Stone’s cd comes off more  organic to her own talent. On tracks like Parrallel Lines  the new single Free Me, and her gorgeous cover of Ray Charles’ I Believe It To My Soul Stone reaches an emotional depth while keeping the tempo upbeat, making intelligent lyrical choices on her own songs, and singing the hell out of the tracks.

Stone seems in lock and step with the musicians among them David Sanborn and Jeff Beck and feeds off of their chops . Underwood relies on a more polished studio approach on Play On  where ballads rule. That may be fine, but there seems less distinction in the overall songcraft. Even the rock single Cowboy Casanova sounds like a Mutt Lange/Def Leppard outake.

Elsewhere Mama’s Song, Temporay Home, and Someday When I Stop Loving You all containing superb vocals sound like they could have come from any country album over the last 5 years by any female vocalist

The better songs on Play On such as the funky Undo It and the banjo jump/rock vibe of Songs Like This find  Underwood simply getting closer to a performance feel. If you have ever watched Underwood on stage you know just how captivating she can be

Elsewhere on Colour Me Free Stone’s  originals like the smoldering Lady, the unforced duet Big Ol’ Game with Raphael Saadiq and the political soul show stopper Governmentalist with it’s terrffic wordplay  really push her talent in a good way.

The Jayhawks-JOHN EMMS-review..anthology-music from the north country

In the mid 80’s Alternative Country became a buzz word and catch phrase for music that had it’s inspiration and influence rooted in rock n roll, rural attitude and turned up and turned on musicians. Personally it brought me back to the earlier work of Bob Dylan, The Band, The Byrds and the first four albums by The Eagles. I recognized it again when I first heard Blue Rodeo, Wilco, Lucinda Williams and  The Jayhawks.

At the root of all these recordings are songs of substance. This 20 song compilation is a dandy overseen by one of the band’s  main songwriters Gary Louris.

There are  10 tracks from the band’s classic Americana work that yielded the albums Blue Earth, Hollywood Town Hall  and Tomorrow The Green Grass. 

However what becomes apparent  on this cd is that the period from 1996 to 2002 where Louris took over the lead role with other talented players is in fact a solid and criminally overlooked piece of the band’s recorded legacy. 

As of this writing co-leaders Gary Louris and Mark Olsen have been back together doing some acoustic shows . For Canadians fans of Blue Rodeo this is a must have collection.

harry connick jr.JOHN EMMS REVIEW.your songs..cd review..hip but hit & miss..

My wife plays Frank Sinatra every Sunday morning. It’s relaxed and hip music. She also digs Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Buble’..I could probably understand why. However after about 3 or 4 solid listens I as a MUSIC JOURNALIST and my wife as A FAN have mixed feelings for HC’ s new cd. .. For me, it’s one of the best reecorded cd’s I have heard this year. Clean and uncluttered with amazing audio, and  superb musicianship. This cd folows in the mold of  the Rod Stewart/Barry Manilow Great Amercian songbook idea.

As with the other cd’s in this genre sometimes THE ORIGINAL SONGS ARE OFTEN HARD TO BEAT

Having said that Connick’s take on The Beatles And I Love Her,Don McLean’s And I Love You So, and the opening Frank Sinatra inspired All the Way with Tenor sax by Branford Marsalis are superb.  HC ’s take on Elton John’s Your Song  The Carpenters Close To You, and a few others miss the mark when I compare it to the vibe of the orignal hits

status quo-pictures dvd JOHN EMMS review..”the real thing”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT A  HUGE SURPRISE-Maybe all of us here in North America should clue into the fact that this band is one of the best  “boogie” bands on the  planet BAR NONE..I basically have not heard of these guys since they opened Live Aid in what 1985 ??..Now here comes this LIVE FROM MONTREUX DVD in 2009 that sets your head in a spin. A few facts. These guys have sold over 118 million albums, have achieved more British single hits than The Rolling Stones. Holy crap.

BOTTOM LINE..   THE REAL THING… 21 SONGS,  GREAT 5.1 SOUND..THESE TRACKS.. have just enough cool changes..that just kill……………….THE MOST FUN I HAVE HAD IN YEARS

JOE LOUIS WALKER-JOHN EMMS/CD REVIEW-BETWEEN A ROCK AND THE BLUES

WALKER is the perfect blues/roots vehicle for any music label (in this case Stony Plain Records) because he offers listeners such a wide pallete of dazzling song options. Produced expertly by the legendary Duke Robillard Walker has no problem walking the line between the roots of blues with the healthy infusion of rock or soul.

Just check out the mule kick of I’ve Been Down, the whiplash stroll of I’m Tide and cross tie soul of Black Widow Spider.

There is a sense of urgency about this album that jumps out of your speakers. The hard driving If There’s A Heaven with the earthy tones of Kevin Eubanks and the spellbinding slow  minor chord blues of Hallways with it’s  gorgeous piano and guitar solo breaks reach far further into the passion of where many artists would even would dare to go. That is commitment folks!

Tell Me Why written by Duke Robillard is a ’serves you right to suffer’ barn burner that could be a Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street outake that Buddy Guy or Jagger/Richards would have killed to have recorded. An incredible vocal take by Walker both on the aforementioned track and on The Ray Charles penned Blackjack

The album ends with the wah wah rip of  Big Fine Woman and the acoustic Delta-ish vibe of Send You Back.

Walker is not stuck between A Rock and the Blues he’s  burning rubber at the Crossroads

 

 

p[assioonatealiking  So Long Cases i npoint are the sweatyking ofd roots tastePassionate playing,  well constructed material and

WHITNEY HOUSTON’S-JOHN EMMS CD REVIEWS- I LOOK TO YOU

For the past  seven years since her last cd much of Whitney Houston’s life has been pushed onto the front pages of every tabloid in the world. And usually not in a good way.

Maybe some of this has been self inflicted. Most of us will never know and nor should we want to.  It’s her life.

However when Houston  launches into the slow soul gospel of  her title track you know she means business. I dare anyone to turn this track way up, stand in the room and let her voice flow through your heart and not be affected.

It’s truly one of the finest vocal moments I have heard in the past few years.

 I’m not crazy about the whole album, but make no mistake there are enough vital tracks here that it will quantify what can be described as “Whitney’s Comeback”  Case in point is her cover of the Leon Russell chestunut A Song For You. Starting out slow and deliberate with strength Houston and her producers then turn the track into a Euro dance  number. Not a good idea to my ears.

But believe me, she still has the goods almost purely by her instinct to know what is good for her vocally and songwise.

 I love the fact she does not sing ballads all through the disc. The album statrts with the pumping bass line on the Alicia Keys written track Million Dollar Bill. and Houston commands her vocal range by not over singing on the  excellent Call You Tonight, and that goes for the AOR power of Worth It, a track I guarantee evcery couple will love. In fact, Houston sings ” I know somebody is gonna make love to this song tonight”.  She’s right.

After 170 million combined albums, singles and videos sold all over the world it’s not about money or how any homes you have. For most singers of this calibre it’s about  proving that her musical insight and talent is not hype.  On this return she proves that beyond any doubt.

gary moore-john emms cd reviews-the essential montreux-blues power”

Like his Irish colleague RORY GALLAGHER..GARY MOORE’S true spirit and soul comes to the fore at a “live” gig. This set of 5 cd’s from Montreux has some of the best blues guitar playing by anyone, anywhere at anytime. I’m often left shaking my head at end of one of Moore’s searing solos. The first cd is taken from 1990 the time when the Belfast native had just released his Still Got The Blues album.  Midnight Blues, the Otis Rush classic All Your Love and Cold Cold Feeling with guest Albert Collins are standouts. Disc 2 comes from 1995 and features a horn section on some tracks and 5 Peter Green songs. Green of course is probably Moore’s single biggest influence. Tracks like Long Grey Mare, Oh Pretty Women, and the slow blues of I Loved Another Women are simply killer. If that was not enough John Mayall’s Key To Love and Freddie King’s the Stumble blaze.

Disc 3 comes from 1997 and is a rock set. Literally only an handful of  blues, and 9 of the 11 tracks are Moore originals When I’m in a blues mood it I will skip this cd.  However I have to say it is by far the most interesting cd in the pack and I will play it from start to finish. Disc4 is back to the blues with blues standards from Elmore James, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush,  Wilie Dixon and even a rockin’ cover of Jimi Hendrix chestunt Fire and a dazzling take on Thin Lizzy’s  Parisienne Walkways written with Phil Lynott

Disc 5 comes from 2001 bookending Moore’s astounding journey at the world reknown festival. Check out his take on Stormy Monday,  and B.B. Kings’; You Upset Me Baby. Then again in his  own songs Too Tired and How Man Lies are rough and ready blues rock. FOR THE GARY MOORE FAN-THIS IS ESSENTIAL

new album soon/kudo’s to cbc radio

We are taking our time with the new album..our producer..and all round cool guy Jack De Keyzer is mixing it..there is no rush..but I have to say CBC National  has been amazing to THE SHAFTMEN.

our debut…MINING THE BLUES..had amazing exposure..on Galaxie Blues and CBC Radio one..with Points North..Saturday Night Blues…the songs are simply dangerous on the new one..watch out..it will be called PAYCHEQUE BLUES

john e

commander cody new review..now here

Whatever you do pick up the Commander’s new disc. THIS DISC IS FUN..you know it by the title. Killer tracks and some remakes..ROLL YER OWN, They Kicked me out of The Band, the classic Wine Do Your Stuff, and Ok Hotel are standouts .  Outstanding recklesss boogie, outlaw country and plain good ol’ rock n roll await you

new disc dopers, drunks and everyday losers at the rock report

ronnie earl AND THE BROADCASTERS cd review living in the light

REJOICE..THIS  album  may change the way you listen to blues.  It is that powerful.

The soul and feel it is simply mindblowing. Following up his  successfull Hope Radio Sessions cd and dvd releases on Stony Plain Records Earl is in a a very reflective and engaging work ethic

Earl and the band’s cover of Bob Dylan’s What Can I do for You sung by Dave Keller is the most poignant and soul serching track you will hear this year.  Earl’s winding guitar solo at the end the track  is breathtaking.

Elsewhere the disc deals out around 5 gorgeous instrumentals the best being Pastorale which closes the album and two long  tracks SOS and Recovery Blues both showing the sheer dynamics and feel of the BROADCASTERS as a band.

Not enough can be said about the way this group interpets the songs. IT IS OUTSTANDING

EARL’S guitar work has always reminded me of the way Mike
Bloomfields’s work got under your skin. yes, it’s that GOOD

Kim Wilson drops into the mix for 3 tracks the most notable being the 9 nminute opus Child of a Survivor where he and the band push, pull and get reflective on the homage to the events of the very real Jewish holocaust. This  album will move you…john emms

roy rogers split decision review-slide king

lucinda williams rodney crowell reviewed

ted nugent reviewed motor city mayhem blu-ray

This disc kicks major ass. The reason is simple.

Nobody has more fun than ‘THE NUGE’..this guy just lives to play rock n roll. It’s in every facial nuance, and every lick from start to finish. The other real kick is Nugent can still rip on the guitar. This thing is a weapon in his hands.

Filmed on July 4 2008, it’s Nuge’s 6000th show..yeah six thousand. If that was not enough this is 3 piece set for the most part. Mick Brown on drums and Greg Smith on bass know Nugent’s every move. it’s so tight it’s scary.

Sure you’ve heard all the tracks before.  Cat Scratch Fever, Free For All, Weekend Warrior, Wango Tango. but hell these are killer versions. Derek St Holmes joins Ted for Stranglehold, Hey Baby and of course Cat Scratch Fever and Johnny Bee Badanjek rips up the Mitch Ryder classic Jenny Take A Ride

If you can have this much passion after 40 years, I say bravo Tedster..ripping

john emms..for emm srock reviews

bob dylan together through life reviewed

duke robillard/review..stomp the blues tonight

Let’s face it Robillard has forgot more about blues music than most younger musicians currently know. That’s a stone cold fact.

As a throwback to his days with ROOMFUL OF BLUES, this disc proves to be very worthy.

With the  updated engineering of today coupled with Duke’s killer feel you might think you’re in some smoky club mid fifties but with the perfect seat, and nice clean ambience to boot. I’m talkin’  smack dab in your living room folks!!

The  material is mostly from the 1940’s and 50’s, and with the players all of Robillard alumni, the actual recording comes off as musicians totally in sync with the project.

In short they all love this stuff! That’s the trick folks.

Johnny Watson’s 3 Hours Past Midnight is a prime example of  how good the band and cd sounds. Nothing is forced and Duke whips off one of those ringing pure vibrato single note type solos, that are so good it makes you smile from ear to ear.

Elsewhere the horns play charts that anchor up the  melodies of Baby You Don’t Know and Do Me Right, and simply swing like hell on the title track written by Robillard 

I ’m not in love with all 16 tracks for one reason only.

If Duke had cut this cd back to 10 or 12 songs it would have been more  like an old vinyl album experience.

Other highlights are Look But Don’t Touch with Sunny Crownover,   the Ike Turner jump of Tore Up and the much recorded Early In the Morning, done here with real class.

Standout chops throughout the disc from drummer Mark Teixeira, sax guru Doug James, basssit Marty Ballou and Bruce Bears on piano.

You can’t fake this stuf baby, and that’s what makes this disc so vital.

pete yorn/new..cd review/back and fourth

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THIS ALBUM  has it’s place for me this summer. Yet, SUMMER albums for me  are not what they used to be.  Sure, I will get back into my Blue Rodeo laments.  I’ll  tap the Van Morrison into the six pack cd changer, and last week I took Yorn’s latest for a spin. 

Maybe I’m too busy , maybe I want to dig deeper into heartbreak. Maybe it’s easier to sing the blues

Maybe as Yorn sings in Paradise Cove ” I got what I wanted and It’s never enough, And that could be bad for us both” Yeah that’s the one for me.

Relationships are at the heart of this record.  On the track Close and the more uptempo Last Summer Yorn yearns for the newness of an old relationship. but so do we all.

Listen this is not a rock record. In fact it simmers, but there is plenty of passion. Long Time Nothing New is the prime example.  It’s the good downer stuff. Plenty of imagery swashes and drifts.

Just let your mind take over on a long drive.

Heck, if your really thinking about the one that got away Don’t Wanna Cry will take you out to that sea of heartbreak.

Look it’s like this.  “Same old town, Loose ends surround me, Always drags you down”..That’s Yorn talking baby, but he’s in the ballpark

john e

dave matthews band-cd review big whiskey & the grookrux king

Hands down the most intelligent rock/pop recording of the last 2 or 3 years.

Why you ask???..Simple folks..Matthews and band do not cater, dumb down nor really care what you think..Debuting at No 1 in over 20 countries is cool, but DMB work from the head and heart in such a way that the American Idols of the world  will never understand.

FUNNY THE WAY IT IS..is a monster first single. However that track is possibly trumped by the pure funky pop of Why I Am, the horn driven Shake Me Like A Monkey, and the atmospheric beauty of Lying in The Hands of God.

Elsewhere the new gift here is electric guitars. It’s already been stated in other reviews..

But hell IT’S ABOUT TIME !!! 

For me personally aggressvie, meaty guitars was the misssing link with DMB. Check them out on tracks like Squirm, Time Bomb, Shake Me Like a Monkey and flashes throughout the disc.

DMB sax man Leroi Moore a founding member of DMB died in an accident with the making of this the group’s seventh album. It may sound like a cliche but Moore must be happy considering his bandmates are carrying on being one of the more intelligent bands on the planet.  john e

jeff healey-organic blues- songs from the road cd review

There is a joyful feeling to this recording. Everything is in the moment. It makes you proud to be a musician. Honestly I have played this 7 times in 3 weeks. That is a lot  when you recieve tons of  cd’s for review every month.

Yes Jeff is gone but we have this music to remind us of his enormous talent. Remember the name Dan Noordemeer. He is the band’s other guitarist besides Jeff and he simply sparkles. Whether it’s the harmony leads with Jeff on Angel Eyes, his solid rythmn work on I Think I Love You Too Much, or the alternate chopping licks on I‘ m Ready and  Stop Breaking Down.  He is just a joy to listen to.

Elsewhere bassist Alec Fraser digs deep,  he sings lead on Cream’s White Room and then produces and mixes this cd. 

 Guess Who/BTO axe man Randy Bachman rips nasty leads with Jeff on Hoochie Coochie Man, and the crowd and band carry the George Harrison classic while My Guitar Gently Weeps. Last but not least solid mastering  job by  Andy Krehm .  This reminds me why we just love to play and gig.

webb wilder MORE LIkE ME-CD review

This cd will appeal mostly to Wilder’s hard core audience. For those not in the know Wilder has always carried the  same type of feel for great North American roots rock that UK’s Dave Edmunds has. In fact he starts this cd with Ju Ju Man the Jim Ford/Lolly Vegas staple a song Edmunds and Brinsley Schwarz had success with.

Strangley Wilder’s own low key tracks like Too Cool For Love and She’s Not Romantic come off really well, as does his killer cover of She Said Yeah.  The disc has it’s moments, but I say check out his live disc released 2 years ago.

our lady peace-john emms-cd reviews-burn burn

 

SOLID, & PUNCHY    Did I say  INTELLIGENT..you bet…Who would have thought after 14 years in the business OLP would create one of the best albums of their catolog.    NOT ME. 

This cd is a return to the scaled down rock punch of NAVEED while the lyrics and melodies come from a place which shows how experienced songcraft can benefit a band’s overall sound.

Whatever you do pick up the deluxe version of this package containing the cd/dvd. The dvd is pure stripped down magic. The 4 members of the band working the groove live in the studio. Check out the ripping bass line to Monkey Brains, the atmosphere of Dreamland, and the integrity of Refuge. These tracks  are just the tip of the iceberg    The new single All You Did Was Save My Life is banging up radio already, and this is one cd that will not dissapoint!

THE BEATLES john emms cd reviews/ REMASTERES/must have

From sonic sparkle to warm reverb touches to almost the same but louder THE BEATLES REMASTERED catologue is a mammoth undertaking. I received a 32 track Sampler, Rubber Soul, Beatles For Sale, Help and The White Album

But before I start on the SOUND. Let me tell you the Historcial Notes,  Recording Notes,  the Limited Edition Packaging, and Mini documentary videos for your PC OR MAC are PRIMO

THIS IS WORTH THE PRICE ALONE.killer photos, superb historical facts all in one paakage

The crisp sparkle of  NO REPLY that opens  Beatles For Sale is staggering. The vocal work wil blow you out of the room and that goes ditto for John Lennon’s incredible vocal to Chuck Berry’s Rock N Roll Music and Paul’s gorgeous I’ll Follow The Sun  On other songs like Ringo’ s vocal on Honey Don’t it is not as startling.

The White Album retains extra packaging on deluxe paper and also the same poster (but smaller) from the original vinyl. Again sound-wise results are good to mind blowing. Disc One standouts are Lennon’s Glass Onion, Happiness is a Warm Gun and a very warm vinyl to Martha My Dear and the stupendous Blackbird from Paul.

 On Disc 2 the bass work of McCartney on Birthday comes out thumping, Lennon’s vocal work on Sexy Sadie is more in your face, and ditto for George Harrison’s Savoy Truffle, while Ringo’s Good Night with Orchestra arrangemt from George Martin may be the best remastered thing I hear on the whole disc. WOW..

Rubber Soul and Help offer more of the same but make no mistake there is sonic upgrade. I did not receive Sgt Pepper’s or Magical Mystery Tour which I can only think will blow your mind. Every track is mastered from the original stereo anaolog master tapes

JOHN MAYALL-john emms cd reviews-TOUGH-Mayall gets heavy

THIS IS  HEAVY AND INTELLIGENTLY PLAYED BLUES ROCK.

Yes it took me by surprise.  I was thinking  something more mellower and tradtional along the lines of Road Dogs 2005 or In the Palace of The King 2007

This is believe or not Mayall’s 57th album and at age 76 this cd proves  his talent  is firmly intact. 

There are band changes this time out for Mayall. In fact, Mayall’s  replacement for the supereb axe of Buddy Whittington is ROCKY ATHAS,  and out of the box on NOTHING TO DO WITH LOVE  Athas  searing and intelligent fret work steps into the breach with killer results. Athas then  continues this all the way through the entire cd.

Elsewhere on Playing with Love as on opening song  Mayall’s biting Little Walter-ish harp work is smack dab in the mix with new bassist Greg Rzab’s groove bass and new drummer Jay Davenport  Not to be outdone Mayall swings on An Eye for An Eye and goes drop d tuning on the tough love of How Far Down.

Elsewhere the glue that holds Mayall’s band remains the excellent playing of organ/piano man Tom Canning

Canning is in fine form throughout. Check out the effortless drive of That Good Old Rockin Blues or the funk of Just what Your Looking For

This is cd a wakeup call for you young guns and blues rockers. JOHN MAYALL remains vital and engaged

david gilmour-john emms cd reviews live in gdansk

someone had asked for this archival..here it is..this was the cd not the dvd which is mindblowing..i tried to make it bigger..but could not

john e.

jeff healey- john emms cd reviews-mess of blues review//also see songs from the road review