The Blues Magazine 17 - The Best Of 2014
CD, 2014, Heftbeilage, Cardsleeve

The Blues Magazine Issue 17 NOVEMBER 2014
TEAM ROCK

Spielzeiten laut Software (iTunes)

[SID-Code Presswerk: IFPI 9R**]
[SID-Code CD-Master: IFPI LK97]
[Matrix-Nr. 2100005287905 BLU17Softwarelogistics]

Bild 1: Cover
Bild 2: Backcover
Bild 3: CD
Bild 4: Heftcover
Bild 5: Titelstory
Bild 6: Heftcover-Hülle

We're telling you ... this year has been just about the greatest for qualitiy album releases since the British blues boom of the 1960s. Consider this CD, with its mix of established artists and new faces - the star witness for the defence.

01 THORBJØRN RISAGER - Too Many Roads Denmark's Risager swapped teaching for a stage in 2003 and averaging some 100 gigs a year with his seven piece band The Black Tornado, quickly secured a first class reputation. Nattily dressed in suit and hat with a voice that's sandpaper raw he's a striking bandleader, and on Too Many Roads, the title track to his Copenhagen recorded eighth album, he delivers the apotheosis of soulful blues, the kind issued at Chess and Stax.
Taken from: Too Many Roads

02 JOE LOUIS WALKER - Hornet's Nest It’s been a great 2014 for Joe Louis Walker, who delivered one of, if not, the best record of his 28 year recording career with Hornet’s Nest, his second album for Alligator. Recorded in Nashville, it’s a real humdinger from start to finish, capturing the Bay Area guitarist, his band and his producer Tom Hambridge at the very top of their game. The title track is typical. A mix of the classic and the new, it's totally thrilling, totally authentic.
Taken from: Hornet’s Nest

03 JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR - The Dirty Truth Producer Jim Gaines got the best out of Joanne Shaw Taylor on her 2008 debut White Sugar, and he’s done it again on this her fourth studio album, recorded at his Studios in Memphis. Released on Axehouse Records, her own boutique label, it places the Birmingham (West Midlands, not Alabama) raised singer in a blues rock setting – one that really suits her voice, with the rougher edges a perfect accompaniment for that gorgeous rasp.
Taken from: The Dirty Truth

04 JOE BONAMASSA - Different Shades Of Blue Joe Bonamassa finally takes the plunge with this, his 11th album, his first of entirely original tracks. The songwriting craft is superb throughout and the execution exquisite, as is the artistic range, spanning flamboyant blues rockers to plaintive balladry. His first album in two years, it was written in Nashville with Jonathan Cain and recorded at Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas with producer Kevin Shirley. The result: quite honestly his most accomplished work to date.
Taken from: Different Shades Of Blue

05 KAZ HAWKINS – Shake Shake, from her inaugural solo album Get Ready! is a real R&B hipshaker, and the ideal platform from which to launch this East Belfast singer. With her stupendous powerhouse vocal delivery she's the most recent addition to the grand lineage of big bluesy belters that includes Bessie Smith, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton and Janis Joplin. First heard in her granny's church, then with the Mama Kaz Band, she is a pretty talented songwriter too.
Taken from: Get Ready!

06 BOB CORRITORE - Harmonica Watusi Chicago producer and blues harpist Bob Corritone caught the blues bug after hearing Muddy Waters on honing his craft with John Henry Davis on Maxwell Street, he worked with Big Moose Walker and Eddie Taylor before moving to Phoenix where he opened his legendary blues club The Rhythm Room. From 1999, he's been making solo records. This year's Taboo is a cracker, comprising raw harmonica blues Instrumentals like this.
Taken from: Taboo

07 ROBERT CRAY - Nobody's Fault But Mine It’s a brave man that covers Otis Redding, but Robert Cray does a fine reading here. It's one of three covers – the other two, Bobby Bland’s Deep In My Soul and Lou Rawls’ Your Good Thing (Is About to End) - featured on his 17th Studio album In My Soul. Inspired by the sounds of Chess and Stax, it marks the 40 year anniversary of the Cray Band, and also sees him reunite with producer Steve Jordan for the first time since 2001's Shoulda Been Home.
Taken from: In My Soul

08 LAURENCE JONES - Soul Swamp River Walter Trout calls him, “a cross between Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy" and "a genius", and on the strength of his second album Temptation this Stratford-upon-Avon-based singer guitarist might just well be. It was recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana by Mike Zito, and features Aynsley Lister and Johnny Sansone, the latter who blasts the blues harp here. It’s rough, raw and fierce, and one of the best blues records of this and any year.
Taken from: Temptation

09 SELWYN BIRCHWOOD - Tell Me Why Barefoot, with his signature Afro, Selwyn Birchwood burns up the stage, whether delivering slow burning blues, passionate shouters or grubby blues rock. He's no slouch in the Studio either, as Don't Call No Ambulance, his first album for the Alligator label, screams attention. 'I can't quit you baby' he hollers on our featured track, album stand out Tell me why, before firing off one of the best guitar solos of this century.
Taken from: Don't Call No Ambulance

10 BERNIE MARSDEN [FEATURING DAVID COVERDALE] - Trouble Marsden's blues rock guitar riffs have defined a who's who of bands from UFO, Wild Turkey and Babe Ruth to Paice Ashton & Lord, Cozy Powell's Hammer and most famously Whitesnake. He's also made some mighty fine records on his own - this year's Shine being one of them. The credits read like Marsden's This Is Your Life with Joe Bonamassa, lan Paice, Don Airey, Jimmy Copley, Mark Feltham and former compadre David Coverdale all lining up to lend a hand.
Taken from: Shine

11 THE MANNISH BOYS - I Have Love Standard bearers of West Coast blues, The Mannish Boys' latest, Wrapped Up And Ready should, if there's any justice in the world, make this exhilarating collective a household name. Of course they're coming from the classic old school, where Muddy Waters and Chess records rule and their seventh album definitely has a Chicago feel to it. The riffs are tough, the blues harp blows mean, and the vocals fuse the church with the street.
Taken from: Wrapped Up And Ready

12 WALTER TROUT – Born In The City His most intimate and revealing work to date The Blues Came Callin’ - his ace 12 tracker from which this hypnotic wailer is - sees Walt reflect on mortality. The result is deep, penetrating, and in the light of the guitarist’s battle with liver disease, a poignant celebration of survival. It’s looking back with affection and looking forward to the future. It also sees Walt reunite with his longtime mentor John Mayall on two songs: Mayall's Piano Boogie and the title track.
Taken from: The Blues Came Callin’

13 SHOVELS & ROPE - Evil His husband and wife team from North Carolina are endorsed by Jack White and play a satisfying meld of country, folk and blues. The pair – Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst - first met 12 years ago, and have since recorded three albums, 2008's self-titled debut, 2013’s O’ Be Joyful, and this year’s Swimmin’ Time. With influences spanning The Cramps to Loretta Lynn, Phil and Dave Alvin and the devil himself, their music packs a real punch.
Taken from: Swimmin’ Time

14 MATT SCHOFIELD – Red Dragon Matt Schofield is widely acknowledged as the finest guitarist to come from these shores in recent years. He won the British Blues Awards Guitarist Of The Year 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Far As I Can See, his debut for Provogue is great stuff from beginning to end. His fifth in total, it's his most diverse, and the very essence of contemporary blues. Red Dragon is the pick, a nine-minute tour de force, redolent of Hendrix, but still Schofield's very own.
Taken from: Far As I Can See

15 DAVE ALVIN & PHIL ALVIN – Stuff They Call Money When Phil Alvin almost died in 2012, his younger brother Dave decided it was time to make up. The pair were known for their volatile relationship, both personal, and from 1979 onwards with The Blasters, professional too. So once Phil had recovered, Dave asked him if he'd like to record an album of Big Bill Broonzy covers with him. Their first full album together since 1985's Hard Line features this terrific track, and stands as their finest work.
Taken from: Common Ground