Rukus Juice: 2010

Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Eddie Turner - Miracles and Demons - 2010.

Review:

Eddie Turner’s domain falls into a style that can easily cross over into contemporary blues. A fine singer with a flexible voice and depth of spirit, Turner presents his third album, a collection of originals that spans generations of genres, but still sounds updated and current. Texas-style swing or hard-churning rockers live alongside light funk acoustic numbers parallel to early John Lee Hooker, and the occasional downhearted blues. "Monkey See, Monkey Do" is the closest to an all-out rock song, while the most unusual track, "Say," is a stompdown in the odd meter of 10/8, very quirky but logical, with a deft slide guitar for flavoring. Turner's originality seems shaped by many influences (not the least of which his longtime association with Otis Taylor), but is quite different than the garden-variety sound processed by those like Robert Cray, as he forges his own individual path.

Password and Link:
mississippimoan
mp3 320 kbps - 119 Mb
http://www.filefactory.com/file/b354h5h/n/et.rar

J.W. Jones - Midnight Memphis Sun - 2010.

Review:

No longer a teenage prodigy, Canadian blues guitarist JW-Jones is pushing 30, and on his sixth album, Midnight Memphis Sun, he has decided to emphasize his fidelity to tradition, partially recording the disc in Sun Studio in Memphis, TN, and having veterans Charlie Musselwhite and Hubert Sumlin guest on three tracks each. Like many latter-day blues revivalists, Jones doesn't hew to any one style of the blues, preferring to move from one subgenre to another on each song. "Off the Market," the opening track, with its punchy horns, initially suggests that he might have wanted to record in the Stax Studio (if it still existed) instead of the Sun Studio; Lowell Fulson's "Love Grows Cold," which follows, is in a jump blues style; "Right on Time" has a ‘50s R&B sound; Jimmy Reed's "I Don't Go for That" recalls Howlin' Wolf-style Chicago blues; "Mean Streak" nods to Delta blues; and "Make a Move" is arranged like a B.B. King song. The majority of the compositions are Jones originals, although the tunes are so steeped in tradition that it's hard to think of them as new. With his co-writer, Tim Wynne-Jones, Jones seems to have been reading the newspapers since his last album, 2008's Bluelisted, as he tries to steer clear of the housing crisis in "Off the Market," singing, "Don't wanna go sub-prime," and devotes "Born Operator" to condemning Wall Street criminal Bernie Madoff and his "Ponzi schemes." As usual, Jones is more of a guitarist than a singer, not because his voice is bad, but because, with its clear tenor sound (which often recalls Edgar Winter), it sounds more like a pop voice than a blues voice. But then, this is a musician who thinks it's possible to turn fellow countryman Bryan Adams into a blues artist, treating the hit "Cuts Like a Knife" as if it were a blues song. Ten years into his recording career, Jones remains a talented mimic in search of his own style.

Password and link:
mississippimoan
mp3 320 kbps - 120 Mb
http://www.filefactory.com/file/b3547b0/n/jwjwmms.rar

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Pinetop Perkins - Joined At The Hip - 2010.

Review
It’s hard to believe this album wasn’t made a long time ago, actually, since blues pianist Pinetop Perkins and drummer and harmonica player Willie "Big Eyes" Smith have worked together frequently in the past 40 some years. Perkins replaced the legendary pianist Otis Spann in Muddy Waters' band in 1969 when Smith was the drummer in the ensemble, and later Perkins and Smith formed the Legendary Blues Band in the 1980s. Perkins was 96 years old when the sessions for Joined at the Hip were recorded, but one wouldn’t know it, and Smith, now out from behind the drum kit (his son, Kenny Smith, plays drums here), concentrates on his harp blowing and handles most of the vocals. The result is a solid Chicago blues record, one that feels like it could have been tracked anytime in the past four decades. The sound is big and warm and alive, and this is the Chicago blues without any annoying and unnecessary flash -- it just socks home where it’s supposed to, with solid ensemble playing (Bob Stroger is on bass and John Primer and "Little Frank" Krakowski handle the guitars while Perkins, of course, mans the piano and Smith adds appropriate harmonica fills, with Kenny Smith on drums). Highlights include the opener, “Grown Up to Be a Man,” a fine version of Sonny Boy Williamson's “Eyesight to the Blind” (the second Sonny Boy -- “Eyesight” was his first single back in 1951), and a compelling “I Would Like to Have a Girl Like You,” which was written by Billy Flynn, who was also a member of the Legendary Blues Band with Perkins and Smith. Produced by Michael Freeman, Joined at the Hip is Chicago blues played straight and true, headed up by a couple of veteran blues musicians who not only know what they’re talking about, they’ve also lived it.

Password and Link:
rukusjuice
mp3 320 kbps - 103 Mb
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ca39279/n/ppwbs.rar

Monday, March 21, 2011

Ana Popovic - An Evening At Trasimeno Lake: Live From The Heart Of Italy - 2010.

Review

This musical release from Serbian blues guitarist and singer Ana Popovic captures a live, uniquely personal performance by the artist, recorded at the Castiglione Del Lago in Perugia, Italy in front of an intimate audience

Tracks:

1. Wrong Woman [5:03]
2. Is This Everything There IS [4:03]
3. How'd You Learn to Shake it Like That [5:47]
4. U Complete Me [7:23]
5. Nothing Personal [3:47]
6. Shadow After Dark [4:22]
7. Lives That Don't Exist [3:19]
8. Let Me Love You Baby [8:00]
9. Doubt Everyone But Me [4:45]
10. Blind For Love [3:34]
11. Get Back Home to You [3:33]
12. Recall the Days [5:49]
13. Love Fever [5:36]
14. Hold On [6:43]