Gordon Smith & Simon "Honeyboy" Hickling - Bare Tracks

Album: Bare Tracks
Size: 102,4 MB
Time: 44:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2002
Styles: Acoustic blues, harmonica blues
Art: Full

1. If It Ain't Me (2:41)
2. Highway 51 (2:30)
3. Lonnie's Swing (3:40)
4. Sugar Mama (2:51)
5. Little Country Shack (3:15)
6. Lightnin's Boogie (3:31)
7. Good Friend (3:57)
8. C.C. Rider (4:32)
9. Louise (2:27)
10. Poor Boy (3:50)
11. Talking Woman Blues (3:29)
12. Bad Boy (4:15)
13. All My Love's In Vain (2:56)

Another british blues guitar great is Gordon Smith. On Bare Tracks he teams up with Hickling to produce what is one of the best blues albums of the year from purely British players. The two players seem to be a blues marriage made in heaven, so well do their respective talents complement one another.

Smith's splendid guitar technique is ably demonstrated on his own homage to Lonnie Johnson, the instrumental "Lonnie's Swing" and he also provides a superior version of Robert Johnson's "Good Friend", on which he also takes the lead vocal. Hickling ably supports on harp throughout and also lends his own particular brand of vocal exuberance to tracks like Jimmy Rogers' "If It Ain't Me" and Sonny Boy II's "All My Love's In Vain".

All in all, the 13 disparate acoustic blues renditions on Bare Tracks, from two artists operating at the peak of their talents, are an unalloyed joy from start to finish. /Scott Duncan, Blues in Britain

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Honeyboy Hickling - Blowin' Through Town

Album: Blowin' Through Town
Size: 104,9 MB
Time: 45:07
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Art: Front, inside

1. Juke (2:58)
2. Everything's Gonna Be Alright (4:37)
3. Cross Your Heart (3:34)
4. Cosby Flood (2:39)
5. I'm So Sorry (2:47)
6. Judgement Day (2:47)
7. Just Your Fool (2:20)
8. High Heeled Sneekers (2:52)
9. Mama Luchie (3:22)
10. Never Rains It Pours (4:27)
11. Much Too Much (2:45)
12. Bright Lights Big City (3:13)
13. All My Love's In Vain (3:52)
14. Whammer Jammer (2:48)

Blowin' Through Town is a live album culled from several gigs that took place in the UK between May 2001 and December 2002, with Simon 'Honeyboy' Hickling fronting two different versions of his electric band 'The DT's. In the company of his long time side-kick, guitarist Big Al Taylor, you will find Hickling either with Tony Stuart/Craig Rhind on bass and Tony Baylis/Alan 'Sticky' Wicket on drums.

Hickling and his colleagues are so well integrated as a band you cannot hear the join. Hickling has a wonderful tone on harp and also possesses a good set of vocal pipes, which he and the DT's put to good use on familiar material like "Juke" and "High Heeled Sneakers' and less-familiar stuff like Hickling's own "Judgment Day". Big Al Taylor shows himself to be a top-notch guitarist who can give his old opo a good run for his money with his heavily West Coast-style-influenced guitar solos. /Scott Duncan, Blues In Britain

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Honeyboy Hickling - Blue It

Album: Blue It
Size: 95,7 MB
Time: 41:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2000
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Art: Full

1. Wonderful Night (3:16)
2. Goodbye Maureen (4:30)
3. Do It Alone (3:54)
4. Delores (3:27)
5. Eddie Had To Leave Chicago (4:06)
6. It's Over (3:21)
7. Blue It (3:57)
8. Judgement Day (3:53)
9. Mumbles (Instrumental) (2:13)
10. Long Gone (3:36)
11. Blind Owl (4:41)

After two decades of blowing the harp as a way of life, Simon Honeyboy Hickling is now established as a virtuoso player of international repute. His harp tecnique, honed through years of touring and recording, combined with a live wire stage presence and a voice that can justifiably be described as 'authentic', have won over an ever increasing fan base, united in their conviction that when it comes to the things he does, nobody does it better. /Excerpt from the liner notes

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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Honeyboy Hickling - Straight From The Harp

Album: Straight From The Harp
Size: 104,9 MB
Time: 45:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994/2000
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues, R&B
Art: Full

1. Come On Over Here (2:53)
2. Sleeping On The Ground (3:31)
3. Sing Baby Sing (4:09)
4. Big Train (3:59)
5. Love The Life I'm Living (2:46)
6. Easy (4:32)
7. Hey Mattie (2:56)
8. Don't Believe In Nothing (4:17)
9. Can't Hold Out Much Longer (3:56)
10. La Cucaracha (1:55)
11. Must Have Been Dreaming (2:38)
12. Goin Up The Country (2:46)
13. Miss You (4:41)

The rhythm and blues harp vocabulary available to the Honeyboy has been acquired in the only way possible, years on years of playing the harp with R&B acts in smoky venues and recording studios. His time with Steve Marriot started the idea that was to become the R&B album featuring songs that a harp player would choose. "Sleeping In The Ground", "Don't Believe In Nothing", "Cant Hold Out Much Longer" and even a version of "La Cucaracha" that will put a smile on the bluest heart.

Recorded at John Entwistle's studio in 1994, the recording band features Brendan O'Neil, Gerry McAvoy and Anthony Thistlethwaite with appearances by Geraint Watkins, Steve Gibbons, The Kick Horns (Roddy Lorimer, Tim Saunders, Simon Clarke) and Big Al Taylor. Recorded in a 'studio live' situation, the recording features real performances by human players, unfettered by technological intrusion. No computer processors feature in the performances. Straight from the heart playing really.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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