Michael Hill's Blues Mob - Goddesses & Gold Redux

Year: 2012
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:22
Size: 150,6 MB
Styles: Electric blues, blues-rock
Scans: Full

1. Let The Ladies Have The Floor (4:52)
2. Audacity Of The Blues (4:25)
3. Mr. Hubert Sumlin (5:15)
4. Two Time Mama (4:31)
5. New York Doll (5:30)
6. Specialization (5:52)
7. Bad Boy (4:20)
8. Afraid Of Love (5:34)
9. Black Gold (3:56)
10. By George! (4:18)
11. Fear Itself (5:58)
12. Home I Love (6:30)
13. U.S. Blues Again (4:15)

Michael Hill's original 2005 album featured just 3 musicians, a stripped down, raw set of tracks. He has now added bass and extra instruments to create the 'Blues Mob' sound and added three brand new tracks. The songs are superb and the playing, a unique blues/rock sound, is contemporary and rootsy at the same time. What other album could have both Hubert Sumlin and Vernon Reid guesting and it still sound seamless and complete!

Goddesses & Gold Redux mc
Goddesses & Gold Redux zippy

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Michael Hill's Blues Mob - Electric Storyland Live (2 CD)

New York isn't the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of blues singing - jazz musicians playing 12-bar themes, certainly, but not blues singing in the usual Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, or Houston sense. There isn't a law against bluesmen coming from the Big Apple; it's just that the five boroughs are better known for jazz, hip-hop, and salsa than they are for blues singing. But if talented blues singers can be born in Sweden (Sven Zettenberg) or Yugoslavia (Ana Popovic), there is no reason why the Apple shouldn't participate - and New Yorker Michael Hill's participation has been quite valuable.

Recorded live at two different NYC venues in the early 2000s, this double-CD paints a consistently attractive picture of what Hill proudly describes as his "New York City blues." The singer/guitarist is far from a blues purist; not everything he does has 12 bars, and Hill has been greatly influenced by rock, soul and funk. In fact, the title Electric Storyland Live acknowledges his creative debt to Jimi Hendrix, who was arguably the first heavy metal artist - this release's title is a play on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. But the blues are Hill's foundation, and he always brings a wealth of blues feeling to the table regardless of whether or not something has 12-bar blues.

Hill maintains the feeling of the blues whether he is being influenced by reggae on "Grandmother's Blues," hinting at African pop on "Blessings," or incorporating elements of the Isley Brothers and the Average White Band on "Something in the Sky," which has a '70s-like sound but is a commentary on the aftermath of September 11, 2001. A consistently rewarding document of the Michael Hill Blues Mob's live show, this double-CD is enthusiastically recommended to anyone who is seeking something fresh and challenging from the blues. /Alex Henderson, AllMusic

Album: Electric Storyland Live - CD 1
Year: 2003
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:13
Size: 127,2 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Heart Of New York (5:29)
2. Ready For The Blues (5:58)
3. Monticello Nights (6:50)
4. Let's Talk About The Weather (7:05)
5. Women Make The World Go 'Round (5:43)
6. Undercover (6:55)
7. Grandmother's Blues (5:48)
8. Terrible Twos (5:53)
9. Blessings (5:27)

Electric Storyland Live - CD 1: Saturday Night At The Roadhouse mc
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Album: Electric Storyland Live - CD 2
Year: 2003
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:38
Size: 130,3 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Something In The Sky (4:45)
2. 'Bloodlines' Trilogy: Why We Play The Blues/Can't Recall A Time/Hard Blues For Hard Times (11:23)
3. Heat On The Highway (6:14)
4. Evil In The Air (8:25)
5. Chocolate Cream Jam: Sunshine Of Your Love/Crossroads (10:50)
6. New York State Of Blues (8:06)
7. Young Folks' Blues (Feat. Ana Popovic) (6:52)

Electric Storyland Live - CD 2: Saturday Night At The Union Hall mc
Electric Storyland Live - CD 2: Saturday Night At The Union Hall zippy

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Michael Hill Blues Mob - Larger Than Life

Year: 2001
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:27
Size: 155,7 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Partner In Crime (4:53)
2. Tonight (4:35)
3. Monticello Nights (4:38)
4. Undercover (4:24)
5. Larger Than Life (3:53)
6. 41 Shots (4:01)
7. Blessings (4:09)
8. Haunted (5:05)
9. Terrible Twos (4:05)
10. Big Top Shuffle (4:02)
11. Cosmic Slop (5:06)
12. Millie Jackson Love (4:44)
13. Hurt Nobody (3:23)
14. Heat On The Highway (5:13)
15. Bundle Of Joy (5:10)

Hill, based in Brooklyn, N.Y. since 1988, was born in the Bronx in 1952. The Bronx that Hill remembers was a working-class community with families who looked after one another's kids. Hill comes from a close-knit family, and his brother Kevin began playing bass with him when he formed his first band in 1973.

By the mid-'70s, Hill was working as a sideman or session player with the likes of Little Richard, Archie Bell, Harry Belafonte, and Carla Thomas. In the mid-'80s, working with Living Colour's Vernon Reid, he helped establish the Black Rock Coalition, a New York City-based group of black rock & roll bands, craftspersons and artists. He caught the attention of Alligator Records in 1993, and in 1994, the label released Bloodlines, which was hailed by some critics as the best blues debut album of the year.

Hill's range on his Steinberger guitar is awe-inspiring, and he'll often follow up a slow blues ballad with a fiery blues-rock shuffle that shows off his rock influences (players like Jeff Beck, Hendrix ,and Santana). Backed by a trio known as the Blues Mob, which consists of keyboards, bass, and drums, Hill's live shows are an artful blend of originals and a few interpretive covers.

Combine great guitar playing with a strong voice and thinking-man's lyrics, and you've got all the ingredients for major blues stardom, and Michael Hill's Blues Mob are helping the idiom continue its evolution. They returned in 1998 with New York State of Blues. Cut loose from Alligator, Hill released Audience of One with Inthemix in 2000, Larger Than Life on Singular in 2001, a concert album called Electric Storyland Live on Ruf in 2003, and Black Gold and Goddesses Bold on JSP in 2005. /Excerpt from biography by Richard Skelly, AllMusic

(Note: Also released on the Singular label, then entitled "Suite: Larger Than Life" with a different track order where the songs are sorted after various themes.)

Larger Than Life mc
Larger Than Life zippy

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VA - The Blues Tribute To The Grateful Dead

Size: 154,0 MB
Time: 65:46
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2001
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Michael Hill - Spoonful (4:39)
02. Guy Davis - Little Red Rooster (4:06)
03. Full House Blues Band - Hey Pocky Way (7:37)
04. Langhorne Slim - Turn On Your Love Lights (6:41)
05. Richie & The Pocket Rockets - Truckin' (4:28)
06. Amy Helm - It Hurts Me Too (3:36)
07. Anders Osborne - Big Boss Man (3:00)
08. Charles Butler - It Must Have Been The Roses (3:33)
09. Amy Helm - Next Time You See Me (3:29)
10. Richie & The Pocket Rockets - Black Peter (3:31)
11. Richie Castellano - Operator (4:11)
12. Langhorne Slim - Mama Tried (2:53)
13. Michael Hill - Casey Jones (4:40)
14. Langhorne Slim - Friend Of The Devil (2:38)
15. Richie & The Pocket Rockets - Touch Of Grey (3:25)
16. Langhorne Slim - Ripple (3:11)

Personnel: Guy Davis (vocals, guitar, harp, percussion); Anders Osborne (vocals, guitar, percussion); Michael Hill (vocals, guitar); Amy Helm (vocals); Matt Baxter (guitar, slide guitar); Charles Butler (guitar, dobro, banjo); Jim McElwaine (saxophone); Joe Ferry (percussion).

The Blues Tribute To The Grateful Dead

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Michael Hill's Blues Mob - New York State Of The Blues

Size: 113,6 MB
Time: 48:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1998
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. Long Hot Night (4:15)
02. A Case Of The Blues (4:20)
03. Soul Doin' Time (6:01)
04. Young Folks' Blues (3:44)
05. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone / Mama Sang The Blues (4:02)
06. Anytime, Anywhere (4:49)
07. New York State Of Blues (4:26)
08. Living For The City (4:59)
09. This Is My Job (4:13)
10. Up And Down The Stairs (4:02)
11. Never Give Up On You (3:34)

New York's Michael Hill's Blues Mob play deep blues for the body and soul, both as an astonishing live act--just ask any of the thousands of people mesmerized through a rainstorm at the 1996 Chicago Blues Festival--and as a rip-roaring and award-winning recording group, Michael Hill's Blues Mob stands out in the small circle of young, African-American blues artists bent on keeping the blues alive by taking the music into previously uncharted territory. "Hill is truly the bluesman piloting the music into the next century," proclaimed Blues Revue. Michael Hill's Blues Mob bring raw sweat, energy and intensity to every song they play. Hill's impassioned, sometimes humorous songs, his sweetly soulful singing voice and explosive guitar playing are perfectly complemented by the expert musicianship of the Blues Mob--Pete Cummings on bass, E.J. "The Professor" Sharpe on keyboards and Tony Lewis on drums. With their new Alligator release, New York State Of Blues (AL 4858), Michael Hill's Blues Mob continue to blaze a modern blues trail filled with cutting edge tunes and foot-stomping rhythms. Through his original songs (Hill wrote or co-wrote nine of the album's 11 songs) and formidable musicianship, Hill and his band boldly raise the bar for their contemporaries meanwhile raising the roof wherever they play. "Incendiary," shouted Guitar Shop. "A wonderful melting pot of R&B, blues, fusion, reggae, and balls-out heavy rock." But it's not just about the fiery music. "For me," says Hill, "writing is as important as playing guitar. The blues is about telling stories. The guitar playing and musicianship are important as long as they're serving the song or story. The lyrics give the playing and singing something to do."

New York State Of Blues is a tour-de-force of tough, inner city scenes, lovers' temptations and blues celebrations co-existing in Hill's guitar drenched, polyrhythmic universe. From the searing opener Long Hot Night (co-written by Vernon Reid) to the prophetic and humorous Young Folks Blues to the reinventions of the Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone and Stevie Wonder's Livin' For The City to the album's closer, the soulful and hopeful Never Give Up On You, Michael Hill's Blues Mob grab their listeners with their every-note-matters musicianship and draw them in with Hill's storytelling skills and his powerful vocals.

Thanks to Marc.
New York State Of The Blues

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