Jazz & Blues > D Jazz & Blues > Contemporary Blues > up to 5 GBP

Advantages: It's funky with a little Jazz
Disadvantages: None come to mind

With the release of this album in 2001 the good doctor has gone back to his roots, all musical influences mixed up in his own unique style. The front cover for those of you who don’t know is a picture of the voodoo character “Baron Samedi” or Doctor Saturday; the use of this cover alone gives the listener an indication of what the contents are going to be like. This album clocks in at just over 68 minutes long and is a mix of ...
...Swore” gets the proceedings to a great start with the keyboards of the good doctor playing the main theme that has more than a hint of Stevie Wonder in it’s construction ala “Superstition” with an answering back chorus sung by Catherine Russell and Nikki Richards (Creole Molls) with percussion fills in-between the spaces created by the vocals and a wonderful sax solo on the fade out of the song. With the sound of Calypso ... Read review

Advantages: Blues with a modern twist and great muscianship
Disadvantages: A very mixed bag and doesn't know what it wants to be

"Unpossible" is The Hoax's follow up to their brilliant debut album "Sound Like This". Unfortuanely, this recording does not live up to the standards set by their first album. This is may be due to the fact their label Warner Bros insisted that they come up with a commercial hit. Well, the Hoax are a blues band and that is not an easy thing to do. Judging by their first album, the boys love the blues and and they played it with aplomb. But this ...
...on here but compared to their debut and final album "Humdinger", this is a pretty weak offering. "Turn it Upside Down" opens proceedings and is a filthy blues shuffle and very much in the Hoax style, and whilst it puts a refreshing spin on the blues formula, it seems tired in comparison to the energy of "Much 2 Much" off their first album. The next track is "The Emperors new clothes", which is a pretty decent song, but does not at all sound like ... Read review

Advantages: Modern, energetic blues played with passion
Disadvantages: none

...british blues band "The Hoax", sound authentically Texas Blues at times, ironic given the bands name. Discovered by Mike Vernon, who also produced this album, as well as working with Clapton and John Mayall, described the band as "The most exciting blues band I have seen for twenty years". Judging by the output on this recording, it's not hard to see, or hear even, why. Hailing from Devizes, Wiltshire, the band in their early twenties, take tired ...
...classic blues riff reworked to sound more up to date. Great vocals from Hugh Coltman on this. A good album opener but far from the best track on the album. "Much 2 Much" is a heavy blues shuffle which also puts a modern twist on the standard blues turnarounds, and is one the best songs on the album. Featuring two great guitar solos from Jon Amor and Jesse Davey, who play very much in the Stevie Ray mould, and some nice harp from Coltman. A funky ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful acoustic guitar music superbly played
Disadvantages: Very difficult now to get hold of as original CD.

One of my all time favourite CDs, Together is a jazz album featuring two American guitar vituosos, Larry Coryell and the late Emily Remler, and was recorded in 1985, and released on Concord Records.* Coryell is the more famous and experienced guitarist of the two, having been around since the late 60s dabbling in rock as well as jazz His one claim to notoriety was in the UK in 1975 when he turned up unexpectedly on stage at an Eric Clapton ...
...unnecessarily causing him profound embarrassment. Emily Remler started her musical career in the late '70s.having been a scholarship music student at Berkeley University. She soon built up a reputation for herself in the jazz world, not only because of her ability, but because it was so unusual to have a talented female jazz guitarist on the scene. On Together there are no other instruments involved other than acoustic or electric guitars, ... Read review

Advantages: Amazing album with super songs
Disadvantages: a few bad ones in the middle

...awesome by using all the Greatest Hits from Queen (most if not all appear on this CD) and making a story out of it. I won't go into details about the show as that is not really relevant to the CD. But all I will say is that once the show had finished I left the theatre as a real Queen fan and I couldn't wait to get the CD! I was actually rather fortunate as my Birthday wasn't too far away from Christmas and lo and behold I was given this CD that ...
...seen as one of the Greatest bands ever and released hundreds of CDs and have been estimated to have sold around 300 million copies worldwide. They are also famous for their live performance which greatly involve the audience participating and singing along - such as in We Will Rock You. The CD (the important bit): This CD is one of loads of different CDs that have been released by the band and has sold millions of copies worldwide. It includes ... Read review