The set that made Cray a pop star, despite its enduring blues base. Cray's smoldering stance on "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door" rendered him the first sex symbol to emerge from the blues field in decades, but it was his innovative expansion of the genre itself that makes this album a genuine 1980s classic. "Nothing but a Woman" boasts an ...
Most of the original "blues summit" and blues "supergroup" type gatherings, which were done at Chess Records, were musically pointless affairs, mostly because the artists involved really didn't like the idea behind the albums being recorded or the company they were forced to keep during the recording process. What makes Showdown! work is that the ...
The "pure" in the Pure series initially suggested the unadulterated, soothing dulcet tones of new age in the Pure Moods discs, but as the series took off, Universal Music realized they had a real marketable brand name here, so they decided to use it for different genres. The one thing that all the collections shared was that they were exceptional ...
Robert Cray's musical strengths, which include an economic, elegant and melodic guitar approach and a soulful and unthreatening vocal style, have led many blues purists to question his authenticity in the genre, but to his credit, Cray has ignored all that and fashioned an approachable legacy that treats the blues as a vital ingredient in a kind ...
It's evident right from the start that Robert Cray's aiming for a Memphis soul groove on Take Your Shoes Off. Willie Mitchell of Hi Records fame co-wrote and did the horn arrangements for the lead-off cut, "Love Gone to Waste," and Jim Pugh's burbling organ would have fit snugly into the mix of an early '70s Al Green record. The blues is not ...
Perhaps the most telling tune on Shoulda Been Home is the T-Bone Walker-influenced "Renew Blues," not because of the style, but because the slow blues fades out after just one tiny minute. By contrast, the mellow soul sway of "Out of Eden" stretches out to over nine minutes. Robert Cray has been heralded as a savior of modern blues, but the truth ...
Robert Cray's soulful vocals and spanky, sustainless guitar enliven the fairly by-the-numbers blues-influenced R&B on I Was Warned. The band itself is solid (especially tough-as-nails drummer Kevin Hayes), if unexceptional; the addition of the Memphis Horns (Andrew Love on tenor sax and Wayne Jackson on trumpet and trombone) on many of these ...
Typically well-produced and well-played outing -- mostly originals, with smoldering covers of Syl Johnson's "Steppin' Out" and Wilson Pickett's "Jealous Love" for good measure. Cray's crisp, concise guitar work and subtly soulful vocals remain honed to a sharp edge. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
Cray went into a more soul-slanted direction for this solid collection, coarsening his vocal cords for "The Forecast (Calls for Pain)" and the rest of the set. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
If not a definitive blues recording, this 16-track collection delivers on the promise of its title. James Cotton, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Lonnie Mack, and the inestimable Professor Longhair rock the house like the veterans they are. The respected label also showcases relative newcomers, including Robert Cray and Little Charlie & the Nightcats, ...
After 25 years and 14 albums, it seems a little churlish to complain that Robert Cray has been mining the same low-key, mellow Memphis soul-blues groove for well over two-thirds of his career. Not only is that kind of the point -- he's found his sound and he's sticking to it -- but many of Cray's influences didn't vary all that much on record, ...
Robert Cray left his longtime home Mercury Records following the release of 1997's Sweet Potato Pie, moving to Rykodisc in 1999. Not long after his Ryko debut Take Your Shoes Off -- just a little over six months, actually -- Mercury released Heavy Picks: The Robert Cray Collection. It wasn't really an attempt to steal the thunder from Take Your ...
With 1986's Strong Persuader, guitarist and vocalist Robert Cray stepped to the front of the line as a smooth and intelligent practitioner of the blues genre. Strong Persuader almost worked as well as a greatest hits set, with the brilliant Willie Mitchell-influenced "I Guess I Showed Her" being best of a perfect ten. With that standard being set, ...
Bad Influence is one of Robert Cray's best albums ever, and the one that etched him into the consciousness of blues aficionados prior to his mainstream explosion. Produced beautifully by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the set sports some gorgeous originals ("Phone Booth," "Bad Influence," "So Many Women, So Little Time") and two well-chosen ...
Live from Across the Pond finds blues guitarist Robert Cray and his band performing live over seven nights in May 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. A journeyman guitarist with a knack for mixing a classic electric blues sound with various contemporary pop sounds, Cray has remained a consistent if underappreciated artist since his 1986 ...
Unlike most tribute albums from the '90s, A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan isn't a lifeless collection of piecemeal studio performances -- it's a fiery, living tribute, which is only fitting for a guitarist who shone intensely and brightly during his brief life. Recorded live in Stevie Ray's hometown of Austin, TX, the album features many of ...
This time, Cray veered back toward the blues (most convincingly, too), even covering Albert King's "You're Gonna Need Me" and bemoaning paying taxes on the humorous "1040 Blues." Unlike his previous efforts, Cray produced this one himself. Also, longtime bassist Richard Cousins was history, replaced by Karl Sevareid. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
One of Robert Cray's best albums ever, and the one that etched him into the consciousness of blues aficionados prior to his mainstream explosion. Produced beautifully by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the set sports some gorgeous originals ("Phone Booth," "Bad Influence," "So Many Women, So Little Time") and two well-chosen covers, Johnny ...
Most of the songs on Rebound's Roots of Rock: Blues Rock don't even date from the glory days of blues-rock -- the late '60s, when it was all starting to come together. This has some moments from that era and from the early '70s, when it was flourishing, but there's too much from the '80s for this to truly be a "roots" disc. (It also has Pat ...
Although long departed from Mercury Records, Robert Cray served as a co-compiler on this discount-priced best-of, which reviews his career from 1986 to 1997 by way of ten tracks drawn from seven albums. Maybe it was his influence that led to the range of material, since a record company executive left to himself might have been tempted to focus ...
The Pacific Northwest-based blues savior's first album in 1980 boded well for his immediate future. Unfurling a sterling vocal delivery equally conversant with blues and soul, Cray offers fine remakes of the Willie Dixon-penned title tune, O.V. Wright's deep soul romp "I'm Gonna Forget About You," and Freddy King's "The Welfare (Turns Its Back on ...
Heritage of the Blues: Phone Booth features highlights from modern bluesman Robert Cray's two records he recorded for Hightone at the beginning of his career. When he burst on the scene in the early '80s, Cray's soulful blues really caught on with blues fans who were looking for a modern voice and a modern sound. Songs like "Phone Booth" and "The ...
Rhino's New Millennium Blues Party might as well be titled Blues' Greatest Hits. Its 20 tracks cover some of the most popular blues songs of (mostly) the latter half of the 20th century, and correspondingly, there's an enormously wide range of styles and approaches, from Chicago grit to slick blues-pop. Even though the variety does keep things ...
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