Customer Reviews

Blues Caravan: Guitars & Feathers

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It took me awhile to warm up to this CD, but I'm glad I gave it the chance because there are parts of it that are quite good. My first reaction was "meh." It was OK, but nothing special, especially for a live album. There didn't seem to be the kind of interaction with the audience that can make a live album unique and make up for the introductions & applause interruptions. Maybe the German audience was too restrained; maybe it wasn't the right combination of performers (it took me a few times listening to be able to tell them apart); maybe it was the pacing of the sets.

The concert was set up into sets. The first song included all three women (and is pretty much forgettable) and then Dani Wilde has a four-song set. At 21, she is the youngest of the three performers and probably the least well known. Because of her age, her voice still has some maturing left to go. She also has a habit of putting in some high squeals I could definitely do without. She wrote all the songs in her set and for the most part they were very good. A couple sound too much alike and one of them is too big for where her voice is now. She is an excellent guitar player and that makes her an interesting performer I'll want to keep watching as she matures. The best song in her set, and maybe my favorite of the album, is "I Love You More Than I Hate Myself." It would be worth buying the download of this track.

The next set belonged to Candye Kane who has the biggest & best voice of the three. She wrote three of the five songs in her set, including the infectiously fun "You Need A Great Big Woman," during which she encouraged the skinny people in the audience to eat more schnitzel and strudel so they wouldn't feel left out. Though Ms. Kane is strictly a vocalist, there was no lack of guitar playing during her set. Laura Chavez proved herself at least the equal of Dani Wilde and Deborah Coleman.

After Candye Kane, the beginning of Deborah Coleman's set was a let down in energy. Ms. Coleman wrote only the first song in her short solo set. The liner notes are a major shortcoming with this album. There is no indication which artists are on which tracks. The best two tracks in what I believe are in Deborah Coleman's set, "Fight" and "Jesus Left Chicago," seem to include at least one other member of the Caravan. Those two songs are worth buying the download if you don't want the whole album.

I really enjoyed the album from "Fight" to nearly the end of the album. "Rocking on the Blues Caravan" sounded like a short encore and isn't as good an ending as if they had stopped with "Whole Lotta Love," which has a whole lotta solos from Ms. Kane, the three guitarists and the keyboard player.

After listening to it many times, I do enjoy this CD but the parts are better than the whole. I'm going to put my favorite tracks on my MP3 player in an order that makes sense to me and leave the CD on my shelf.

This CD is representative of the modern live blues that you would hear at good Chicago Blues clubs. It is almost entirely the sort of good-time uptempo rocking shuffles that made Alligator Records what it was founded to be (this CD isn't on Alligator, but it's the sort of stuff Bruce Iglauer loves). The songs are well played, well sung by tough gals. The backing band is solid, and lead guitarist Laura Chavez sounds like someone I'd like to hear more. Maybe she will get a shot on her own CD down the road.

As someone who has spent many an enjoyable evening at blues clubs, I must say a lot of the reviews of this CD are unfair and off the mark. This is intended as good-time music to drink by, and it does that just fine. Not the sort of depth fans of the Mississippi Delta generation bluesmen brought, but that era is gone.

This CD features three female blues singers from the Ruf label. They each do excellent short sets and they are rocking, frolicking good. I can truly imagine that they rocked the house down. My favorite song on the CD is Candye Kane singing "Something's Got a Hold of Me", but all the songs are good.

If you're into the blues, this is a good CD to try out. The sets mesh together almost as if they were meant to. Wait! They were. If it was the attention of the people at Ruf Records to get me interested in these three blues women, and I'm sure it was, they've succeeded. This CD not only showcases the talents of Deborah Coleman, Candye Kane and Dani Wilde, it's also a mighty good blues CD to boot. A CD that belongs in any Blues Lovers collection.

There is nothing better in music than a great blues song. Even blues that isn't that great is still pretty good and that is where the Blues Caravan: Guitars and Feathers falls into. The main problem with the album is most of the songs are nondescript and it is sometimes hard to distinguish one from another. Most songs are originals from Deborah Colman, Candye Kane and Dani Wilde with a couple covers thrown in from Ray Charles and Willie Dixon. But if you have some hankering for some blues, this disk will certainly be sufficient.

This live concert was recorded in Bonn, Germany in 2008 and features 2 well known artists (who are also award winners) Candye Kane (Singer) and Deborah Coleman (Guitarist) plus a new artist called Dani Wilde who is best known as a guitarist. It was released by Ruf Records as a part of their Blues Caravan series.

This concert is unique because features all 3 ladies at the beginning and end with each artist featured individually during the concert. The concert starts with Ray Charles' "Won't Leave" with all 3 women. It then goes into Dani Wildes set. She performs 4 of her own tunes. I would describe her as a talented guitarist with a balanced method which is controlled and clear but yet quite powerful. She is good singer with nice clean vocals.

However when it comes to vocals there aren't many better than Candye Kane, her set comes next. She performs with her usual power and expression and sings 5 songs.

Lastly comes on Deborah Coleman. I admit I like her style the most and she epitomizes blues at its best. She is a very accomplished guitarist but her vocals speak straight to you.

The girls then come together for a jam session for the last tracks. The highlight of the night is the performance of "Whole Lotta Love". Although Led Zeppelin made it a hard rock number, Coleman's guitar work and Kane's vocals prove the songs heart is in the blues.

Final conclusion, if you like blues then here is your chance to hear 3 talented female artists with contrasting styles perform live. I recommend it and applause goes to the artists and Ruf records for highlighting good musicians with their Blues caravan series.

I enjoyed listening to this CD quite a bit. It is a very good example of "road show" style Chicago blues with three very competent female blues vocalists showcasing their talents. The musicianship is very good, the crowd engaged, and the recording well made & clear.

I liked how the show was designed to highlight each singer, giving each a set of songs for her own time "in the spotlight". The original material was good, as were the covers. I particularly liked Ms. Kane's take on "Whole Lotta Love". Very entertaining.

I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes Chicago style live blues and who enjoys female vocalists. I believe they would enjoy this CD as much as I did.

I will admit that I am not a big blues fan. I don't know much about blues or this group. That being said I was pretty bored with this CD. I felt that the songs all sounded the same. the music was just ok. Some of the songs could have been good but none of them stood out from the others. It could have been b/c it was "live" so it was sort of static-y and poor recording etc. I was hoping for more to be wowed and I wasn't. But I wasn't hugely disappointed. I might try and explore these ladies in a cd that is just their own.

It's good to get acquainted with new blueswomen: Dani Wilde, Candye Kane, and Deborah Coleman, and definitely interesting to hear a live concert in Germany.

The players are talented, but the work is more middle-of-the-road almost pop kind of blues. (My taste in women blues players tends to run towards Susan Tedeschi) A couple of favorites:

I love you more than I hate myself
Jesus just left Chicago

One problem I had with this CD is that it doesn't seem to want to play on my Mac, which is where I usually listen to music. I'm guessing this may be a protection scheme by the publisher. Worked fine on my regular CD player, though.

Rebecca Kyle, March 2009

2008 saw the fourth Blues Caravan tour and this album is a live recording of one performance on that tour, in Bonn, Germany in January of that year. The tours mostly take in venues in central and northern Europe, where Blues and Jazz have long had an enthusiastic following, often when those genres were relatively neglected in their homeland. The Blues Caravan 2009 tour is, at the time of this review, in full swing, with a completely different lineup (except that Dani Wilde is joining for a couple of gigs).

The album borrows the clever title of Candye Kane's Guitar'd and Feathered album. Kane is the best known member of the lineup and was also part of the 2005 tour.

This being a live recording, you don't get the sound quality that you would from a studio recording. The 17 tracks are solid, hard-rocking Blues, without offering anything greatly innovative or profoundly moving -- although Crazy Little Thing has earned itself a rip-and-burn into my library.

The backing musicians are more than adequate but, I repeat, you do not get studio quality sound.

This is more Hard Rock than true Blues, and so is not the best introduction to the latter, by any means, but it offers an insight into what European clubs regularly showcase these days, and it will find a place in many an avid Blues fan's library. Really, you should just listen to the samples and decide if this is your thing.
[PeterReeve]

If there is a sliding scale of blues authenticity with Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday on one end then these girls are on the other end. This would fall in what I call the "frat boy blues" genre - more rollicking than wrist slashing. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Blues Caravan would make a nice background alternative to the same old Motown Greatest Hits album at a party.

Blues Caravan: Guitars & Feathers was recorded live at a club in Bonn, Germany. The recording quality isn't great- indistinct music combined with background chatter, coughing, dishes, etc.

Three stars for a CD where the music is fun but unremarkable, combined with the poor production values of a live recording.