Blues Fallin Down Like Rain [Enhanced]

Kenny Neal | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 16, 1998)
• Original Release Date: June 23, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000007OMG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,566 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a blues voice!, February 12, 2000

By 

Joe Bucher (Eagle River, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blues Fallin Down Like Rain (Audio CD)

I first heard Kenny Neal on a blues channel over my DSS sattelite dish. Was making coffee when "Blues Fallin' Down Like Rain" came on. His wonderful deep growly voice has a unique bluesy passion to it. Can't say it's like anyone elses. Anyway, I was admittedly surprised and frustrated that I'd never heard of Kenny Neal before, because, anyone with a blues voice and a sound this good, has got to be a big-time blues performer. Maybe he is, but I didn't know it.

Since then, I've purchased this CD, and like it so much, I bought every other CD this guy has ever made. In my opinion, Kenny Neal is one of the brightest young blues talents out there. He's got the voice, the harp, the guitar, and a family history. Plus, the guy has played with several past blues giants, most notably Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.

Admittedly, this CD is much more tame than his past work (now that I've reviewed all of his work), but it is great stuff nonetheless.

The bottom line with Kenny Neal is, he is one of the rare blues artists that one can truly listen to for hours without tiring of his voice and sound. His mix of swamp blues with swing and deep passionate ballads is a breath of fresh blues air. Hope the guy makes it big. He has the talent!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ***1/2 - good, but not his best, July 1, 2005

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blues Fallin Down Like Rain (Audio CD)

After a lenghty stay with Bruce Iglauer's Alligator Records, Kenny Neal signed with Telarc in 1997, releasing this album the next year.
He still plays his trademark Louisiana-style blues, but the horn sections that backed Neal on his Alligator albums are gone, and the sound is perhaps a little bit more polished, with a stronger soul influence. And there are more covers than usual.

Kenny Neal still has one of the best, most soulful and nuanced voices in modern electric blues, but overall "Blues Fallin' Down Like Rain" is not as strong as his best Alligator dates.
The production is slicker, and Neal's renditions of songs like Willie Dixon's "My Babe" and Guitar Slim's "The Things I Used To Do" just don't measure up to the classic recordings by Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Slim himself. "I'm Ready" is pretty good, though, and Neal performs an energetic "Big Boss Man" with the drums playing in double time.

Also, Ted Taylor's swinging mid-tempo soul-blues "Someday" and the equally soulful title track are both very good, as is the funky "Just A Matter Of Time" and Neal's own "Shadow On The Moon". The originals "Full-Time Fool" and "Strike While The Iron Is Hot" are pretty good as well; I just can't help feeling that I've heard these songs before. In fact, "Strike" is not much more than a slightly slicker version of the terrific number "Don't Fix Our Love" from Neal's best album, "Hoodoo Moon", and that's a bit disappointing. Nice harp playing, though.

If you're new to Kenny Neal you probably won't notice one way or the other, and unless you're familiar with the original version of songs like "My Babe" and "The Things I Used To Do" you may not find anything wanting from Neal's readings of these songs at all. Still, this is a lesser record compared to earlier works like "Walking On Fire", "Bayou Blood", and the magnificent "Hoodoo Moon", and Neal's next Telarc album, "What You Got", is better and more original as well.
This one is not bad at all. It's just not among his best.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for serious blues fans, October 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Blues Fallin Down Like Rain (Audio CD)

Kenny as we see him when he is in concert! No fancy horns or subtle mixing just Kenny, his brothers and down-in-the-alley blues for you. From the opening cut "Big Boss Man" where Kenny plays the lap steel to the soulful "The Things I Used to Do" the eleven cuts on this CD represent some of his finest work to date.