Customer Reviews

Blues Had a Baby

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
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While this is a good blues record, it hardly compares to Bell's previous effort, Kiss of Sweet Blues. That album sparkled thanks to Bell's sublime guitarwork. But that, unfortunately, is not the centerpiece it should be this time around. Instead what we have is solid blues, fine standards, and, overall, a weaker album. Another change, this time for the positive, is Bell's increased vocal prowess. But what I miss is that sweet guitar. A nice bonus is the addition of the final four tracks, all solo Lurrie Bell, practicing in the studio. They provide an interesting insight on Bell's raw talent, which, as he proved on his previous album and occasionally on this one, is tremendous.

This is the best effort so far by this talented "younger generation" Chicago blues man. His previous releases all seemed to be efforts by the record labels to push him in directions that were foreign and at times awkward for Lurrie's eccentric talents. Lurrie's real gift isn't in the slick blues of T-Bone Walker, etc., it's in raw, straightforward Chicago blues. And that's what "Blues Has A Baby" is--raw, unpretentious, exciting, and a whole lot of fun. He really seems to be playing with fewer retraints here, and as a result there's a lot more of his own unique and individualistic guitar style on display here than his other releases.

I've seen Lurrie live several times, and like Otis Rush (who he's sometimes compared to), he has his good and bad nights. This CD seems to have captured in the studio a lot of his good nights, playing very much the way he does in local blues clubs. Overall, his best yet.

I bought this album on a whim, after seeing about it on amazon and I'm very glad I did. Overall, quite a good album. Very good guitar work, but the guitar isn't the centerpiece here. Bell's vocals are pretty interesting. Maybe Bob Dylan on blues. He's got a tenor/soprano (I guess) voice that can get right down raw sometimes -- all for the good. I like the numbers he plays with the band, but I like the last four solo pieces even more; here is where you can see his guitar shine. I'm glad I went on tuition for this one!

lurrie bells career is like a roller coaster ride,but with this great cd his career should be on an upswing. from the great tune of "blues had a baby to mean black spider lurries playing is smoking with great nlues riffs thus cd is non stop blues to the bone