Customer Reviews

The Blues "White Album"

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't agree with the reviewer. I think this is a great cover album, by great artists, having fun.

I think the reviewer was just having a bad day. This album is great fun (though I must admit: I really don't need this -- or ANY -- version of "Don't Pass Me By") and a whole new way of thinking about these classic songs.

Given Ted Drozdowski's editorial slam and the glowing reviews by shanshiro and a music fan, the potential listener may be confused about "The Blues White Album." The truth is somewhere between. This Beatles tribute has strengths and some serious weaknesses. The album starts out with Jimmy Thackery's 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?' This highlight reaches a climax that most live bands would save for the encore. Lucky Peterson's "Yer Blues" is a good retelling. It does what every song on this album should: flush out the Blues potential of a Beatles song. Joe Louis Walker offers the other blockbuster off this disc with his version of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.' While most of the album plays electric Blues, Colin Linden plays 'Blackbird' acoustically. The first problem with "The Blues White Album" lies with some of the performers and performances. The thing is, when White folks play the Blues, it tends to sound like rock. This is the problem with the songs by Anders Osborne, Maria Muldaur and others. While some of these artists don't even bother pretending, most of their music winds up sounding like Bluesy rock. On a generic Beatles tribute, their songs would be okay, but it does not meet the Blues standard. The other drawback to this disc is the album's concept. Blues versions of songs off "The White Album" could have worked, but it's a project that could only have been successful in the most able hands. It would have been far more productive to release a Blues themed tribute that spanned the Beatles' entire career. That way songs like Let It Be's 'For Your Blue' could have been included. This fails to live up to expectations and I'm an avid listener of the Beatles, the Blues and good tributes. That written, "The Blues White Album" is not a bad album; it's just mediocre given the uneven quality of music.

The albums is good, the production is great. Maria Muldaur's "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" is fabulous.

The conceit of this collection is that a bunch of blues musicians have been gathered together to pay a kind of tribute to the Beatles, some of whose music has roots in the blues, by playing some cuts from The Beatles (which just about everybody refers to as "The White Album"). Hmm.

The album gets off to a bad start with a ponderous, leaden, dragging version of "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?," performed here by a group called "Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers." The very thing they seem to lack is drive; the drummer in particular seems to be holding the whole performance back.

The rest of the cuts feature various Telarc blues artists fronting a core group consisting of G.E. Smith on guitar, T-Bone Wolk on bass, Peter Re on bass, and Steve Holley on drums. Lucky Peterson does an OK job on "Yer Blues," making it sound more like a straight blues song and less like the over-the-top but undeniably entertaining rant that John Lennon gave us in the original.

Anders Osborne then takes us through "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," and I mean he just kind of takes us through it. It gets better as it goes along, as he tries to sound more like Lennon. But what's the point?

We next get a version of "Revolution" led by Kenny Neal, Lucky Peterson, and Tab Benoit. This is one of the better cuts on the album, with the organ adding a nice texture to the sound. These guys seem to be having fun with the tune, not trying to hit us over the head with it. Thanks, guys, especially Tab Benoit.

Maria Muldaur takes a really fun, lighthearted song, "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da," and makes it sound, well, old and tired. Sad...

Next up is Joe Louis Walker, who imbues "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with a Memphis kind of sound. This is the longest cut on the album, at more than eight minutes; fortunately, it is also the best cut.

A real change of pace is T-Bone Wolk's rendition of "Don't Pass Me By." The arrangement sounds like a combination of country, blues, and reggae, with some organ thrown in for good effect. It's good clean fun.

Chris Duarte then takes a stab at "I'm So Tired." The end result sounds something like a David Bowie imitator jamming with a house band, which is not something many people would pay good money to hear. But it still beats the heck out of Jimmy Thackery and The Drivers.

Colin Linden does a nice job with "Blackbird," playing it straight vocally with some nice acoustic guitar work.

The CD closes with a pleasant but forgettable instrumental rendition of "Dear Prudence" featuring harmonica man Charlie Musselwhite and Colin Linden on guitar.

So there you have it--some good cuts, some OK cuts, some so-so cuts, and one or two real stinkers. For the Beatles completist, The Blues White Album may be worth a listen, but for most listeners, I doubt it would prove to be a keeper. (And oh, how I'd like to hear again the greatest Beatles cover performance of all time--Wilson Pickett's absolutely incendiary version of "Hey Jude," on which none other than Duane Allman provided instrumental support. Whew!)