Customer Reviews

Come On In

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

lets get this straight. This is not a standard blues disc, so don't judge it as one. The CD is made for those who enjoy upbeat electronic music, and it just happens that it's blues orientated. I'm a blues fan, and this fusion of musical genres has allowed me for the first time to enjoy semi-organic, quality dance music. Let the blues fans have a chance to dance true in the 90's. Well done Fat Possum and R.L Turn it up!!

This record brims with attitude. I had not heard R.L. before, but the first time through, I was sold big time. The record features an odd marriage of blues and studio gadgetry, but it mostly works. It's cool to hear a departure from straight ahead blues, and this record is leading me to explore the genre as I haven't done before. I followed up this purchase with Junior Kimbrough's "All Night Long", also on Fat Possum, which is amazing - it takes me deep, deep into Mississippi. If you like raw, unadorned blues, R.L.'s live version of "Come on in" is for you. The lead-in is great and the song itself is eerie and beautiful; this is the real deal. Much of the rest of the record demands that the volume be turned up; this ain't music to listen to on the couch.

This album is kind of like wasabi: it takes some getting used to but if you do, you have a friend for life. You're in for a big surprise if you're expecting traditional blues from this old bluesman. This is techno remix blues, which obviously won't please some, but he pulls it off. Best-known and probably the best tune is "It's Bad You Know", played on WXRT in Chicago, who turned me on to the album. Most of the cuts are musical loops, not all of which work, but overall pretty solid and recommended for anyone wanting something different. Die-hard blues purists need not apply.

Don't get hung up on labels. Yes you'll find this CD in the blues section but that ain't all you'll find when you listen. Burnside infuses his music with snippets of techno-beat, rap, and sometimes just good old down home conversation. Check out "Its Bad You know". You can envision Burnside talking to his buddy when he states "Don't ask me why, I just went on & told her". And you KNOW what he's talking about. His music contains hypnotic riffs that will take you into the world of cheap booze, adultery, murder and other pieces of a world most of us will never see or know. To quote others. Burnside knows about the birth and background of the blues, he's just not burdened by it.

I just got done listening to this Cd and man oh man it's cool. I really didn't think that I would like it all that much, boy was I wrong. It is every bit as cool if not more than Wish I Was in Heaven Sittin' Down and evern harder edged> This is the kind of album you need to play really loud.

I first heard Burnside on a "Delta Blues" station, and his music is as fresh as anything I've ever heard anywhere. The first song I heard was "It's Bad You Know" and it was electrifying. Another reviewer here wrote that he couldn't understand why Burnside isn't HUGE and I totally agree.

I listen to all kinds of music from classical to hip-hop but this artist is something special. I too am buying all the Burnside I can get my hands on.

...but for those of us who's eclectic tastes *include* the blues, there's a lot to like in this album. There are some sections of briliancy ("Let My Baby Ride" and "It's Bad You Know" both just rock), and some sections that were a little repetitious for me.
The North Mississippi All-Stars album Shake Hands with Shorty sounds like what you'd get if you gave an old R.L. record to a garage rock band. This album sounds like what you get when you give that same record to a techno DJ. There's a lot of sampled cuts looped together and layered under electric guitar and drums. Some vocals are re-mixed in as well.
Definitely worth checking out if you're looking for something different.

Dear Mr. Yates: Are you one of those turtle-neck wearing folks with plenty of money and a nose in the air? Are you one of those that believe that the Blues must adhere to some unforgiving rules that you made up? Get off yo' high horse and put down that pipe! The Blues have always been a "blasphemy", a walk downtown, a soulful melody, a harsh reality.... etc... The Blues NEVER did adhere to any rules of musical education. The Blues is the Blues because of a feeling, an attitude. This album has all of that attitude, irreverent as it is. Take off that turtle-neck sweater and listen to these grooves. Blues grooves. The only other artist to take the Blues to this level this decade has been G. Love. No, it's not your daddy's Blues.... but it is Blues.... fun Blues.... New Orleans Blues... Blues the way it was supposed to be: Fun, Exciting, Soulful and NOT standard! Blues with a capital "B".

Labels, labels. What do we label this album? Blues? Techno? Techno-blues? Labels like these are too narrow for me. This is good music. I love blues and I also love techno; but I wouldn't call this techno just because it makes good use of loops. It's blues with a twist. It's a great musician and his producer exploring their talents.

I have many friends who aren't big blues fans, but they're always asking me to play this album. The beats are very fun and make you want to just get up and dance. I think the best blues shows are the ones that really move your body, and this album does just that. If you're a blues fan with an open mind, or just a music fan with an open mind, you'll find this album in your CD player more often than not.

Combine a well-seasoned 70+yo(?) blues artist with a young garage band, put them in the hands of a producer with a flair for modern sampling and dance music mixes, and what do you get? Possibly a new sub-genre of blues. Actually, I think this is what G. Love and Special Sauce were trying to do a few years ago; R.L. has better success, mostly because he has an authenticity the younger group lacks. This is raw, vital music: classic blues themes, hard edged guitar sounds, strong modern rhythms, and I think the whole is more than the sum of the parts. I'm struggling for descriptive words here, mostly because I can't think of much to compare this music to. There's a certain cheesiness to the production work, but that adds to the appeal for me: there's very little that's slick or polished about this recording. That said, producer/remixologist Tom Rothrock has done a bang-up job of modernizing R.L.'s sound while not straying too far from the classic blues idiom.

Fat Possum should be congratulated for having the vision and courage to support this important artist, and I highly recommend it to anyone willing to give something different a fair listen. (You know who you are!)