Customer Reviews

Deep Trout

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

 

 

Unlike a lot of "vault" releases than only contain lame outtakes and inferior and/or unfinished recordings, this one of Trout's breaks that rule into pieces. This album serves well as a substitute for a new Trout album that I guess is still in the works.

Deep Trout is a very good way to become familiar with this American blues artist, who like so many before him has had to go overseas to make himself known.

Trout has been thrilling European audiences for over a decade with his excellent guitar playing, and this compilation CD features his great work on such cuts as "Victor The Cajun," "Kill The Monkey," and "Fast Moving Traffic," but by far the premium cut on this record is "If You Just Try," a live recording that just burns!

Deep Trout serves as a great introduction to Walter Trout. Some of the cuts fall short of being great vocally and musically, but "If You Just Try" alone makes this CD worth buying.

I wish I noticed it was a best of before
I bought it. I've never been impressed by
best of C/D's. It's alway's been like,
"WHO PICKED THESE SONG'S, AND WHY?" Out
of 15 song's, 6 may-be, 7. The rest are
to slow. Boring even. Don't get me wrong,
I like Walter, but do yourself a favor and
skip this one.

A geat example of Walter's work showcasing his mastery of the six string. I'm still amazed by the fact that Walter is still relatively unknown in America. Hopefully, this CD will be a breakthrough for him and his able band of "Radicals." Walter plays blues rock and plain old fashioned rock & roll with a passion like no other. Be sure to catch him live. And if you can't, give "Deep Trout" a spin. But be sure to fasten your seatbealt ..... you're in for quite a ride!

Well, so Deep Trout is sort of a "greatest hits" package. And like a couple of the other reviewers, I am not too keen on those types of albums myself. After all, to paraphrase one, who chooses which songs are "the greatest"? Like one of the other reviewers, I was a little annoyed as well to find out after ordering that I was getting a "best of" disc.
Gotta make the best of it. Instead of a greatest hits package, I'll call Deep Trout a sampler for newbies. After all, Walter Trout has a lot of recordings from which to choose and in myriad moods. So for someone who is new to his music and doesn't know where to start, this CD may make the most sense. While more seasoned Trout fans may have chosen other works for this compilation, let it suffice to say that this provides a broad overview of his general style. There is a lot of rock and a generous touch of R&B, well-marbled with thick portions of the blues.
My favorites are the opening cut, the blistering If You Just Try, the traditional-sounding Tribute to Muddy Waters, the bonus acoustic rendition of Life In the Jungle, and the mournful So Sad To Be Lonely. The worst cut is Big Chain. Not only does it stink, its placement near the end of the CD detracts from mostly pleasant feelings about the rest of it.
If you have all of Trout's early recordings already, Deep Trout is basically a waste of cash, but if you are new to his music then I heartily recommend this so that you can choose which of his recordings you might like to further explore.

I have been a fan of Walter Trout since I saw him at his first London Mean Fiddler gig in 1990.The bridging of songs between Red House and Serve me right... was definitely the highlight.I them saw him on 13 other occasions up to 1996 and have all his albums/DVDs and many Radio/TV sessions.A collector you might say.However I agree with T Morgan and can answer his question on WHO PICKED THESE SONGS? I would defintely say Walter himself.
Although he escapes "BEST OF" tag,for the reason that this CD mainly covers his earlier works (Prisoner of a dream/Breakin the Rules/No more Fish Jokes and Transition. Why no inclusion of Life in the Jungle CD? - My Fave! And forget the Acoustic version-This I assume would have been from one of Radio 1's Bob Harris Sessions.)I believe this COMPILATION is served primarily for new converts to Walter who would probably only posess recent CDs,AND for the North American fans who are not as fortunate as us Europeans who have had easy access to these earlier works,but with the Internet,we are now all equal in obtaining all of his CDs.The 3 so called unreleased songs even include a song from John Mayalls Ex-Bassist Freebo (Freebo on Vocal).The only real highlight is of the 14 page heavily detailed
Sleevework which guides us through Walters career and the songs on the CD. The running order also leaves a lot to be desired: Rocker/slow song/Rocker/slow song... and so on. I would have suggested a couple of alternatives here i.e.
1.A compilation of Walters work with other artists as done with the Freebo Track.It would include work with Canned Heat/John Mayall/Popa Chubby/Jan James/John Lee Hooker etc.It would serve as a Taster for his FULL CIRCLE CD which is crammed with other great Blues artists.

OR
2.Keep all the tracks from the CD,but for all us GOTTA HAVE EVERYTHING WALTER,give us brand new re-mixed versions from the current line-up.
3.A NEW live compilation of the tracks listed.

Best of Compilations in my opinion are only for
1.Top 20 artists like Madonna, Kylie Minogue etc
2.Artists who have run out of ideas (Writers block?)
3.Artists who have since deceased.Record label pounces.

As Shaq, "The King Of The World Blues Reviewer", said in a prior 5 star rated review on Walter's, "Full Circle", I had never heard of him before. "Full Circle" was so good, I decided to "reverse engineer" him, and research and find some prior CD's of him. This CD was a result of my effort. I was totally disappointed. This CD can't hold an unlit candle to the blues-rock classic that "Full Circle" is. Shaq's recommendation to my loyal "The King Of The World Blues Reviewer" fans, is to not buy this, and hope Walter's new direction, is the type of heavy hitting blues classic that "Full Circle" is. I am anxiously awaiting his next release, and will update you immediately upon that event!

As usual, W.T. continues to prove he is THE BEST ELECTRIC BLUES GUITARIST IN THE WORLD. Next to SRV, nobody even compares. This recording is an awesome mix of his mind bending abilities. All I can say is buy it...you won't regret it.

I would recommend any of Walter's work; it is all good. If you have never heard of Walter Trout, a couple of years ago he was voted the fifth greatest guitarist of all time by the BBC: behind Hendrix, Clapton, Page, and a couple of other "GUITAR GODS". Like Hendrix was in the earlier part of his career, W.T. is huge in Europe, but relatively obscure in the states. That is changing!