Customer Reviews

Gratitude

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

 

 

Tommy is always incredibly good in concert, but I find that his CD's usually have a few great songs and then a bunch that you have to learn to like. Not here. This album is chock full of deep rich beautiful covers of classic and timeless blues and soul songs, each one taken into the fold in Tommy's own style. For classic soul lovers, you absolutely can't beat his renditions of James Brown's "I Feel That Old Feeling Coming On" and Wilson Pickett's "I Found A Love." Whoa! In the blues category, you have a drop-dead solo on Ray Charles' "Come Back Baby", gorgeous jobs on John Lee Hooker's "It Serves You Right To Suffer" and Buddy Guy's "When My Left Eye Jumps," and then my two favorite cuts on the CD - Howlin' Wolf's "44" and B.B.'s "Bad Case of Love." If you're a compulsively hooked blues freak like me, then you'll know what I'm talking about when I tell you I've listened to these 2 cuts countless times over and over and cannot get enough - they're that good. I'm going nuts on this album and I'm a serious blues freak!
So if you dig Tommy, but haven't been thrilled with his other releases, get this one. And if you've heard of him but have been skeptical of the hype, do yourself a favor. You will be pleased!

I have to say that this album, on first listen, was not what I had anticipated. I had hoped for more of Tommy's punchy guitar style and vocals. What I heard on numerous replay of this extrordinary CD is his attempt to recreate the style and nuance of the original artist, but with a subtle "Castro" overtone. His rendition of BB King's guitar style brought an enormous smile to my face as I drove down I-95. Buy this album. Period.

WoW! Two CD's out from Tommy this year. Both are a little different from what we have heard the past few years. This disc is Tommy's tribute to the blues masters who inspired him. This disc is gritty and tough and will easily go down as one of his best discs. The other "Triple Trouble" was really a disc that really isn't a Tommy CD but a guest starring role for him. Still a solid disc but if you want 100% Tommy Castro (and I sure do!). Gratitude is the CD to buy (although I bought both :))

GRATITUDE by TOMMY CASTRO BAND is cd of covers to songs by artist that influenced the band. While there isnt any new material and the songs have probably been done by every other bar band, this is still an album to take home and play very loud. I love Tommy Castro's music and I was looking forward for this release. The 12 songs that he covers here, he does some real justice to them. Once you put this album on, you will start to really have a good time. BAD CASE OF LOVE, LOVEY DOVEY, I TAKE WHAT I WANT, EVERYBODY WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN, IT SERVES YOU RIGHT TO SUFFER are songs that you will find yourself hitting repeat on. I think any fan of blues and soul music will truly enjoy this album. This album will help keep you until he comes out with some new original material.

"Gratitude" is Tommy's tribute album to the blues pioneers who influenced him coming up. The album is all cover tunes including Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Howling Wolf, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, James Brown, Albert King, Wilson Picket, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Sam and Dave. Virtually a who's who of American blues rock. All of the songs on this album are done very well, and Tommy gives them enough of his own style to separate them from the original versions. I am not a huge fan of all the covers he does but some of them really work well. "44", "Bad Case Of Love" "Tulane", "It Serves You Right To Suffer" and "When My Left Eye Jumps" are all great. I feel like he played it a little bit safe on this album choosing obvious songs instead of some more obscure material that he might have been able to take in different directions, but overall this is a solid disc for fans of electric blues.

This is the best album Tommy Castro has ever made. Nothing before or after has come close. He has a genuine talent for inturpreting other peoples material, yet he doesn't play each song in a note for note recreation, but brings some of Tommy Castro to each song, yet never loses the intent of the original.

He should make more albums like this. He is really, really good at doing this sort of thing. It is really hard to do. Many artists have tried to do this sort of thing but very, very few have been sucessful at at. Tommy has been blessed with a true gift.

Gratitude is a cover CD in which Castro and the band pay their respects to R&B and blues artists that have influenced his life and his music. Covered here are Sam & Dave, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Howlin' Wolf, BB King, James Brown, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy and Wilson Pickett. Castro doesn't cover any new ground and doesn't select anything obscure to cover. Rather, he dusts off some better known tunes such as I Take What I Want, Bad Case Of Love and Tulane, and buts his heart into recreating these tunes to the best of his ability. Nothing original, but what's here is fun to listen to and will have to do until Castro returns with some new material.

This is a good fun blues "cover" by Tommy Castro. It's probably the best, stick to blues CD (with some R&B) of his that I've heard. Covering everyone from a "bluesy" Ray Charles, to Albert King, to Howlin Wolf, to James Brown. Even finishing with a real good rendition of Buddy Guy's "When My Left Eye Jumps". On a personal note, one of Shaq's all-time favorites, Albert King, is covered with a surprisingly, bouncy, "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven." Tommy, certainly isn't laying any new, creative, roads, into the blues world, but with the dirge, of living, practicing, blues, performers, out there, this is worth picking up while you wait for Shaq, "The King Of The World Blues Reviewer", to find some new "classic", gems for you!