Customer Reviews

Live at the BBC

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I will get right to the point, and tell you that this is one of the best "live" recordings ever produced. Robert Cray is a master at what he does, and he has an incredible band of superior musicians that enhance the obvious appeal of his music. There are no "bad" songs to be found here. The audience at London's Hammersmith Apollo were in a trance from the first song, and remained spell-bound until the last note was struck. If you are a fan of the Robert Cray band, you owe to yourself to get this CD. I will always be a fan of Robert Cray, but I don't know if he will ever be able to top the quality of this recording. It is simply superb!

This CD has some of the best music ever heard, not just the best Cray (which is darn good, in and of itself): the man is beyond R & B, beyond rock, beyond any constraining category - he's a consummate artist, as a writer, a lyricist, a singer and a guitarist. I've heard him live w/Clapton and I've heard his Band live (about 4 months ago) on its own - the best value for money you're going to get anywhere! Kim McCann

I purchased Cray's 2 cd "Live From Across The Pond" and while I liked it, I didn't like the pacing of the music. Just when he works the crowd up he does a few slow ones in a row. I've seen him 2 times in the past 18 months and felt his live set suffered the same problem. This "Live At The BBC" really kicks butt! I also remember seeing these tours and loving them. Pacing and song selection is great and The Memphis Horns add a great punch to the songs. Cray and the band are simply on fire. I've always been a big fan of Cray's and finally there is a good, live CD out of him. Well worth checking out.

Imagine yourself sitting in a center front row seat at a Robert Cray Concert, at a time in their musical careers when Robert Cray, The Robert Cray Band, and the accompanying Memphis Horns are all three at the very top of their musical talents. Imagine hearing live fourteen of the very best soul blues songs that Robert Cray and his Band ever created. Imagine sound quality so good that you can clearly hear every note and vocal inflection. This is the superb quality of the listening experience that you will have when you buy and enjoy Robert Cray Live at the BBC. Robert Cray, his band, and his songwriters possess such genius that they collectively have created and mastered a new genre of blues music, which I call soul blues. I very strongly recommend Robert Cray Live at BBC to each and every Robert Cray fan. When Cray and his band perform live, they reveal new and distinctive nuances of their musical talents that are not captured on their studio-produced cds. Live at the BBC is my favorite Robert Cray cd! That's saying alot because I am an audiophile who owns all of the best soul blues cds of Robert Cray. Live at the BBC is a MUST BUY cd for every Robert Cray fan.

John

If you want solid rocking blues with some quality brass thrown in for good measure, this is it. A tremendous live CD from Robert and his band show them in great form, definitely better than last years "Live from across the pond" release which was very good, but not great. Superb songwriting and performances combine to showcase a very underrated band who are right at home with blues, rock, or soul. Saw them on these tours in the late 80`s and early 90`s, and the Memphis Horns add a punch that take some of these songs to rarified heights! For the $ being charged for this release, this is the steal of the year. Add it to your collection and it may not leave your CD player for quite awhile! A+++++

Robert Cray has always been a blues player that is not mentioned often.
In my opinion he is one of the best blues/jazz guitar players going today.
Having seen Robert Cray in concert 3 times now and twice opening for Eric Clapton, this is how I remember hearing him in 1987, when he had just released Strong Persuader.
That particular night I actually enjoyed Cray more than Clapton himself.
This is how I remember him sounding, except for there was no brass backing him up.
It is the only time I have EVER seen an opening act for a superstar get a standing ovation and an encore. Most of the time opening acts get booed offstage.
Crays' guitar sound has always been clean and he does not use "Woman Tone" like Clapton, Buddy Guy and others.
The music on this CD is the finest of his career, so you get to hear him play his best songs live.
Highlights include: Foul Play, The Forecast calls for Pain, Right next door because of Me and Smoking Gun.
This in my mind is a much better live recording than his recent live CD, Across the Pond.
If you like Robert Cray or if you just like blues, you need to give this a listen..................

This has a lot of hot tracks taken from a 1988 and a 1991 performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon, but it's not perfect. Cray spices up some staid studio performances with horns and extended guitar solos and turns mediocrities like Don't You Even Care, Night Patrol and These Things into winners. But slow tunes like Right Next Door, My Problem and Acting This Way, which are thinly-veiled bragging about his conquests, ruin the high-energy pace that was developed during the first half of the album and should have been excluded in favor of better tunes such as Porch Light and I Was Warned. A major disappointment was Smoking Gun which has a short, uninspired guitar solo and closes with 2 minutes of wind-down/applause and therefore isn't really almost 7 minutes long as the Amazon sound sample implies.

All-in-all a good effort but not a five-star recording though it does offer 70 minutes to love or hate.

Live at the BBC is one of the best recordings by the legendary bluesman.This album features some of his best songs and the recordings by the BBC which have the best recordings make the songs sound really great.highly recommended.

This is a MUCH better CD than Across the Pond. Both CDs capture Cray's sound very accurately, but his sound in the late 80s was richer and much more energetic than in 2006. While both CDs might be nice to have, this one is the "must have."