Customer Reviews

Prodigal Son: Collection

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

 

 

This is one of those cases where I can't understand why people are putting down this CD. It's not the type of CD that everyone will love, but it seems to me that Sonny Landreth fans would love to hear his great guitar playing, so I don't see what they are objecting to in this case. This is great playing from the start of the disc to the end. It has country influences at times, but in a Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, Dickey Betts, J.J. Cale, kind of way. Most serious guitar players see right through style in nothing flat anyway, so it doesn't really matter if it's rock, country, blues, jazz, or bluegrass. Some of these songs would sound right in place on an Allman Brothers album. Many of the actual licks could fit onto the Layla album. I'm not going to claim that this is a five star classic, but Sonny was 22 when he cut most of these songs and he laid them down in a day. Only a handful of people around could have done better at that age, and those people are all great, so give Sonny a break and give him more credit.

Sonny Landreth is wonderful. He's done some fine solo stuff and great work with John Hiatt. But this CD contains nferior cuts from earlier in his career. Buy it after you become a big fan of his and have everything else. But get his other stuff first.

This is recent roots music...not straight blues or country, but somewhere in between. Something akin to the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd, with a little more blues and slide thrown in. The key is that you can see Sonny's evolution as a player. This album is for Sonny what 'In The Beginning' was for Stevie Ray Vaughan, an excellent record of where he started and what led him to where he is today. The music is all great, there is some beautiful slide, some solid jammin'. Heartily recommended for anyone who likes to see the wider view of an artist, and appreciates a look into his roots.

Only a handful of people around could have done better at that age, and those people are all great, so I give Sonny a break and give him more credit. But this is still inferior to his later work.

I have heard a number of Sonny Landreth songs that were definitely more blues oriented and very decent songs, so I bought this cd expecting a lot. I was really disappointed with this collection of his earlier works. It is about as close to blues as N'Sync is to rock. It is almost pure country and as someone who really despises country music, I very much disliked it, even after giving it three or four spins in the player. However, I gave it two stars because I think that someone who does like country music and a bit of the blues might also like this disk.

I just didn't feel that this was a very strong collection. It has its moments but it never really got me.