Sloe Gin

Joe Bonamassa | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Premier Artists
• ASIN: B000SO7IX0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,302 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the liner notes of Sloe Gin, emerging guitar great Joe Bonamassa explains that one of his objectives is to experiment with acoustic elements he first encountered while listening to Rod Stewart's earliest work. "I think the heavy blues and acoustic mix well together," he writes, and the inviting variety of the disc's 11 tracks--from the rousing electric rave-up of the title track to the closing, tabla-propelled acoustic instrumental--persuasively underscores his point. Bonamassa is a major talent with a growing following, and as his fan base inevitably expands it may become difficult for him to keep everyone happy. Hardcore blues devotees no doubt will yearn for Bonamassa to stay perpetually plugged in, but in the long term that would be a disservice to his broad range of skills. Bonamassa rocks formidably and convincingly on "Dirt in My Pocket" (a bristling original composition), the title track (well suited for air guitar), and his Claptonesque rendering of John Mayall's "Another Kind of Love." Yet his softer works suggest that he sounds a little more comfortable and natural--vocally, at least--on the acoustic tracks. His retooled version of "Around the Bend" (his first take on this original composition is found on an earlier release) is an engaging, pastoral gem, and his paean to his upstate New York home ("Richmond") is perhaps this disc's most memorable selection. Bonamassa knows the blues (at the time of this release, he was the youngest member on the board of the Blues Foundation), but he also knows how to rock and how to sagaciously, artfully ease off the gas. --Terry Wood

Product Description

Voted by Guitar Player readers as 2007's Best Blues Guitarist, blues-rock guitar virtuoso, vocalist, and songwriter JOE BONAMASSA is set to release his seventh solo album, SLOE GIN, on August 21, 2007. Bonamassa's fourth release, the disc re-teams him with producer Kevin Shirley (Joe Satriani, Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Leppelin), who produced 2006's YOU & ME, which debuted at #1 on Billboard's Blues Chart in June of last year.

SLOE GIN effortlessly ranges through heavy blues and acoustic numbers alike, a textured flow that Bonamassa says was in part inspired by Rod Stewart's legendary 1969 debut solo LP. In the liner notes, Joe adds, "I sequenced the album as a throwback to the side A/side B set-up of vinyl records...listening to an album as a whole is a lost pastime. i wanted to bring that experience back around.

Renowned for this fluid phrasing and post-modern fusion of traditional roots blues with rock and roll guts, Bonamassa began playing guitar at age four, and toured with blues icon B.B. King when he was twelve. Recently, Joe was named Best Blues Guitarist in Guitar Magazine's 2007 Reader's Choice Awards. He is also the youngest member of the Memphis, TN-based Blues Foundation's Board of Directors, and a spokesperson for their respected Blues in the Schools Program.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where's the excitement?, September 3, 2007

By 

db (Salem, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sloe Gin (Audio CD)

If you've heard about Joe Bonamassa and are wondering what all of the excitement is about, this is probably not the best place to start. This seems to be the fist release in Joe's catalog to create dissent amongst his fan base. It's not bad. It's just not great.

Joe is one of the most passionate an inspired artists to come along in years. He is a true gem for fans of blues rock. A unique and powerful vocalist with an astonishing command of his guitar. Anyone who has seen him live can attest, his explosive musicianship is jaw-dropping. As a performer Joe is humble, passionate, uncompromising, unapologetic and sincere. On his worst night he will stop you dead in your tracks and command your attention. At his best he's downright hypnotizing.

This CD doesn't come close to capturing that experience. It IS very well crafted. The performances are soulful and nuanced. The production values are impeccable. There are some nice moments. It's also rather boring, calculated, self-conscious and restrained. This is Joe's second collaboration with producer Kevin Shirley. Many of his fans are hoping it's his last. Though they wouldn't dare speak of it on the official fan forum. Just look at some of the defensive comments posted here on amazon to get an idea of the zealotry.

After hearing all of Joe's previous releases for the first time I simply couldn't wait to hear them again. I've forced myself to listen to Sloe Gin many times in an effort to identify what's missing. What's missing is the excitement of Joe as a performer. The excitement that earned him his reputation and grass-roots, word-of-mouth fan base. I hope and expect this is just a transition. And I can't wait to see him again live. I know it will be better than this disc.

If you are just getting started with Joe try Blues Deluxe, Had to Cry Today or any of his live releases (DVDs). As for Sloe Gin?... The best I can say is that it doesn't suck.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Bonamassa experiment, February 23, 2009

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sloe Gin (Audio CD)

How's that for a neutral title?
I almost didn't write this review, because Mr "db" from Salem has already written most of what I was thinking. Read his review if you haven't already.
And another reviewer made a pun on the word "Sloe" in the title, meaning that this music is "slow", so that one's been taken as well. Guess I'll have to see what I can come up with, then.

As noted in the editorial review, Joe Bonamassa makes a reference to Rod Stewart's late-60s folk-rock records, saying that "heavy blues and acoustics mix well together". And...well, now don't go thinking that he is in any way emulating Rod the Mod here, 'cause this is a whole different animal. But he is right, you know, blues and rock do mix well with acoustic elements if you know how to combine them right.

The trouble is that no matter how meticulously thought-out your arrangements are, it won't get you very far if the songs don't hold up. And to me, the songs on "Slow Gin" don't hold up. Far from it, in fact. Sure, there are a few good songs here, and none of them are actually bad, in fact. But none of them are really terrific either; they get bogged down in these oh-so-meticulously constructed part electric, part acoustic arrangements, lacking groove, lacking hooks, lacking character, lacking that special something that Bonamassa's best songs used to have.

I'm sorry, Joe, I think you're great, and your playing is exquisite, but this album is just plain boring. It's as though Joe Bonamassa and producer Kevin Shirley got so caught up in the idea of making this half-acoustic-half-electric record that they forgot about the songs. Sometimes when you get an idea that you really, really like, you know, you'll apply it to absolutely everything, and that seems to be what Joe Bonamassa did here, applying his new semi-acoustic formula to this album and sorta forgetting about the songs themselves. I didn't want to give less than three stars, because then people would have just though that I had some personal grudge against Mr Bonamassa and not bothered to read a word of this, but it's really only two and a half at most.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like 70's rock and blues, buy this, January 27, 2008

By 

movie_hound (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sloe Gin (Audio CD)

Joe Bonamasso has mastered the guitar like few blues and rock players have. His sound has tastes of Led Zepplin, Bad Company and many other great 70's bands. But more than that he has surpassed the style and built his own.
His music talks to the heart because that's where he's playing from.
If you like Allman Bros, or southern Rock and blues in general, then this is highly recommended.