This Is Ryan Shaw

Ryan Shaw | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Razor & Tie
• ASIN: B000V9KE06
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,071 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Just when you thought the 21st century retro-R&B revolution was grinding to a sunken-hearted halt, Ryan Shaw comes along and revives the revivalist moment: This Is Ryan Shaw, the 26-year-old's phenomenal debut, dazzles not just because he can sing a song like Bobby Womack's "Lookin' for a Love" without letting the rear-view mirror leach him of his own soul, but because his originals--first single "Nobody," "We Got Love," and set closer "Over and Done"--convincingly replicate the classic sound of such forebears as Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Wilson Pickett. Here's a man who can plead, please, and play out love-struck dramas with his voice as though the '60s never ended; if his sound borrows heavily, it pays back what it owes with genuine contributions to the genre. Shaw's is real R&B without the raunch--a return to uplift too self-respecting and sincere to land on the retread pile. --Tammy La Gorce

Product Description

Ryan Shaw is a man with a mission. This 26-year-old singer/songwriter from Decatur, Georgia is out to revive the passion and soul of the Golden Age of Rhythm & Blues (1960-1972) for a new generation. His album, This Is Ryan Shaw, combines a powerfully expressive voice with a clutch of great songs both classic and new--and a state-of-the-art, in-your-face sound that makes it impossible to sit still. Working with player/producers Jimmy Bralower and Johnny Gale, Ryan dug deep into the "soul mine" for overlooked gems by obscure artists like the Combo Kings and the Sharpees along with more familiar songs made famous by Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, and Bobby Womack. Ryan's original tunes--"Nobody", "We Got Love," and "Over and Done" --are most definitely of the moment but built on the old-school values of strong melodies and meaningful lyrics.

Ryan delivers every song with the kind of emotional commitment and vocal panache that have nearly vanished from the mainstream musical landscape. Compositional craft and studio technology blend in an album of irresistible appeal from the opening dance blast of "Do the 45" to the heart-wrenching ballad "I Am Your Man" and "Over and Done," the upbeat Ryan Shaw original that closes the set on a joyful, triumphant note.

On stage, Ryan brings it all together with a combination of Southern warmth and New York vitality. Using just a small rhythm section and two male backing vocalists, he's able to effectively reproduce the sound of his album while stretching some tunes into full-on vocal rave-ups. Ryan's thrilling voice and charismatic presence are all that he needs to get over with an audience. There's no posturing or mindless booty-shaking, no need for contrived antics: Ryan Shaw is the real deal.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The hottest thing on my iPod --- and a total throwback, February 12, 2008

By 

Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Is Ryan Shaw (Audio CD)

I miss Otis Redding. I miss Wilson Pickett. I miss Sam Cooke. I miss Jackie Wilson and Bobby Womack and Marvin Gaye and the music Stevie Wonder made in the `70s.

And it's not because I'm old.

It's because these guys were gods.

They made music that stopped the room. Unforgettable melodies. Lyrics that got down to the nitty-gritty of love. And voices that broke --- or healed --- your heart.

I ask you: When was the last time you felt anything like that?

Well, now you can.

Ryan Shaw was born in Georgia in 1980. His family was Pentecostal; the church rocked with gospel, and he was in the choir that induced the Spirit. After college, he performed in black musicals, then joined a group that recycled the early days of Motown. He saw the power of mixing gospel with rock and soul, he got discovered, and here he is --- the hottest thing on my iPod and a total throwback.

I'm not kidding. Here's late `50s R&B dance music. And here's a channeling of Stevie Wonder in his prime. And here's a Bobby Womack song ("Lookin' for a Love") that you know because J. Geils knocked it off.

On and on it goes. Nothing sounds new --- even the new songs. And none of it has cheap production gimmicks to freshen it up. The entire CD is just a crisp band and a singer who only knows one trick: to sing each song as if it's his last.

"So many people are searching for something that's true, something that's real," Ryan Shaw says. He's talking about much bigger things, of course. But he could very well be describing the longing for the kind of old-fashioned CD that is his soul-satisfying, five-star debut.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have., January 19, 2009

By 

Henrique Peirano (Brasilia, Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is Ryan Shaw (Audio CD)

These days it's common to see singers do cover albums of Soul and R&B classics. They usually do a pretty good job, like Seal just did on his "Soul" album, or Human Nature on their 3 Motown tribute albums. But every now and then, comes along somebody who was born to sing soul and R&B music. Ryan Shaw really impressed me with his vocals and his adequacy to this kind of music. This is not entirely a cover album, but better yet, an album that offers new songs with that classic soul flavor. Definately, a must have!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Homegrown Soul, June 30, 2008

By 

Glenn Nippert "musicologist" (Alpharetta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is Ryan Shaw (Audio CD)

O.k, so everyone is going to label this retro soul and they would be right. Like Amy Winehouse(and me and you), this young cat is obsessed with the classic soul sound of the mid sixties to early seventies and he has beautifully and accurately recreated it here but unlike Miss Winehouse, who is somehow current as well as retro, Mr. Shaw is kind of stuck in a time warp. This is not really a negative, it's just a truthful observation. He recreates an era the way say The Stray Cats recreated rockabilly but didn't really add anything to it but their music was no less enjoyable as a result. Does Ryan's version of I Found A Love top Wilson Pickett's? Not really, but it's still beautiful to listen to.Between Bobby Womack and J. Geils, I've heard Lookin' For A Love a 1,000 times at least, but Ryan's version is so fresh and energetic(as is the whole album) and I can't stop playing it. His original songs sound like classic soul songs and are excellent. I'm not sure why real soul music died in the first place, but artists like this do my heart good by showing me there is hope that real singing and passion just might make a comeback. I mean how did we ever go from Respect and Mr. Big Stuff and slow dancing to Dark End Of The Street and Slip Away to I'm Gonna Kill You And Skeet on Your face? People, please embrace this album and the positivity and true talent that it represents. In the name of James Brown and all things holy, embrace this man's talent and commitment to the music that we need to heal us as a people.