Customer Reviews

Turn the Heat Up

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Imagine my surprise last summer in attending a free bluesfest in Denver and being confronted for the first time by the powerful voice of the teenage Ms. Copeland, who would have ripped the roof off the place, except it was an outdoor concert. "Turn the Heat Up" doesn't quite capture the power of her live show, but it gets pretty close.

Her live show started with "Big Lovin' Woman," which I was happy to see on the CD. It's a big, brassy song with a huge sound: Shemekia relies on an amped-up, electrified blues attack, but not because she's trying to cover up a thin voice. Not by a long shot. In fact, she could probably carry an album on her voice alone. The good news is that in song after song (try "Your Mama's Talkin'" if you have trouble getting started some morning) the album has both: a blockbuster band that has to cook to keep up with its leader.

The album holds up for 14 songs, but for me the set revolves around her rendition of her father Johnny Copeland's moving "Ghetto Child," a neglected classic. It's the kind of slow blues/soul shout that doesn't allow a singer to hide: either the chops are there to bring it off or they're not. Shemekia steps up to the plate and delivers one of the best vocal blues performances I've heard in a long time, doing homage to the music and to her father. When she sings, "This is the part that moves me so much," you believe her.

This is the kind of contribution that is going to keep the blues alive. Hats off to Shemekia and her band. She's young, gifted and we want to hear a lot more from her.

Only five stars don't represented what this great girl gave to the blues scenery with this masterpiece debut album.We needed much stars! Shemekia honored the bluesblood of your Dad Johnny Copeland,with this amazing album ,plus guests of Joe Louis Walker,and the excellent Michael Hill,with great performances in this cd,that i really recommend to bluesfans as one of essentials we must have,and hear loud times and times! We expected to see a performance of Shemekia at Brazilian stages.At track 12,"My kind of guy" she said that could "took a plane and enjoy a trip to Brazil"!We are waiting this visit,as a promise to all of brazilian fans! To the blues,you're not a promise but really the new "Diva" that we was waiting for!!! We are waiting you at BRAZIL,as soon as you can!

Not a blues record per se, Johnny "Clyde" Copeland's daughter's debut album is a tough 63 minutes of blues, blues-rock, R&B and swaggering soul stompers. Shemekia Copeland has a terrific voice for this kind of music, strong and versatile, and she is backed by a fine combo which includes keyboardist Brian Mitchell (piano and organ) and top-notch guitarist Jimmy Vivino.

"Turn The Heat Up" is a wonderfully accessible album; it draws from classic soul and blues but presents its material with a rock n' roll-like edge, and Shemekia Copeland delivers it in a delightfully bluesy no-frills fashion.
The Uptown Horns appear on a few songs, lending additional juice and texture to the already muscular title track, and everybody with a taste for soul and R&B should be able to find something to groove on here.

A couple of songs are a bit too long for their own good, and "Turn The Heat Up" is ultimately too predictable to be truly magnificent...you can't help but feel you've heard this music before. But it is a really, really solid debut album, and the most impressive thing about it is perhaps the consistently high quality of the material assembled here. There is not a single real clunker here, and that's a rare feat by any artist.

It took me a while to really appreciate this album; at first I thought it formulaic and repetitive, but it started to get to me around the third or fourth listen. Shemekia Copeland has plenty of talent, the songs she sings are very well-chosen, and she is fortunate enough to be working with a really great band.
The many highlights include the aforementioned title track, the soulful slow numbers "Married To The Blues", "Ghetto Child" and "Salt In My Wounds", the swinging R&B of "Suspicion" and "Big Lovin' Woman", and the grinding blues "Has Anybody Seen My Man". But everything is worth a listen, really, even if everything isn't equally memorable. Guitarist Vivino plays some terrific liquid guitar fills, and Brian Mitchell's piano playing is never less than excellent. The seven-minute slow blues "It Don't Hurt No More" could have easily overstayed its welcome, but it doesn't, thanks mainly to Shemekia's vocal prowess and Mitchell's piano. This is a really good album.

I want to applaud young blues performers who are the next generation of blues, because they are sustaining the spirit of the blues. Shemekia,the daughter of the late Johnny Copeland , has good reason to do so and she does in a powerful way. When she turns the heat up you know its hot. Shemekia is a talented vocalist who sings with pain and power beyond her years. She expresses a gutsy independence in her duet with Joe Louis Walker "My Turn Baby." She sings "Your Mama's Talking" like a tough old lady.

Her second cd "Wicked" is out now and while I don't own it, the cuts I have heard are good. I know that we will be hearing more from her. If you like Etta James and Koko Taylor take a listen to Shemekia. It will be exciting to listen to her as she carves her niche in the blues.

Many, if not most of the reviews for this cd should be ignored because the reviewer is commenting only on the concert, not the cd. Please people, wake up! Of course the live show was better - more than any other genre of music, blues needs to be heard live and the studio recordings usually pale in comparison. Let's rate what people are buying, not some personal listening experience that may not correspond to the actual tracks on the album.

This is a decent, even good cd, but still clearly sounds like an album from a young singer. She can belt it out, but not with the real depth of one of the female greats. Many have compared her voice to Etta James, but I don't think that comparison is particularly apt. She probably does sound a bit like Aretha, but just a bit thinner in parts. While blues is undergoing a revival due in some significant part to the growth of the "young guns" such as Shephard, Lang, Curfman, Tedeschi and Copeland, too many people are heaping unearned attributes and success upon these green upstarts and ignoring the older, more seasoned performers who not only inspired the youngsters, but still produce much better music. Let's rate music on its absolute quality, not just on its quality relative to the age of the musician.

If you like the singing of Ms. Copeland, get something, anything, by either Koko Taylor or Katie Webster. These two blues greats are who Shemekia is trying to emulate. Or for something a little grittier and more saucy, get one of Saffire's cd's. Shemekia does a respectable job here, but, as with fishing, if you find something that isn't full grown, toss it back in the river and catch it again in a few years when it has had a chance to mature.

If you love blues, you must hear this! Only caveat is that some of your former favorites won't sound as good after you get a dose of this lady's power and emotion. Amazing for an artist of any age, but miraculous that an 18-year old wrote some of these powerful, moving, rocking songs.

Shemekia can belt them out with the best of them. I first got "Wicked" and knew she was a young singer with a voice that had the power of the older more experienced female blues singers. When I got Turn the Heat Up, her earlier Cd, I was impressed with her vocal range, her gospel feel, R&B , all around blues. Shemekia is going to be a force on the blues scene so take notice! Congratulations on your Handy awards, we will be hearing more and more of you Shemekia! I would give this a 4 1/2 star rating if there was one. Her potential is still climbing, there is great stuff to come.

Very fun CD. Ms. Copeland sure has a set of pipes. I checked out this CD while deciding if I should get tickets to a show of hers at The Ark (fabulous place to hear music in Ann Arbor). This CD had me convinced at Hello. Not only did I get tickets, I took 3 people & we all had a blast. This is great feel good music.

After listening to this CD you'll be seeing stars. This woman bounces in a big way. Generally speaking I find most CD's offer four or five stellar tracks but this one delivers on every track. There's definite fire here and Shemekia is turning up the heat. I'm boiling over.

i had the glorious fortuneto see this lady in concertat mississippi valley bluesfest this year and when isay standup ,that is justwhat she did to me, mademe stand up and roar.standing in front of thecrowd, no mike, just thathuge voice belting outGhettoChild gave me bigshivers. SASSY on the stagewith I Always Get My Man,you can feel the pain ofSalt In My Wounds. This isabeautiful princess whowill beget the crown ofqueen of the blues oneday!