Customer Reviews

Walkin in the Shadows of Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the Neville Brothers album I've been waiting for. A Neville family album really with contributions from several of the children of the Brothers including Aaron's son Ivan who was a co-producer. The care in recording is obvious and the writing and playing is of the highest order. The maturity of the writing along with it's potent social commentary reminds me in a very favorable way of "What's Going On." I know, that's pretty strong talk but give a listen to the title cut or "Junkie Child" or any number of the other songs and I think you'll see what I mean. A version of "Ball of Confusion" with a sprinkling of updated references reveals it to be a relevant observation still. This cut also has a nice contribution from Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews on trumpet.

This is an album of heart with a strong social conscience. An appreciation of life and family, and a celebration of survival and life's lessons well learned. But beyond all that, this is an album of New Orleans' funk at it's finest. A studio album that manages to capture and maintain the edginess of a live performance. This is the real stuff.

I was drawn to this CD by the radio play of "Ball of Confusion", and what a wonderful find it has turned out to be.

The Nevilles are immensely talented musicians who can play any style of music: funk, blues, R&B, jazz, reggae, hip-hop... sometimes all in the same song!

This CD mixes old and new tunes of various styles, and is one of those CDs you can listen to from beginning to end. There are no "throw away" tunes here. Additional highlights are the funky "Carry The Torch" and "Can't Stop the Funk", the smooth R&B of "Junkie Child" and "Kingdom Come", and the haunting ballad "Brothers".

And catch their live show too, you will come away with a smile on your face and hope for this depressing world!

Seems like there's been a lot more socially conscious music out there lately. We're experiencing somewhat of a folk revival. It's no surprise the Neville's speak their mind. It's happened before.

"Ball of Confusion" is a great example of the 'Deja-vu-all-over-again.' Despite our advances, we're still caught in the same traps as we were before.

"Can't Stop the Funk" talks about the evolution of what some call R&B, others hip-hop. They're right--the funk's still going strong.

The great thing is all but one of these songs was written by the Neville family. This CD is truly a 'family affair' and expresses a lot of their values and feelings.

Give the album a listen---good solid musicianship with a good solid message.

I saw them a few weeks ago in Tahoe, I have to say, this album is hot, but hearing them perform live, unreal. To experience musicians now, who sound better in person than on the cd, are few and far between. Great cd, songs with heart and originality. Love it.

Bought this with no preview at all, I figured a newer Nevilles has to be fine, right? Wrong. I gave this two stars instead of one because I have loved the Nevilles for 30 years and danced to them at Tipitinas after the big parade at Mardi Gras in '78, so out of respect I have to give it a two. This album does not SOUND like the Nevilles, despite their signature Nawlins funk tunes and vocals. Their sound has beed hijacked by producer Milton Davis and replaced with extremely harsh and synthetic sounds that are impossibly grating to the ear. Even a nice organic pop of the snare drum is nowhere to be found, because the drums have been processed to sound like a tinny drum machine. Maybe I just don't get it and they wanted to be edgy on this album but - song after song - there's NOTHING that reminds me of the Nevilles I love, not until track 12 (Brothers). Harsh intruding synthesizers, trebly artificial percussion... no fun. I'm selling mine on eBay, not bothering to rip the tracks.

Get Valence Street if you want a fantastic recent Nevilles album (track 1 "Over Africa" is simply amazing), and you must own Brother's Keeper and my #1 favorite recording overall, Yellow Moon. Heck, I can't think of a single Nevilles album that I don't love - except this one. God bless the Nevilles....

I just heard the cut, "Junkie Child" on the radio station WWOZ. (For those out of town, you can listen to great New Orleans Jazz @ www.wwoz.org) This song has a very nice twist with a local rapper turned big, BG. Also features Trombone Shorty who is absolutely incredible in person. The Neville Brothers will be touring all over the world coming up very soon. New Orleans is an incredible place. If you like this band, try Rebirth Brass Band, or Kermit Ruffins.

A very strong work from an amazingly talented family that crosses a wide range of music while bringing it all back to New Orleans. And with a social conscience lacking since the neo-con, 'greed is good' swing to the right.

what is this album?
is it Neville Brothers?
is it a try of a music fusion?
is it a try to show the variety af Neville's possibilities?
it's definitely not like Neville's albums before.
Some songs are great (Ball of confusion) others are strange.
Keep your mind open and try to find your own valuation.

May be it leads younger people to the Neville's - that's good!

The Neville brothers together and individually have been making music in New Orleans and around the world for nearly 50 years. Their better known incarnations include The Meters which had only two of the brothers, The Wild Tchoupitoulas which was a brief single LP with all four of them, and under their own name probably best known for the hit "Fiyo on the Bayou" or "Hey Pocky-a-Way".

This new record represents a true culmanation of the talent of the Nevilles - not just the four brothers but several offspring that join in to help imploy some modern recording techniques and greatly improve the end result. The songs are strong, personal and socially aware. They are varied yet very cohesive - pure New Orleans R&B / Funk.

I hope the Grammy people don't get too consumed with the current trend to synthetic grooves, and still have time to appreciate and honor some of the masters of the organic traditions.