The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

Had a listen to this today whilst I was pottering about and tidying up the garden.

I agree that it's more of a blues/soul/jazz crossover. I think my biggest problem with the album is that it seems to do all three but doesn't quite hit any of the sweet spots. It's not a bad album but I feel he needed to concentrate on the areas he wanted to do rather than casting a wide net if you get me. He's got a decent voice and maybe if he picked 2 from the blues/soul/jazz categories it would make the album more consistent.

My view of it was that it was very polished and he's clearly a very talented musician. I'd be tempted to explore him a bit more if there was a more blues-y album. I preferred the stripped back 'raw-er' sound of "I Wonder" to the other tracks for example.

I'll go for a 6 on this.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Had a listen to this today whilst I was pottering about and tidying up the garden.

I agree that it's more of a blues/soul/jazz crossover. I think my biggest problem with the album is that it seems to do all three but doesn't quite hit any of the sweet spots. It's not a bad album but I feel he needed to concentrate on the areas he wanted to do rather than casting a wide net if you get me. He's got a decent voice and maybe if he picked 2 from the blues/soul/jazz categories it would make the album more consistent.

My view of it was that it was very polished and he's clearly a very talented musician. I'd be tempted to explore him a bit more if there was a more blues-y album. I preferred the stripped back 'raw-er' sound of "I Wonder" to the other tracks for example.

I'll go for a 6 on this.
Click to expand...

Try Bad Influence his first album and Time Will Tell the one Bigga mentioned both of which might be more to your liking.

(Edit: Bad Influence technically his 2nd but his first you can't get and a variant of it ended up being reissued as his 4th or something like that! )
 
Last edited:
BlueHammer85 said:
Definitely felt this one got some harsh reviews on here
Click to expand...
I've always loved him as a writer, but when Linda Ronstandt is choosing to cover a tune of yours, and you sound like Jackson Browne (and employed Jackson Browne), and the country-inflection meshed with L.A.-influenced mid-70s solipsism sounds suspiciously like the dreaded Eagles every once in awhile, the music isn't going to rise to the top of my list. I already said I find Excitable Boy a much funnier, fresher, rocking-er listen (and not just the hits!), and so did a few other folks here, and that his later 80s stuff is underrated. This is a pretty decent record, no doubt, and the seeds are well and truly planted, but I'm glad he evolved from it personally -- especially musically.
 
Really enjoyed the first 4 or 5 tracks Smoking gun a great opening then I found it very samey.As I do with most Blues music.
Might be the production being very polished and again I found the guitar and horn sections as the album progressed similar.
Would like to hear a live album to find out if my opinion would change sound wise
Daughter got married last Friday so struggled for time to listen to this pick. 6/10
 
bennyboy said:
Really enjoyed the first 4 or 5 tracks Smoking gun a great opening then I found it very samey.As I do with most Blues music.
Might be the production being very polished and again I found the guitar and horn sections as the album progressed similar.
Would like to hear a live album to find out if my opinion would change sound wise
Daughter got married last Friday so struggled for time to listen to this pick. 6/10
Click to expand...
You could at least have played it as a 'first dance'.
 
Robert Cray... just a very pleasant listen. Smoother than a Sean Connery as Bond pick-up line.

Especially like the "title track" but a consistent set, with no great highs or any lows so a solid 7/10.

Don't own it but may well purchase at some point if price is right.
 
bennyboy said:
No chance Stevie Wonder Sunshine of my life.
Click to expand...

Nice choice. I went to a wedding a few years ago where the groom was a musician and when the bride and groom left the church some of his session buddies and some gospel singers played them out with 'As' by Stevie Wonder which has really great words for a wedding. The Kind of stuff people stick on youtube these days but a bit classier!
 
Strong Persuader – Robert Cray

There’s one thing that shines through above all other aspects of this album, and that is that Robert Cray is a very good guitarist.

The playing here is superb throughout and at some times, it’s sublime. Where many people might measure the skill of a guitar player by how fast they move along the fretboard, sometimes you just want to feel the notes and that is certainly the case here.

Whilst I’ve never listened to a Robert Cray album, I recognised “Smoking Gun” within the first few notes. An excellent song and that’ll be on a few of my playlists this year.

The riff that drives “Nothin’ But A Woman” seems very close to CCR’s “Born on the Bayou” (one of my all-time favourite 20 songs), but if you are going to steal something, make sure you steal from the best and this is another excellent performance with some tasteful horns.

“Foul Play” is another highlight – an engaging narrative that brings it back to the title each time and another nice piece of guitar. I also loved the guitar parts on “New Blood”.

There are a few times where things do sound a bit smooth and it strays into soul-lite territory, but most of the time a well-placed lick or solo pulls it back to the blues. The sound is never cluttered like some other 80s albums, and the production is top notch. In fact, it sounds so good that it could have been recorded yesterday.

One little personal niggle, which is nothing to do with the performances, is that Cray only wrote or co-wrote half the album. Predominantly, I like to hear the artist’s songs, so five out of ten leaves me feeling a bit short-changed in that department.

It’s worth pointing out that this is the second black blues artist in a few weeks that @threespires has introduced/re-introduced me to: I’ve been listening to Living Colour and really enjoying two great albums that I missed (although I knew the singles). After this week, I think I’ll be giving Robert Cray a better listen.

When I presented Chris Whitley’s Living With The Law a few weeks ago, I made the comment that it wasn’t strictly the blues, but I love it because it gives me something different. Whilst Strong Persuader is most definitely the blues, the fact that it has a few subtle 80s production touches and strays into soul helps it achieve a similar effect: it’s not just a guy with a guitar singing “Well I woke up this morning”. He is kind of just singing that, but it's nicely presented and makes for an engaging listen.

All things considered, this album has persuaded me to score it a strong 8/10.
 
Huey Lewis meets Hot Choclate!

Good upbeat vibe, Cray has a good soulful voice and love his guitar sound, especially the solos

‘Smoking Gun’ is hard to top, such a great track.
Plenty of other good songs ‘I guess I showed her’ ‘I wonder’ and ‘Foul Play’ the other standouts but it’s consistent all the way through.

Tight musicianship for sure ,perhaps a little too polished and ‘80’s’ at times, lyrically light. think I prefer to have Blues with more rock/grit

Still, Enjoyed this one

7/10
 
Last edited:
Have always liked Robert Cray, mainly because of his work with EC. In fact, last time I saw EC at the RAH, Cray outplayed him and the lazy B (Clapton) let him play a great deal of stuff that should have been his. Anyhow, I hadnt heard his album before but it was like shaking hands with an old friend. A strong 6/10.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Huey Lewis meets Hot Choclate!
Click to expand...

Made me laugh. Never heard him described as that before but I get where you're coming from!

As I said in my write up this album is probably his least bluesy album. Maybe worth trying some of his live stuff which does sound more typically blues.

My alt pick for this round was Sweet Tea by Buddy Guy which despite being the same 'genre' couldn't sound more different.
 
I'm not a fan of the blues and despite the rider that it wasn't really bluesy blues, more a bit of this and a bit of that (I'm paraphrasing) I wasn't expecting to like it. I'd already given it a listen or two before posters with much more knowledge of Robert Cray, who I had never heard of, marked it with reference to some of his "better" work, or possibly his more bluesy work.

Anyway, without getting blown away I did enjoy this, quite a lot. It still sits in a bit of a strange territory of not being my usual thing but there was a cleanness to the sound and although when I'm writing this I struggle to think of any songs that stick in my head I know that when I had it on in the car I was checking out titles to remember thinking "I like this one","this is a good one" etc.

I can get that people who know him better might think there's a laziness or even a triteness to the lyrics but I've heard much worse and the music was consistently listenable. I think it's quite likely that if I listened to some of his other stuff I still wouldn't like it and I did Spotify his top tracks and was surprised to see another artist whose name escapes me thrown in there, obviously a collaboration of some sort. And not one I liked.

I've gien 6s to the previous couple of picks to albums that I thought were pretty workaday. This also might be a bit workaday in the context of the rest of the artists output but it is a step above other recent picks. It might not have set a fire under me but it does get a well earned 7
 
Good to listen to this one again,it reminded me why I bought the album on the strength of the single. I‘m not a blues fan as such so liked the mix of genres.As others have said great guitar playing and nice soulful voice,however although there’s some really good songs on here it did start to sound a bit samey.
I’ve got a couple of his other albums including ‘Bad Influence’ so i might give that a listen again.

a strong 6 but if we can now do halves 6.5
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top