1 	Ain't No Fun (When The Rabbit Got The Gun) 	3:08
2 	The Wine Talkin' 	3:50
3 	Take Anything I Can 	3:55
4 	Smoked Jowl Blues 	4:30
5 	Back Off 	3:02
6 	I'm The Man Down There 	3:19
7 	Poison In My Whiskey 	4:44
8 	Joe, You Ain't From Chicago 	3:32
9 	Bluesman Next Door 	4:44
10 	Hunchin' On My Baby 	2:53
11 	Jon Burge Blues 	4:37
12 	Sugar Daddy 	5:44
13 	The Wrong Number 	2:49

Double Bass [Upright Bass], Electric Bass, Percussion – John W. Lauler
Drums – Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith (tracks: 2 to 10, 12, 13)
Featuring [With], Drums – Derek Hendrickson
Featuring [With], Lead Guitar – Xavier Lynn (tracks: 9, 11)
Featuring [With], Piano, Electric Piano, Organ – Queen Lee Kanehira
Featuring [With], Rhythm Guitar – Little Frank Krakowski (tracks: 1 to 8, 10, 12, 13)
Guest [Special Guest] – Alex Hall (tracks: 8, 11)
Guest [Special Guest], Vocals – Shemekia Copeland (tracks: 2)
Harmonica, Percussion – Joe Nosek
Lead Guitar – Billy Flynn (tracks: 1 to 8, 10 to 13)
Vocals – "Low Rollin' Joe" Nosek (tracks: 5, 8, 10), Oscar Wilson (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 9, 11 to 13) 

This album is dedicated to all the great bluesmen who have passed since our last recording, especially Otis Rush, Lazy Lester, Jody Williams, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Eddy Clearwater, Eddie C. Campbell, Eddie Taylor Jr., and Mike Ledbetter.

It is also dedicated to our friend and devotet blues fan, Jery Koopman. R.I.P. ---In booklet, discogs.com

It's hard not to see the title of Hail to the Kings! as the Cash Box Kings celebrating themselves, but this 2019 album -- the group's second for Alligator -- makes it plain that the quintet can occasionally plant their tongues firmly in cheek. Case in point: "Joe, You Ain't from Chicago," where the group's twin leaders vocalist Oscar Wilson and harmonicist Joe Nosek do their best Bo Diddley and Jerome Green routine, trading barbs all intended to show how Nosek is truly a native of Madison, Wisconsin, not the Windy City. It's funny and it's smart, revealing that all of the Cash Box Kings are not only in on the joke, but that their hearts belong to Chicago. Certainly, Hail to the Kings! is an enthusiastic celebration of Chicago blues in all of its electric forms. Wilson gets to duet with Shemekia Copeland on the bawdy "The Wine Talkin'," the group revives Jimmy Reed's "I'm the Man Down There," they descend into a slow groove on "Sugar Daddy," and offer several hyper-charged shuffles. The interplay is elastic and gritty, as is the sound of the record; maybe the surface is crystal clear, but the levels are still happily pushed into the red. All this means Hail to the Kings! is a rollicking good time, but what gives the album resonance is how the Cash Box Kings don't merely pay homage to the past, they bring tradition into the present. Throughout the album, Wilson casually sings about elements of the modern world -- he doesn't call "The Wrong Number," he texts it -- which helps set up the gut-punch of "Jon Burge Blues," an angry protest number about the late Chicago Police Department commander who regularly framed and tortured black prisoners. "Jon Burge Blues" is the only explicitly political number on Hail to the Kings! but it is so powerful it echoes throughout the rest of the album, making the Cash Box Kings case that the blues can still speak forcefully and directly about contemporary life. ---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex mediafire ulozto gett bayfiles

back

01. Blues Falling Down On Me — 3:48
02. Black Toppin — 3:47
03. Trying Really Hard (To Try And Get Along With You) — 3:01
04. Oscar S Jump — 2:32
05. Money, Marbles & Chalk — 3:36
06. My Tinai — 4:06
07. Too Late — 3:27
08. Walking Blues — 5:07
09. I Don T Wanna Fight — 3:37
10. Tom Cat Blues — 3:30
11. Hot Biscuit Baby — 3:34
12. Gimme Some Of That — 3:10
13. Run Run Run — 3:42

Barrelhouse Chuck - Organ, Piano
Jerry DeVivo - Saxophone
Billy Flynn - Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Mark Haines - Drums
Alex Hall - Drums
Gerry Hundt - Bass (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals (Background)
Joe Nosek - Harmonica, Vocals
Joel Paterson - Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Beau Sample - Bass (Electric), Bass (Upright)
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith - Drums
Oscar Wilson – Vocals

It’s 2013, and most of the blues and R&B performers who once recorded for labels like Vee-Jay, Specialty, Chess, Aladdin, Duke and Peacock have departed for hopefully happier shores. However, the music that once emanated from these vintage labels – by Larry Williams, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Gatemouth Brown, Memphis Slim, Mama Thornton, Lightnin’ Hopkins and many more – seems to have become part of our DNA.

That’s why, when we hear, say, The Cash Box Kings’ (CBK) version of “Walkin’ Blues” emanating from the player, we look up, like startled deer, searching for the source of that mesmerizing sound. The band’s label – Blind Pig Records – is a capable stand-in for those labels of yore wherein great American blues was laid down for posterity.

The CBKs specialize in putting down tracks that recall the golden years of post-World War II American blues and R&B and that tap into that primal place where this music resides. Listen closely, and you can hear the nascent stirrings of early rock and roll as channeled by the Kings.

With a repertoire that spans New Orleans R&B to classic Chicago electric blues, the virtuoso musicians in this band carry the message of the music – which is all about feeling the blues, whether ballad or jump or that moveable place where blues meets rock and roll.

Most of the tunes are capably penned by two band members: producer/harpist/vocalist Joe Nosek, and vocalist Oscar Wilson. Covers include “Too Late,” an upbeat blues by Willie Dixon, “Tom Cat Blues” by Jerry West, and an offbeat blues-rock selection of “Run Run Run” by art rocker Lou Reed. “Walkin Blues” is listed here as “traditional,” although its roots are in Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues,” plus Skip James’s “22-20 Blues” and “32-20 Blues.” This is a tune that’s been covered often, most notably by Johnny Winter on his Parchman Farm album in the 1960s.

Why is this band so good? One reason is the stellar musicianship. Another is the selection of tunes that lend themselves to arrangements featuring strong Chicago-style harp playing in the manner of Shaky Horton, a driving Tele lead, funky, behind the beat blues drumming by Willie “Big Eyes” Smith scion Kenny, and over-mic’d, gritty vocals that recall all those great old Specialty records from the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Black Toppin’ – the title track having been penned by Oscar Wilson – is a CD that bears repeat playing, each time calling forth the fine string work, then the period-inflected blues vocals, the rocking percussion and irresistible harp playing. This is one of the better blues albums thus far in 2013. Recommended. ---Michael Cala, nodepression.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex 4shared mega mediafire cloudmailru uplea

back

 1. I Ain't Gonna Be No Monkey Man - 3:55
 2. Download Blues - 3:46
 3. Gotta Move Out To The Suburbs - 3:33
 4. Cash Box Boogie - 3:46
 5. Hobo Blues - 3:26
 6. Baby Without You - 3:55
 7. Juju - 4:06
 8. Everybody's Fishin' - 2:57
 9. Out On The Road - 4:00
10. Sugar Pea - 3:33
11. I Miss You Miss Anne - 2:33
12. I'm A Real Lover - 2:57
13. Quarter To Blue - 4:36

Barrelhouse Chuck - Organ, Piano, Vocals (Background)
Brad Ber - Bass (Upright)
Billy Flynn - Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Mark Haines - Drums, Vocals (Background)
Joe Nosek - Harmonica, Percussion, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Joel Paterson - Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Beau Sample - Bass (Electric), Bass (Upright), Vocals (Background)
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith - Drums
Oscar Wilson - Vocals, Vocals (Background)

The CBKs return with their third CD for Blind Pig and, as usual, it’s excellent. The core of the band remains Joe Nosek on harp and vocals, Oscar Wilson on vocals and Joel Paterson on lead guitar. Long-standing drummer Kenny Smith only appears on three tracks this time around (probably reflecting the demands of his many other projects) and most of the drum duties are taken by Mark Haines. Beau Sample handles the bass with Brad Ber filling in on the three tracks with Kenny. Guests include Billy Flynn who adds rhythm guitar on most tracks and Barrelhouse Chuck who adds keys to six cuts. Joe wrote eight of the tunes here, two with Oscar, and there are five covers.

The album opens with Oscar singing Big Smokey Smothers’ “I Ain’t Gonna Be No Monkey Man”, a classic piece of rocking blues with Brad’s bouncing upright bass and Kenny’s economical drum style underpinning fine performances from everyone. The next two tunes are both Nosek/Wilson compositions and really summarise what the CBKs are about, classic Chicago blues with lyrics that give a modern twist to the genre. “Download Blues” bemoans the fate of working bands who find that audiences no longer buy CDs but download them, thereby providing no income to the musicians! Behind the lyrics is a great shuffle with fine soloing from Joe and Joel. To an uptempo beat Joe’s harp meshes with Chuck’s organ and Joel gives us a great solo as Oscar sings of the financial difficulties that people have living in big cities, many ending up out in the suburbs where rents are more affordable in another well-observed social commentary entitled “Gotta Move Out To The Suburbs”.

Oscar was on lead vocals for the first three tracks but Joe takes over on his own “Cash Box Boogie” and his relaxed vocal style fits well with the background chorus vocal and Chuck’s great piano, Joel upping the pace with his solo. John Lee Hooker’s “Hobo Blues” finds Oscar singing the familiar lyrics accompanied only by Joel’s guitar before Joe returns on the gently swinging “Baby Without You” which gets the toes tapping as Joel releases another of his deceptively simple solos to great effect. Joe stays at the mike for “Juju” which has a latin lilt enhanced by producer Alex Hall’s shaker. Willie Love’s “Everybody’s Fishin’” is a great choice to cover with Oscar really enjoying himself above the superb rhythm section of Beau on upright and Mark on drums, Joe and Joel both being encouraged by Oscar to step up for a telling solo. Jimmy Rogers’ “Out On The Road” is slow Chicago blues at its best, Joe’s harp and Chuck’s piano weaving their magic around the Brad/Kenny rhythm section.

Next Joe takes the vocals on two more of his compositions: “Sugar Pea” is a country blues with very relaxed vocals, upright bass and gentle guitar prompts from Joel; “I Miss You Miss Anne” is more like early rock and roll with some country influences, most evident in Joel’s solo. The final cover choice is “I’m A Real Lover”, a song by Honey Boy Allen, Oscar extolling his romantic qualities to the object of his attentions. The album closes with Joe’s instrumental harp feature “Quarter To Blue” which is certainly an apt title as Joe ranges far and wide on harp with Billy and Joel trading tasteful licks in the background.

Overall this is another very successful disc by the Cash Box Kings who continue to keep Chicago blues traditions alive whilst adding contemporary issues to the lyrics. It’s an effective strategy that leaves the CBKs in a unique category and makes this an easy one to recommend. --- John Mitchell, bluesblastmagazine.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex 4shared mega mediafire zalivalka cloudmailru oboom uplea

back