Blues

The Robert Cray Band ‎– Live From Across The Pond (2006)

2018-12-05T14:34:48Z

The Robert Cray Band ‎– Live From Across The Pond (2006)


1.Phone Booth 	4:38
2.Poor Johnny 	6:22
3.Our Last Time 	8:23
4.Right Next Door (Because Of Me) 	6:02
5. 12 Year Old Boy 	6:28
6.I Guess I Showed Her 	4:40
7.The Things You Do To Me 	7:02
+
8.I Was Warned 	8:36
9.Twenty 	7:34
10./Bad Influence 	3:58
11.The One In The Middle 	8:20
12.Back Door Slam 	5:27
13.Time Makes Two 	6:18
14.I'm Walkin' 	5:23

Bass – Karl Sevareid
Drums – Kevin Hayes 
Guitar, Vocals, Producer – Robert Cray
Keyboards – Jim Pugh

Live from Across the Pond finds blues guitarist Robert Cray and his band performing live over seven nights in May 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. A journeyman guitarist with a knack for mixing a classic electric blues sound with various contemporary pop sounds, Cray has remained a consistent if underappreciated artist since his 1986 crossover/breakthrough album Strong Persuader. Recorded on the heels of the similarly stellar studio effort Twenty, this two-disc set features Cray and co. in superb form moving from straight-up blues, to soul-infused pop and gutbucket ballads. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, Live from Across the Pond works well as both an encapsulation and introduction to Cray's unique, eclectic blues sound. ---Matt Collar, AllMusic Review

Twenty-six years after issuing his debut, Robert Cray finally has gotten around to releasing a live album. Unfortunately, he might have waited a tad too long. Although he makes every attempt to push the bulk of the material to its limit, there are frustratingly long portions of the two-disc, 14-track Live from Across the Pond that sound like the work of a seasoned professional. The entirety of the affair was recorded during Cray’s recent engagement with Eric Clapton at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and for the most part, he and his backing band deliver the songs from the perspective of a support act that is so focused upon not making any major mistakes that it also fails to take any risks.

Although the songs on Live from Across the Pond are solidly performed, their emotional resonance is undercut by the formulaic sterility of Cray and his ensemble’s approach. Nevertheless, there are moments scattered throughout the set when the group springs to life. The title tune from Twenty, his recent studio endeavor, for example, is a haunting, mournful lament, and the concise, Sam Cooke-inspired radiance of Bad Influence provides the affair with a much-needed change of pace. Elsewhere, Cray’s blazing lead burns through the latter halves of 12-Year-Old Boy, I Was Warned, and The One in the Middle. Likewise, he and keyboard player Jim Pugh inspire each other, thereby igniting Our Last Time’s central jam. In the end, however, Live from Across the Pond is so safe and unassuming that it is as certain to appease Cray’s longtime fans as it is unlikely to win over his detractors. ---John Metzger, musicbox-online.com

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Robert Cray - 30 Most Slow Blues (2017)

2018-04-09T14:19:46Z

Robert Cray - 30 Most Slow Blues (2017)


01. Smoking Gun
02. You Move Me
03. I'm a Good Man
04. Twenty
05. Fantasized
06. I Was Warned
07. My Problem
08. Divided Heart
09. Labor of Love
10. One More Kiss
11. Right Next Door
12. 12 Year Old Boy
13. Back Door Slam
14. Bouncin' Back
15. Hold On
16. Sitting on Top of the World
17. A Whole Lotta Pride
18. Angel of Mercy
19. One in the Middle
20. Sleeping in the Ground
21. The Things You Do to Me
22. What Would You Say
23. A Picture of a Broken Heart
24. Nice as a Fool Can Be
25. You're Everything
26. Watch Me Baby
27. Collins Instrumental Jam
28. Time Makes Two
29. The Score
30. Poor Johnny

Tin-eared critics have frequently damned him as a yuppie blues wannabe whose slickly soulful offerings bear scant resemblance to the real down-home item. In reality, Robert Cray is one of a precious few young blues-based artists with the talent and vision to successfully usher the idiom into the 21st century without resorting either to slavish imitation or simply playing rock while passing it off as blues. Just as importantly, his immensely popular records helped immeasurably in jump-starting the contemporary blues boom that still holds sway to this day. Blessed with a soulful voice that sometimes recalls '60s great O.V. Wright and a concise lead guitar approach that never wastes notes, Cray's rise to international fame was indeed a heartwarming one. For a guy whose 1980 debut album for Tomato, Who's Been Talkin', proved an instant cutout, his ascendancy was amazingly swift -- in 1986 his breakthrough Strong Persuader album for Mercury (containing "Smoking Gun") won him a Grammy and shot his asking price for a night's work skyward.

Cray was born on August 1, 1953 in Columbus, Georgia. An Army brat who grew up all over the country before his folks settled in Tacoma, Washington in 1968, Cray listened intently to soul and rock before becoming immersed in the blues (in particular, the icy Telecaster of Albert Collins, who played at Cray's high school graduation). Cray formed his first band with longtime bassist Richard Cousins in 1974 . They soon hooked up with Collins as his backup unit before breaking out on their own. The cinematic set caught a brief glimpse of Cray (even if they weren't aware of it) when he anonymously played the bassist of the frat party band Otis Day & the Knights in National Lampoon's Animal House. Cray's Tomato set, also featuring the harp of Curtis Salgado, was an excellent beginning, but it was the guitarist's 1983 set for HighTone, Bad Influence, that really showed just how full of talent Cray was. Another HighTone set, False Accusations, preceded the emergence of the Grammy-winning 1985 guitar summit meeting album Showdown! for Alligator, which found the relative newcomer more than holding his own alongside Collins and Texan Johnny Copeland. Strong Persuader earned two Grammys in two years and made Cray a familiar face even on video-driven MTV.

Unlike many of his peers, Cray continued to experiment within his two presiding genres, blues and soul, on sets for Mercury such as Midnight Stroll in 1990, I Was Warned in 1992, and Shame + a Sin in 1993. After switching to Rykodisc in the late '90s, Cray released Take Your Shoes Off in 1999 and Shoulda Been Home in 2001, proving that the "bluenatics" (as he amusedly labels his purist detractors) have nothing to fear and plenty to anticipate from this innovative, laudably accessible guitarist. Touring regularly with the likes of Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, Cray stayed active in the studio as well, signing with Sanctuary Records and releasing Time Will Tell in 2003, Twenty in 2005, a pair of live albums, Live from Across the Pond in 2006 and Live at the BBC in 2008, and This Time, which was issued by Vanguard Records a year later.

Cray released his third live album in four years, Cookin' in Mobile, in 2010. The material featured on the album was taken from a single performance at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama in February of that year. The Kevin Shirley-produced Nothin But Love, a solid outing featuring narrative songs that circled around the trials and tribulations of love, appeared in 2012. Nearly two years later, he announced the details of In My Soul, his 17th album with the Robert Cray Band. Released in the spring of 2014, In My Soul saw Cray reuniting with producer Steve Jordan, who had previously helmed Take Your Shoes Off, and settling into a deep, soulful groove. In My Soul topped Billboard's blues chart, and on its supporting tour Cray gave a celebratory 40th anniversary concert that was recorded and released in 2015 as 4 Nights and 40 Years Live. In 2016, he worked once again with producer Jordan on an album recorded with the Hi Rhythm Section in the label's old studio in Memphis. Aptly titled Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, the album appeared in April 2017. ---Bill Dahl, allmusic.com

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The Robert Cray Band – 4 Nights of 40 Years Live (2015)

2015-10-28T17:23:16Z

The Robert Cray Band – 4 Nights of 40 Years Live (2015)

CD1
1. I Shiver
2. I’ll Always Remember You
3. Poor Johnny
4. Won’t Be Coming Home
5. On The Road Down
6. Sittin’ On Top Of The World
7. Wrap It Up
8. Love Gone To Waste
9. Bad Influence
10. These Things
11. Right Next Door (Because Of Me)
12. The Forecast (Calls For Pain)
13. Time Makes Two 

CD2
14. The Robert Cray Band - I Guess I Showed Her 03:43
15. Right Next Door (Because Of Me) 04:43
16. Smoking Gun 04:35
17. Still Around 04:28
18. Too Many Cooks 03:26
19. T-Bone Shuffle 04:35

Robert Cray - Guitar, Vocals
Peter Boe - Keyboards
Richard Cousins - Bass
Les Falconer - Drums, Vocals
Steve Jordan - Drums
Trevor Lawrence - Sax (Tenor)
Steve Madaio - Trumpet
Dave Olson - Drums
Lee Oskar - Harmonica
Dover Weinberg - Keyboards
Kim Wilson - Harmonica, Vocals

Decades flash by in the wink of an eye, which may explain how the perennial blues young gun is celebrating his fourth decade of performing in 2015. 4 Nights of 40 Years is a souvenir salute to his longevity, a career that started in earnest with the 1980 release of Who's Been Talkin', but began earlier when he was gigging throughout the '70s. Cray scored an unexpected crossover hit in 1987 thanks to "Smoking Gun" but unlike some of his '80s blues peers, he wasn't content leaning on flash. He deepened his R&B roots, honing his solos so they stung, and settling into a nicely textured soul-blues groove that emphasized rhythms as much as songs or solos. All of this is evident on 2015's Four Nights of 40 Years, a dynamic 13-track live album recorded on the tour supporting his fine 2014 set In My Soul. That record isn't featured here, nor is "Smoking Gun" -- that hit, along with other Strong Persuader material, is on the bonus disc containing live performances for Dutch TV in 1987, plus two performances from the SFO Blues Festival in 1982 -- so the emphasis winds up being on Cray's overall catalog, finding space for covers like Howlin' Wolf's "Sittin' on Top of the World," and room for old friends like Kim Wilson to come out and sing the Fabulous Thunderbirds' "Wrap It Up." What's striking throughout is Cray's ease: he's never reaching too hard, never emphasizing either blues or soul. By just sounding like himself, it's apparent that he's inherited the role of old blues master when nobody was looking. --- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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Robert Cray - Some Rainy Morning (1995)

2015-09-27T16:12:57Z

Robert Cray - Some Rainy Morning (1995)


1.Moan (Cray) 6:00     
2.I'll Go On (Cray) 4:09    
3.Steppin' Out (Randle/Grimes/Hall) 4:47    
4.Never Mattered Much (Cray) 4:45    
5.Tell the Landlord (Cray/Sevareid/Hayes)  4:51
6.Little Boy Big (Cray) 5:11    
7.Enough for Me (Cray/Hayes) 6:20
8.Jealous Love (Womack/Ousley)  4:12   
9.Will You Think of Me (Cray/Pugh) 5:28    
10.Holdin' On (Pugh) 6:31

Robert Cray vocals & guitar
Jim Pugh organ & piano
Karl Sevareid bass
Kevin Hayes drums

Typically well-produced and well-played outing -- mostly originals, with smoldering covers of Syl Johnson's "Steppin' Out" and Wilson Pickett's "Jealous Love" for good measure. Cray's crisp, concise guitar work and subtly soulful vocals remain honed to a sharp edge. ---Bill Dahl, Rovi

Since 1986, when Strong Persuader went platinum, Cray gradually has insulated himself from the pop world, settling instead for yearly blues Grammy awards. With every album, his goals seem to get more explicit: In an illustration on the cover of Some Rainy Morning, his skin is painted blue and he's sitting on a suitcase playing a guitar by a highway.

Many have lauded him for this return to pure blues, but for me it's a mixed blessing. I've always thought his voice -- not Jackie Wilson exactly, but that same pristine quality -- was suited for little bluesy pop songs.

Still, there are moments on Some Rainy Morning, his ninth album, that make me forget all this categorizing and quibbling. The first track, "Moan," begins with an explosion of organ. Then Cray's spooky, repetitive guitar. Then Cray's voice, confessing that he doesn't feel so good because his baby's gone. Nice mood, unspectacular song -- so far.

Then comes the chorus: "Ah, ha, hai, hai, hi," Cray cries, wrenching the song from craft to soul. "All I do is cry." I believe him! Suddenly, "Moan" becomes tense, sad, even a little creepy. After this, Cray's typically crisp guitar solo is a bit of a letdown.

From then on the best moments on Some Rainy Morning come from the band and the grooves. Cray's rhythm guitar and Jim Pugh's organ (and sometimes piano) are so comfortable with each other, it's occasionally like hearing Booker T and the MGs. The upbeat piano that kicks off "Enough for Me" gives the song an "I Thank You" feel until Cray downshifts into a safer, contemporary mode.

The second best thing is Cray's voice. On "Will You Think of Me," Cray fluctuates smoothly from his neutral storyteller's voice to an aching falsetto. The slow "Little Boy Big," with its accompanying whistling, echoey guitar and sha-la-las, brings to mind Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay."

The formulaic quality occasionally threatens to poison some of the tracks. "Why didn't you come home last night?" Cray sings on "I'll Go On," "Why didn't you call me?" He has led us down this lonely road before with better results. And the obligatory guitar solos, always well played, sometimes seem unnecessary in the context of the song.

I admire Cray for sticking reverentially to tradition. But I wish he could -- like Bob Dylan or, heck, himself in 1986 -- fuse talent and tradition into something new and wonderful. --- Steve Knopper, bluesaccess.com

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The Robert Cray Band - Cookin' In Mobile (2010)

2010-07-21T10:12:16Z

The Robert Cray Band - Cookin' In Mobile (2010)


01. Our Last Time 
02. Anytime 
03. Love 2009 
04. Right Next Door 
05. Chicken In The Kitchen 
06. Sitting On Top Of The World 
07. One In The Middle 
08. Lotta Lovin ' 
09. Smoking Gun 
10. I Can't Fail 
11. That's What Keeps Me Rockin ' 
12. Time Makes Two

Personnel: 
Robert Cray (vocals, guitar); 
Jim Pugh (organ, keyboards);
Richard Cousins (bass);
Tony Braunagel (drums).

Robert Cray is a dependable, professional performer who has been criticized for being too reserved on-stage. He loosens his tie on this set though, recorded at a single show in February 2010. The veteran frontman tears into his staccato guitar solos with gusto here, extending the tunes and singing with a rawness often lacking in his studio work. His band also pushes harder, especially longtime keyboardist/songwriter Jim Pugh, whose featured solos match Cray's own intensity and are spotlighted throughout. This is soul-bluesman Cray's third live release in four years (2010's Authorized Bootleg dated back to a 1987 show), but the only one that includes a full concert DVD -- adding two more cuts, "Phone Booth" and "Twenty" -- along with the audio. He has only recorded one studio disc in that time, four selections from which are reprised. Only a few songs will be familiar to anyone but hardcore fans, including spirited workouts on '80s hits "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door," along with "Our Last Time," the latter two already included on 2006's Live from Across the Pond. Two other tracks also appear on that previous double concert CD, which raises the question of why, with as many albums as Cray has accumulated, he couldn't dig back and find different material. A cover of "Sitting on Top of the World" is dirtier than you'd expect, and in general the sweat flows when the guitarist pushes his R&B deeper into the blues as his band grinds into a groove often absent from his more polished catalog. He pulls out guitar effects that creatively double-track his solo on "Lotta Lovin'," another ballad that sounds far more heartbroken and personal here than on 2003's Time Will Tell, where it first appeared. Cray's vocal howls and grunts as he tears into tight, energized guitar solos show that he's been captured on an inspired night, even on "Smoking Gun," a tune he's been playing nightly for over two decades. It makes for a surprisingly tough and uncompromising performance that shows Robert Cray in a different light than many would have expected based solely on his impressive if somewhat similar-sounding and often sterile albums. ---Hal Horowitz, Rovi

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The Robert Cray Band - This Time (2009)

2009-10-29T21:38:15Z

The Robert Cray Band - This Time (2009)


01 Chicken in the Kitchen
02 I Can't Fail
03 I Love 2009
04 That's What Keeps Me Rockin'
05 This Time
06 To Be True
07 Forever Goodbye
08 Trouble & Pain
09 Truce

Personnel: 
    Robert Cray - Vocals and guitar
    Jim Pugh - Keyboards
    Richard Cousins - Bass guitar
    Tony Braunagel - Drums

In the early 1980s, Robert Cray burst onto the blues revival scene, taking his place among heavy hitters like Eric Clapton as a young blues prophet in the mainstream market. But that was a long time ago, and Cray’s recent efforts haven’t been quite as successful. While he could always be counted on for a reliable blues number or a soulful standard, much of that early fire seems to have been lost in the past decade. This Time is his first studio record in five years, and while the man himself might not have much to prove, it couldn’t help to deliver a back-to-form tribute to the blues.

Which isn’t exactly what Robert Cray does. Instead This Time is a blues-inspired album that, while it’s good fun, won’t exactly keep you coming back for more. Perhaps it’s telling that This Time is being released by Vanguard Records, the go-to place for blues and jazz reissues, because it’s not an album that takes any steps forward. There’s no question that Cray’s voice is as strong as it’s ever been, but his sound absolutely refuses to progress.

While his vocals might define Cray’s sound, he remains a solid and impressive guitar player, particularly on numbers like “I Can’t Fail”, which allow his slow-and-steady approach to lead the way. And while the soulful title track might be somewhat overlong (clocking in at over seven minutes), it has plenty of swagger to spare. It’s easily the best of Cray’s more soul-inspired numbers on this album, as it combines a smoky rhythm with a remarkable vocal performance. Even the lighthearted opener, “Chicken in the Kitchen”, with its overtures to classic Delta blues and traditional melody, is a real standout.

But the treacly “To Be True” falls far below Cray’s talents and hits a sour note that remains for the second half of the album. The Otis Redding vibe on “Forever Goodbye” just shows why Cray, though he does soul well, does blues so much better. It’s why “That’s What Keeps Me Rockin’” is so much stronger than “Truce”, why Cray at his lightest is also Cray at his strongest. “Truce” makes for a poor closing number for an album that goes in like a lion and out like a lamb.

It’s a tough balancing act for an artist who’s been in the business for over thirty years. If you don’t change, you get left behind. Change too much, and you alienate the very people that got you to the top. Cray isn’t exactly an innovator, and you don’t turn to soulful blues or bluesy soul to get a musical reinvention. But a little experimentation can do wonders for an artist, especially one who’s been in the business as long as Cray has. Those looking for a solid, soul-tinged set of songs will enjoy this set. Those asking for something more will be disappointed. ---Emily Tartanella, popmatters.com

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The Robert Cray Band - Live From Across The Pond (2006)

2009-10-29T21:36:35Z

The Robert Cray Band - Live From Across The Pond (2006)

CD1:
1. The Robert Cray Band - Phone Booth (4:40)
2. The Robert Cray Band - Poor Johnny (6:24)
3. The Robert Cray Band - One Last Time (8:25)
4. The Robert Cray Band - Right Next Door (Because of Me) (6:03)
5. The Robert Cray Band - 12 Year Old Boy (6:29)
6. The Robert Cray Band - I Guess I Showed Her (4:42)
7. The Robert Cray Band - The Things You Do to Me (7:02)

CD2:
1. The Robert Cray Band - I Was Warned (8:38)
2. The Robert Cray Band - Twenty (7:36)
3. The Robert Cray Band - Bad Influence (4:00)
4. The Robert Cray Band - The One In The Middle (8:21)
5. The Robert Cray Band - Back Door Slam (5:28)
6. The Robert Cray Band - Time Makes Two (6:20)
7. The Robert Cray Band - I'm Walkin' (5:23)

Musicians:
Robert Cray - Guitar, Producer, Vocals
Kevin Hayes - Drums
Jim Pugh - Keyboards
Karl Sevareid – Bass

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Robert Cray - Sweet Potato Pie (1997)

2009-10-29T21:35:17Z

Robert Cray - Sweet Potato Pie (1997)


1. Nothing Against You 
2. Do That For Me 
3. Back Home 
4. The One In The Middle 
5. Little Birds 
6. Trick Or Treat 
7. Simple Things 
8. Jealous Minds 
9. Not Bad For Love 
10. I Can't Quit

Personnel: 
Robert Cray (vocals, guitar);
Andrew Love (tenor saxophone); 
Wayne Jackson (trumpet); 
Jim Pugh (keyboards); 
Karl Sevareid (bass);
Kevin Hayes (drums).

Robert Cray always flirted with gritty Southern soul, but it wasn't until Sweet Potato Pie that he made a full-fledged soul-blues record in Memphis. Cray hasn't abandoned blues, but he's woven punchy horns and sexy rhythms into the mix, resulting in one of his stronger records of the '90s. The material remains a bit uneven, but his taste is impeccable -- few blues guitarists are as succinct and memorable as he, and the soul settings of Sweet Potato Pie only confirm that fact. ---Thom Owens, Rovi

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