First the sad newz:Lil' Dave Thompson Dies in Car Crash:
Andrew Galloway of Electro-Fi Records has reported the passing of Lil' Dave Thompson at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 14 as the result of an automobile accident outside of Augusta, Georgia, while touring with his band. The other band members were not seriously injured. �A dynamic artist, widely acknowledged as one of the very best of the current generation of Mississippi Blues Artists, Lil' Dave will be sadly missed by his family, friends and Blues music lovers world wide.
August 23, 1936 - February 14, 2010. Rock & Roll Pioneer Dale Hawkins passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, February 14, after a battle with colon cancer. He was seventy-three. He had been undergoing treatment at the Arkansas Hospice Center at St. Vincent's Doctors Hospital in Little Rock. Dale was best known for his 1957 classic "Susie Q", which would later be covered by both the Rolling Stones and by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Dale's band was a training ground for many amazing guitarists including James Burton, Scotty Moore, Joe Osborn, Roy Buchanan, Fred Carter, and Kenny Paulsen. Dale was inducted into both the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame, and the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame. Album Review: Tas Cru's "Grizzle & Bone" (The following review is by Kyle M. Palarino who is a contributing editor to BluesWax) (I'll give you my take afterward)
Tas Cru is a very witty songwriter with classic innuendos. The first four songs really bring that aspect out. Those are up-tempo fun songs. Then you hit the middle of the album that just muddles along. The following seven songs are pretty lifeless and lose your interest. "The Prophet of Lynchburg" is the next-to-last song and is worth the listen, but it's hard to get that far on the album when you have to fight through the others. Then the last song is a cover of the Jackie Wilson hit "Higher and Higher." Although they do their own version, they make it so unidentifiable you wouldn't recognize it. The bad thing is the song goes from a slow melancholy dragger that Billy Corgan would be proud of into an up-tempo gospel inflected southern rocker a la the Allman Brothers meet Boz Scaggs. I am confused.
The hot songs to check out are: the title track, "One Eyed Jack," "Woman Won't You Love Me?," and "Tulsa Tornado." These songs have a blue-eyed soul sound with some of the classic southern rocker sounds. You can hear Dan Penn, Tony Joe White, Wet Willie, and some Joe Cocker in the mix. Those songs fit the best.
When "Come to Testify" starts out a capella for the first minute, it's in need of help. Then hand claps are the only accompaniment to finish out the song at 2:53. When I was thinking of help, I thought some instrumentation was lacking, not hand claps. This song can work in a small club with the crowd clapping along. I've seen Guy Davi do it on his song "New Shoes." That was an amazing performance, but even on Guy's album that song has a driving force behind it. "Come to Testify" has a lilting beat. It's as pretty as a dying rose.
One song after another at that point needs a jolt of electricity. "All Good" follows "Come to Testify" and is a steady piano piece with some gentle guitar plucks. Again, it is lacking a powerful performance. You get the idea as song after song is in the same rut. There are those good songs that I could see buying individually because the innuendos alone are dadgum funny. I would not go running out after this whole album, though. There are too many misfires to overlook a few weaker songs. The musicians on board here are talented without a doubt. My ear will be on the railroad track to hear which way they are coming on their next release, but this time I'll take the bus.
My take: ***
I have to disagree with Kyle. After listening to this album a number of times I find it to be a most enjoyable effort from beginning to end. It may not use a standardized formula for what to put where, but Tas Cru has a winner here. I starts out hot, then cools down to more mellow tunes as the album progresses with some fine acoustic offerings. Cru leans into some country and cajun influences on a couple of tunes. The Prophet of Lynchburg is a fine Prinesque country ballad which leads into the closing track, Carl Smith's Higher and Higher. Overall, a very fine album. Perhaps just not equal to the ears of fussy blues purists who are comparing it to Tas Cru's last outing, Gravi-tas, which was a more dedicated blues album. ***(3 thumbs up)
