Old new ballads blues --- 2006 (Eagle)
Continuing Gary's journey into the blues which would last for two more albums before his untimely death, this album reunites him with keyboard man Don Airey and drummer Darrin Mooney, replacing bassist Bob Daisely from the previous album with Jonathan Noyce. After this album he would release one a year up until his final in 2008. Like previous blues-themed albums of his, this includes various covers, notably again from Willie Dixon (previously covered on “Power of the blues”) and Otis Rush, but it's Elmore James' “Done somebody wrong” that opens proceedings here. A hard-edged blues rocker, it features a guitar which seems to be slightly oddly modulated, as if put through some sort of effects pedal or device, giving it a vaguely mechanical feeling.
A seven-minute version of Willie Dixon's “You know my love” keeps things moving, and well, it
is titled “Old, new, ballads, blues”, so we know the ballads will be coming, and of course the blues, most of the songs are new but there are some old, and two of them come from 1990's “Still got the blues”. First up is a reissue of “Midnight blues”, slow and laidback and really, not sounding that much different from the original to me, then “Ain't nobody” is a midpacer with some nice touches, especially on Airey's keys. Then there's another beautiful ballad in “Gonna rain today”, about as laidback as you can get. Lovely, soulful and heartfelt guitar work from Gary with a vocal that just reeks of hurt and despair, with a bittersweet melancholia it's hard not to get choked up by.
Things soon kick off again though, with the “new” version of “All your love” originally on Gary's “Still got the blues” album, and indeed a cover of Otis Rush's classic in the first place. Again, I have to say I don't hear a huge difference in the two versions, even though both this, and the “new” version of “Midnight blues” are labelled as being “2006”. As the album heads towards its end then, Gary tones everything down, and although “Flesh and blood” may seem an unlikely name for a ballad, such it proves to be, and a very lovely one at that. A certain country twang is evident at times on the guitar, and a soft, intimate little solo just about completes the song.
The smooth, laidback feel of the album is only disturbed one more time by a rocky little instrumental Gary calls “Cut it out”, then the longest track on the album, nine minutes of “No reason to cry”, slips back into that cool, soft, relaxed mode as Airey's passionate organ carries the tune alongside Gary's gentle guitar. Keeping things slow and easy then to the end, the album closes with Jerry Beech's lovely “I'll play the blues for you”.
A much better album, in my all-important (
) opinion, “Old new ballads blues” still suffers from its flaws. I don't think a lot of the two “updated” versions of the songs off “Still got the blues” that are included: if they were vastly different, re-recorded or arranged, then okay, I can see the validity, given the title of the album. If they're just included as “old” songs, then okay too, but the idea of putting the suffix “2006” after them when they're just the same old versions... I just don't see it I'm afraid. I could have hoped for a better opener too, classic or not, and I think I just may turn out not to be a fan of poor old Willie Dixon...
Nevertheless, there are good tracks on this album, and in fact I would say after the first two or three it vastly improves for me, so in that regard it's a far better album, of the “blues” ones Gary recorded, than “Power of the blues”. While not one of his greatest, it might very well sneak into the top ten. Maybe.
TRACKLISTING
1. Done somebody wrong
2. You know my love
3. Midnight blues (2006)
4. Ain't nobody
5. Gonna rain today
6. All your love (2006)
7. Flesh and blood
8. Cut it out
9. No reason to cry
10. I'll play the blues for you