ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120006
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: RECORD REVIEW
SOURCE: STEVE KNOPPER KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
The year's 10 best blues albums, in diplomatic alphabetical order:
* Hadda Brooks, ``Time Was When'' (Pointblank). Juan Garcia Esquivel and the other ``space-age bachelor pad'' guys gets all the attention in the lounge-music comeback of the past few years. Meanwhile, the scratchy-voiced Brooks drinks martinis, plays the piano and hopes for tips in her jar with almost no celebrity. The liner notes chronicle this 80-year-old singer's fascinating path from '40s boogie woman to accompanying dance-studio pianist to European lounge singer. This album, with a bit of boogie and a lot of upbeat cocktail jazz, didn't come near the commercial charts, but if I'm ever in the same town the night Brooks is playing, I'll be there with tips for the jar.
* R.L. Burnside, ``A Ass Pocket of Whiskey'' (Matador). Many critics said the old Mississippi bluesman's collaboration with shouting New York City punk Jon Spencer diluted both their styles. I disagree: For once on record, Burnside sounds liberated, like he can go crazy without worrying what some record executive's going to think. And Spencer, whose usual band the Blues Explosion always lacks melody, learns from Burnside's tradition and skill. To me this loud, macho album sounds like Muddy Waters' great '70s comeback with Johnny Winter - only Spencer, playing Winter's enthusiastic sideman role, studies the Sex Pistols instead of Eric Clapton.
* W.C. Clark, ``Texas Soul'' (Black Top). Texans know Clark because of his significant collaborations with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, but Clark's approach to the guitar is totally different than Vaughan's. Instead of showing off, he uses his considerable skill to make a good soul song great - his voice has some Otis Redding, some Curtis Mayfield, and he surrounds songs of love and loss (like ``Just the One I'm Looking For'') with a snappy horn section. Aside from Willie Nelson's loungey ``Funny How Time Slips Away,'' the curveball at the album's center, this is the freshest Stax-Volt soul in years.
* Floyd Dixon, ``Wake Up and Live!'' (Alligator). The long, lost Dixon reprises his 1954 hit ``Hey Bartender'' (take THAT, Jake and Elwood) on the first track, then shows what he can do. In blues, unfortunately, the great guitarists get all the attention, while the keyboard boogie men too frequently have to play Ray Charles and Billy Joel covers in piano bars. With luck, Dixon's comeback record will change that - his slow songs, like ``My Song Is Don't Worry,'' have a believable desperation, and his fast songs, like ``Rockin' At Home,'' jump like Charles hasn't jumped in decades.
* Joe Guitar Hughes, ``Texas Guitar Slinger'' (Bullseye). Unless you're a guitar player or a fanatical devotee of technical skill, it's frustrating trying to weed out the countless fancy-playing blues albums. Here's a tip: Houston stalwart Hughes, who has a little Albert King and a little Albert Collins, never tries to overpower you with the old rear-back-the-head-and-grimace solo tricks. He's subtle and soft, which makes the loud explosions much more powerful when they happen.
* Los Lobos, ``Colossal Head'' (Warner Bros.). Cesar Rosas, the blues fanatic in this venerable band of East Los Angeles Latino rockers, finally asserts himself for an entire album. (He co-wrote a Lobos song, ``I Can't Understand,'' with Willie Dixon in 1990.) It's not traditional blues - ``Maricela'' is a salsa with blues references, and the solo-dominated ``Mas Y Mas'' is a faster, more interesting Santana song - but it has enough electric Chicago feeling to qualify for this list.
* Preacher Boy, ``Gutters and Pews'' (Blind Pig). The new thing for young white bluesmen is to sound like Tom Waits -a huge bald guy called Popa Chubby does the same thing, only with lesser songs and more pointless guitar solos. Preacher Boy tries a little too hard for hipness, wearing slick shades on the back cover and gargling too often instead of singing. But his songs are stellar and his four-man band's energy makes them combust. I like ``New Orleans'' and ``Catfish'' because they stick in my head even while I'm headbanging.
* Satan and Adam, ``Living on the River'' (Rave-On). ``Mister Satan,'' as academic and blues columnist Adam Gussow calls his partner, is a street genius with a natural funk. Even better, he can play guitar, drums and sing at the same time. Gussow's job is simply to blow his harp and never stop. The duo's first few albums were novelties (''The homeless guy plays all the instruments!'') with just a hint of inspiration. ``Living on the River,'' with ``Proud Mary'' and ``Ode to Billy Joe'' like you never heard them before, captures Booker T. and the MGs' brand of soulful teamwork - the partners understand each other's moves without worrying about the rules.
* Various artists, ``Heaven's Prisoners'' soundtrack (Atlantic). I can't vouch for the Alec Baldwin movie, which dropped quickly to video stores, but this collection of old and new songs immediately makes you sit up in the dark. Junior Wells, revisiting Sonny Boy Williamson's ``Good Morning Little Schoolgirl,'' pulls a ``Lolita'' and sounds both like a sympathetic narrator and a snarling old pedophile. After that, B.B. King and Aretha Franklin classics alternate with forgotten Guitar Slim gems and newer jump stuff by C.C. Adcock, Kenny Neal and the Hoax.
* Various artists, ``Mean Old World: The Blues From 1940 to 1994'' (Smithsonian/MCA). Given the impossible task of thoroughly chronicling five decades of blues history, Smithsonian managed to please pretty much everybody with this four-disc, 80-song box. The standards: Johnny Shines' version of ``Sweet Home, Chicago,'' Z.Z. Hill's ``Down Home Blues'' and Koko Taylor's ``Wang Dang Doodle.'' The historically significant: Jackie Brenston's ``Rocket '88','' considered the first rock 'n' roll song; Leadbelly's eloquent post-slavery protest ``Bourgeois Blues''; and Memphis Minnie's early tribute ``Ma Rainey.'' Blues fans, new and old, need this set.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 linesby CNB