Elvin Bishop – Red Dog Speaks (Delta Groove Music).
A founding member of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Elvin Bishop has been around long enough to be called a legend. Not that passage of time is the only qualification; Elvin Bishop is a true guitar great. This only his second release on Delta Groove Music (see my review of his first, The Blues Rolls On) but he has firmly established himself at home. The eponymous title track is a laid back blues about his 1959 (a great year) Gibson Cherry Red ES-345. Stinging slide guitar and barrelhouse piano makes for a great opener. Neighbor Neighbor is R&B, vocally excellent and that slide is sublime. Fat & Sassy does what it says on the tin and Barbeque Boogie is the kind of storming boogie where Bishop excels. Many Rivers To Cross is a strange inclusion. It’s hard to beat the Jimmy Cliff version but the inclusion of slide guitar is effective. However, I’d rather he hadn’t really bothered.
Blues Cruise has a Cajun feel, no surprise since it has the addition of Buckwheat Zydeco on accordion. The extra guitarists, such as Roy Gaines, Tommy Castro and Ronnie Baker Brooks make this, in effect, a jam session and a damn good one too. Doo-Wop Medley is mainly the classic Still Of The Night but I can’t make out where the medley comes in although this instrumental is well played on slide guitar. We get back to Elvin Bishop territory with Get Your Hand Out Of My Pocket, which is a good romp with boogie piano and rocking harmonica from Bob Welch and John Nemeth respectively. His Eye Is On The Sparrow is a strange title but this strolling blues instrumental with added horns is more than passable. The solo, Clean Livin’ has a spoken vocal and tells us all about what has happened to him health wise throughout his life and he wonders why he is still standing – a cautionary tale. Festivities are rounded off well with the laconic Midnight Hour Blues.
http://www.elvinbishop.com/
http://www.deltagroovemusic.com/
David Blue.
A founding member of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Elvin Bishop has been around long enough to be called a legend. Not that passage of time is the only qualification; Elvin Bishop is a true guitar great. This only his second release on Delta Groove Music (see my review of his first, The Blues Rolls On) but he has firmly established himself at home. The eponymous title track is a laid back blues about his 1959 (a great year) Gibson Cherry Red ES-345. Stinging slide guitar and barrelhouse piano makes for a great opener. Neighbor Neighbor is R&B, vocally excellent and that slide is sublime. Fat & Sassy does what it says on the tin and Barbeque Boogie is the kind of storming boogie where Bishop excels. Many Rivers To Cross is a strange inclusion. It’s hard to beat the Jimmy Cliff version but the inclusion of slide guitar is effective. However, I’d rather he hadn’t really bothered.
Blues Cruise has a Cajun feel, no surprise since it has the addition of Buckwheat Zydeco on accordion. The extra guitarists, such as Roy Gaines, Tommy Castro and Ronnie Baker Brooks make this, in effect, a jam session and a damn good one too. Doo-Wop Medley is mainly the classic Still Of The Night but I can’t make out where the medley comes in although this instrumental is well played on slide guitar. We get back to Elvin Bishop territory with Get Your Hand Out Of My Pocket, which is a good romp with boogie piano and rocking harmonica from Bob Welch and John Nemeth respectively. His Eye Is On The Sparrow is a strange title but this strolling blues instrumental with added horns is more than passable. The solo, Clean Livin’ has a spoken vocal and tells us all about what has happened to him health wise throughout his life and he wonders why he is still standing – a cautionary tale. Festivities are rounded off well with the laconic Midnight Hour Blues.
http://www.elvinbishop.com/
http://www.deltagroovemusic.com/
David Blue.
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