Though it is a given Buddy Guy is one of the best blues players
\non the planet, the last couple of years have put a slight tarnish
\non the legend’s reputation: Some of his releases had a bit too much
\nstudio gloss applied and his club, Buddy Guy’s Legends, may have
\nticked off some blues purists much like the House of Blues.<\/p>\n
Be it inspiration or a calculated image makeover, Guy went back
\nto the deep, dark, woodshed-like blues style which has been a
\ntrademark of the best work of Guy’s influences, mainly Muddy Waters
\nand John Lee Hooker. At the same time, by using a deep, repetative
\nbass line in a couple of his songs, Guy’s latest album,
\nSweet Tea,<\/i> has an odd sort of futuristic sound to it. It’s
\nalmost as if Guy has been listening to Portishead and Massive
\nAttack during some off-time on his tour.<\/p>\n
The first song, “Done Got Old,” has Guy’s voice sounding like a
\nghost blowing through the floorboards of a barn. “Well I done got
\nold\/I cain’t do the things I used to do.” Fairly simplistic lyrics,
\nbut when music is this powerful, screw subtle wording and
\nmetaphors. The second song, “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me,” features
\na ruthless, deep bass line, which will no doubt usher in some
\nPortishead comparisons.<\/p>\n
Most of the songs on
\nSweet Tea<\/i> deal with the inevitable hard punches life deals,
\nnamely jilted love and mortality. Bob Dylan took this approach with<\/p>\n
Time Out Of Mind<\/i> and was able to inject a renewed energy
\ninto his career. Though some may criticize Buddy Guy for drawing
\ntoo much on
\nTime Out Of Mind<\/i>, they shouldn’t. The album should be
\nappreciated on its own merits.<\/p>\n
\nSweet Tea<\/i> deserves a huge amount of credit for making epic
\nsongs seem like three-minute songs on the radio. One track, “I
\nGotta Try You Girl” lasts more than 12 minutes, but Guy’s electric
\nplaying mesmerizes you enough not to look at your watch. On
\nSweet Tea<\/i>, Guy also enlists a killer band lineup. Davey
\nFaragher’s bass sounds like it would be at home at a blues or a
\ntrip-hop album. Spam (no last name given) does just as good a job
\non rave-ups like “Look What All You Got” as he does on songs where
\nthe mood has to be slowed down, as in “Tramp.”<\/p>\n
Practically all of the songs on
\nSweet Tea<\/i> are interpretations. Like Cowboy Junkies, Guy has
\nmade all eight of the covers on the album his own. Only on the
\nclosing track, “It’s a Jungle Out There,” does Guy have writing
\ncredits. This should not be a negative aspect of the album,
\nhowever, if all of the tracks on
\nSweet Tea<\/i> were originals, we would have a certified
\nclassified on our hands.<\/p>\n
Like Dylan, Guy came on to the scene when popular music was in
\ndire need of a hard-core ass-kicking. If you are a casual fan of
\nthe blues,
\nSweet Tea<\/i> does a great job of integrating newer styles while
\nmaintaining an authenticity that would make blues purists proud.
\nPerhaps the best reason to buy
\nSweet Tea<\/i> is Guy’s voice. Envigorated, confident and full of
\nbluster, this album marks the comeback of an artist who has always
\nbeen able to remain viable in all sorts of industry changes. One of
\nhis recent albums is titled
\nDamn Right, I’ve Got The Blues<\/i>; on
\nSweet Tea<\/i>, it sounds like Guy could have called this album,
\n“You God Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6662],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37245","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-buddy-guy","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37245"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}