I have a problem with Corey Harris.<\/p>\n
You see, Harris is signed to a blues label, yet he eschews being
\ncalled a blues artist, and the influences in his music are often
\nanything but the blues. His latest release,
\nGreens From The Garden<\/i>, is further evidence of this, and one
\ncan’t help but think that calling Harris strictly a bluesman would
\nbe like asking Motorhead to perform Beethoven’s Sixth.<\/p>\n
Sound like I’m slamming Harris? Actually, I’m not; Harris, with
\nthis album, releases one of the more quirky and curious albums of
\nthe year, though I question whether or not the album would have
\nbeen tighter without numerous asides peppered throughout. More on
\nthat in a minute.<\/p>\n
Harris stays true to his love of juju music, thanks to a stint
\nin Cameroon in 1991. While this might not be the typical angle one
\nwould expect from an artist on a blues label, it is a natural fit
\nfor Harris. Tracks like “Eh La Bas” (hmm, second album I’ve heard
\nthis song on in weeks, though Harris’s sounds much closer to the
\nbone) and “Pas Parlez” shimmer with excitement; you can hear the
\nexuberance that Harris and his bandmates have in these
\nperformances. (Note to whoever’s in charge of these things at
\nAlligator: putting the artist credits behind the CD tray makes them
\nmuch harder to read.)<\/p>\n
But while Harris might not be strictly a blues musician, its
\nroots can still be clearly heard in tracks like “Basehead,” “Sweet
\nBlack Angel,” “Nola Rag” and “Lynch Blues”. With a wide variety of
\nmusicians (far too many to list here, and to try to list just a few
\nwouldn’t do the whole crew justice), Harris is able to to create a
\nstyle of the blues that is both modern and – dare I say it? – fun
\nto listen to. Even for someone like myself who loves the blues,
\nGreens From The Garden<\/i> is a disc that is a refreshing
\neye-opener, though it does take some time to get used to.<\/p>\n
For all of this, Harris makes only two mistakes. First is a
\nreggae-tinged version of “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” a song
\nthat would have been better had it been shorter – but I don’t see
\nthis as a major mistake. The other is that Harris tries to follow
\nthrough with the theme of the album’s title by putting in snippets
\nabout greens featuring family members (?), friends and
\nacquaintances of Harris. Problem is that you get hit with these far
\ntoo often; I don’t think more than three songs elapse before –
\nwham! – another interlude. One word: Overkill.<\/p>\n
Still,
\nGreens From The Garden<\/i> makes for a tasty, but unusual, dish
\nto lay in front of a blues fan that you might know. And while
\nHarris does succeed in the overall picture, be warned that this
\nplate is an acquired taste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7396],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38974","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-corey-harris","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38974","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38974"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}