Lil’ Ed Williams is a living success story. When he and his
\nband, the Blues Imperials, were selected to appear on a compilation
\nof blues bands, they arrived at the studio and plowed through three
\nsongs, each in one take. The label’s owner was so impressed that he
\noffered the band a contract on the spot, and with their remaining
\nstudio time, they cut their debut album,
\nRoughhousin’<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It’s been a few years since Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials
\nhave been heard from, and while their latest album
\nGet Wild!<\/i> is a welcome return for this band, it’s almost
\nlike some of the spontaneous fun this band embodied has passed
\nalong with time.<\/p>\n
Williams is a superb guitar player, and can work a slide like no
\nother these days. The rest of the band – guitarist Michael Garrett,
\nbassist (and half-brother to Williams) James “Pookie” Young and
\ndrummer Kelly Littleton – are no slouches themselves, and they
\ncontinually lay down grooves that will make you want to get up and
\ndance.<\/p>\n
But if you’re looking for the good-time blues that was heard on
\nsongs like “Chicken, Gravy & Biscuits” (from the album of the
\nsame name), you might be a little disappointed. Williams and crew
\nstill play more contemporary blues, but their subject matter is a
\nlittle more serious on
\nGet Wild!<\/i> than one might have expected.<\/p>\n
There still are the pleasers on this disc, like the opening
\ntrack “Singing Slide”, “Compact Man” and the irresistable “Get
\nOut!”. And while I can’t say I followed the story told on “The
\nMonkey And The Rabbit,” it too is another song that should put a
\nsmile on your face.<\/p>\n
But for the most part, Williams and crew stick to more
\nstraight-laced blues. While this is a bit of a letdown for me
\npersonally, the band makes the best of the material at hand, with
\nsongs like “She Don’t Love Me No More,” “Change My Way Of Living”,
\n“The Cannonball” and “Nothing I Wouldn’t Do” all standing out.<\/p>\n
The only real mis-fire here is the last song, “Pet Cream Man,” a
\nsong which I have no friggin’ idea what it’s supposed to be about.
\nSorry, gang, but this is a song that could have been left on the
\ncutting room floor.<\/p>\n
It’s not that Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials were the crown
\nprinces of lighthearted blues; if anything, their music was more of
\na celebration of life.
\nGet Wild!<\/i> somewhat continues in this pace, albeit more
\nslowly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7554],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39346","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lil-ed-the-blues-imperials","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39346","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=39346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39346"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39346"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}