Blind blues guitarists are nothing out of the ordinary; the
\nannals of blues history make note of several guitarists who could
\nnot see, such as “Blind” Lemon Jefferson. So, Canadian guitarist
\nJeff Healey’s success in 1988 was not a gimmick because of his
\nblindness.<\/p>\n
Likewise, there are many different ways that people have played
\nguitar over the years. While Healey’s style – putting the guitar
\nflat on his lap and playing the fretboard more like a piano
\nkeyboard – was unique, it could hardly be called a gimmick.<\/p>\n
So why did this young guitarist and his band hit the big time
\nwith their debut album
\nSee The Light<\/i>? Simple: well written songs that pushed the
\nenvelope of blues and rock, even if the production wasn’t always
\nthe greatest.<\/p>\n
Healey proved early on this album that he was more than a
\ncompetent guitarist, lack of sight or strange playing style be
\ndamned. With bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen providing
\na solid rhythm backbone, Healey was free to both lay down a smooth
\nrhythm guitar track and to cut loose in his solos. Tracks like
\n“Confidence Man,” “River Of No Return” and the title track offer
\nevidence aplenty of this.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the blues, Healey demonstrates the skill that
\nhas left jaws of modern-day bluesmasters like Stevie Ray Vaughan
\nand B.B. King agape. His performance on a cover of “Hideaway” is
\nnothing short of a masterpiece, and though his cover of ZZ Top’s
\n“Blue Jean Blues” is a little too lazy for my tastes, it is played
\nlovingly by Healey and crew.<\/p>\n
But don’t just write Healey off as a bluesman; one listen to the
\nballad “Angel Eyes,” one of the most beautiful songs of this style
\nI’ve ever heard, shows there’s a lot more to Healey than meets the
\neyes or ears.<\/p>\n
There are only two problems with
\nSee The Light<\/i> that I can hear. The biggest is the lack of a
\ncleanly produced sound. Often, Healey’s vocals – admittedly not
\nthat strong unless he’s singing in a lower range – seem like
\nthey’ve been podded down a bit. It would have been better to have
\nallowed the vocals to be brought to the forefront (as they
\noccasionally are, such as on “That’s What They Say”) and judged
\nstrictly on their own merits. (Actually, the overall production of
\nthe album could have been better; it’s not as crisp as it could
\nhave been.)<\/p>\n
Second, not all of the material on
\nSee The Light<\/i> is of the same caliber of quality as the
\n“:hits” off this one. Tracks like “Nice Problem To Have” and “Don’t
\nLet Your Chance Go By” are quickly forgettable, which is a
\nshame.<\/p>\n
Still,
\nSee The Light<\/i> was a nice first step for the Jeff Healey
\nBand, and quickly established Healey as a premier guitarist worthy
\nof the praise heaped upon him. He might never have achieved true
\nsuperstardom, but even if
\nSee The Light<\/i> had been his only recorded work, it would have
\nbeen something to be quite proud of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7577],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39394","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jeff-healey-band","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39394","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=39394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39394"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}