I'll admit to having an interest in this even though I haven't bought into the hype over this guy. He's been "The Next Best Thing" for twenty years now without ever quite getting there. I remember playing his Blind Pig releases of the late 90's in my store, "Right As Rain" being the most prominent, but I always found someone else to grace with the demo copy. All his albums since then have adorned the Blues Charts, a couple reaching #2 (including this one). It was the "Pain Killers" element that piqued my curiosity, figuring the band aspect would be an improvement. Plus, this kept popping up as RIYLs (or whatever it's called now) whilst researching several of the previously posted albums from the last few weeks. It just so happened that BKP included it in a care package before I could sample it on my own, so here we go..............................................................................................................................I still don't get it.
I don't think he's that great a singer or guitarist. Vocally compared to Bob Seger and pickin' to SRV?! Man, I want some of what those guys were smoking... There are some pieces of songs that work, mostly the female vocalists who grace a couple of tracks, one being the great Marcia Ball. Guest axe-slingers include Tab Benoit and Joe Bonamassa and J. Geils' Magic Dick blows an inspired harp on a song. This is the only original I'll keep from the record...
The other track I'll keep is a cover of Wet Willie's "Keep On Smilin'." There's an eight-minute live version on YouTube that's professionally recorded but honestly, the studio version on the album is better, especially the instrumental break in the middle. Wicked...
If you're scoring at home, that's two hits out of thirteen for a batting average of 154. Back to the bench, TC...
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