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Big Blues

Paul Watson | Ireland | 11/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Whether Gordie Johnson plays Reggae, Rock or Blues, he sure as hell delivers the goods. This, his 1992 debut, is full of emotional well delivered blues including the standards "So Many Roads","Motherless Children" and "In my time of dying". The latter, a live version, probably being more reknown due to Led Zeppelins version. I only gave this Album 4 Stars (In reality, it would be 4 1/2) due to my dislike of 2 tracks i.e. The Jazz styled Jams of "Bensha Swing" and "Shot in the dark". All the other songs are absolutely wonderful. Great Rockin foot-tapping Blues coming in the form of "Come back baby" and "Nowhere to go". Then we have the delicate vocal delivery of "Sleep in late" and the raw and dirty "Groundhog day". The Sax playing on this album (3 musicians here) is

so soothing too. I think the most appealing part of the album too is the production. It gives you a "50s" and "60s" feel. Fans of Muddy Waters/John Lee Hooker et al will love this album. This was to be Big Sugars only Blues album. I dont know why he never stuck to the Blues formula with the Blues appeal growing strongly, and above all, you dont hear many modern blues players emitting this kind of emotion although John Campbell (R.I.P.) was at his peak at this time.All Big Sugar's other works are mostly full of Rock songs with the occasional reggae track. All of them are well worth investigating. ALthough Big SUgar is no more, I am sure Gordie will come out of his shell and satisy us all with his wonderful musical talent soon"