Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good, but a big step backwards!, 25 Oct 2008
Seasick Steve is a fantastic bluesman, I'm a huge fan, and I listen to Doghouse Music constantly, but I'm really sorry to say that this album just doesn't quite do it for me.
Doghouse Music is a superb album - simple, straightforward, totally un-produced and packed with real feeling and passion. Thats what Seasick Steve means to me - his views and experiences of a different world, (one I hope I'll never know) are powerful and honest, and he can really play that guitar too.
It was obvious that this album would be more commercial, more produced, because Steve is now a massive worldwide phenomenon (rightly so) and so there is alot more at stake. There are some great tracks on this record, and Steve does his best to shine through, but the band are wrong for him, the arrangements are wrong for him, and the mix is wrong for him too! If you listen really carefully, you can hear the fantastic rolling rhythms of doghouse music in the guitar riffs, but almost every song is drenched in bass and drums, and it is they who set the rhythm, NOT Steve! At times you have to strain to hear his guitar at all, due to the terrible mix, and even the vocals are too quiet on several numbers.
For me the problem is that this is just a blues record with Seasick Steve in the band. If you took him away, all you would have is a bunch of session players jamming the blues, and since he's drowning in the mix half the time, thats all you have got on some of the tracks. No band can ever accompany Steve as well as he can accompany himself, and with such a polished, managed sound it ends up sounding rather clinical. A waste of a unique talent!
On the other hand, Steve seems happy with it, so good luck to him...but it just isn't anything like what I was hoping for.
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53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big label, but still the same old Steve, 3 Oct 2008
This is Seasick Steve's first release on a major label, Warner Brothers, to which he has moved from his previous home at Bronzerat. The album shows one or two signs of this change. Most obviously, the sound is a bit less raw than it was on Dog House Blues. Be reassured though: everything that makes Steve special is still here.
The album includes the usual blues stomps, played on a variety of (largely ratty) guitars. Steve attacks these vigorously, with his guitar playing sounding haphazard and note-perfect at the same time. There are also a couple of ballads, including the truly delightful "Walking man", with Steve's voice at its gentlest and mellowest. There are even a couple of pretty good covers, including the old Box Tops hit The Letter and the blues standard Rolling and Tumbling.
There are a few guest musicians on the album: Nick Cave's Grinderman on one track, and a couple of girl singers on another. I don't think Steve needs the help, and I'd be worried if he continued down that track. Still, this is a feelgood album by a real musician. Buy it, and if you possibly can, go see him in concert!
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the blues,uncluttered and beautifully played !, 6 Oct 2008
One thing you have to say about Seasick Steve is he plays the blues,he plays it well.So many have come into the blues in recent years ,rocked it up and done more harm than good until rock-blues is so far removed from its roots that its hard to see where it came from.SSS may not be an original but he's brought the blues back home without taking the heart out of it.This album is pure blues,great songs ,played well,with a whole lot of heart and soul in it,and that's what counts and Steve does it all so well.If you like this then go and listen to originals like R L Burnside or Junior Kimbrough,both from the Mississippi hill country.But I'' say one thing Steve is right in there with them,and he's doing a tremendous job for the blues,and to get on a major label doing it that's just spot on.This is a great blues album,hold od though,this is purely one great album by an international treasure so get it,enjoy it because this is what the blues is all about.Oh and credit to both K.T.Tunstall and Nick Cave and Griderman your just the ticket on this very very fine album.
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