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Track Listings
| 1. Started Out With Nothin |
| 2. Walkin Man |
| 3. St. Louis Slim |
| 4. Happy Man |
| 5. Prospect Lane |
| 6. Thunderbird |
| 7. Fly By Night |
| 8. Just Like A King |
| 9. One True |
| 10. Chiggers |
| 11. My Youth |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The most unlikely of stars, sixty-something Seasick Steve Wold might have started out with nothin', but these days he can headline the Royal Albert Hall. The second solo album from the much travelled bluesman (and, let's not forget, studio owner--he didn't suddenly step off a boxcar with a demo tape in hand--refines the sound that made 2006's Dog House Music so instantly appealing. Guests include Ruby Turner, KT Tunstall (playing rather than singing) and Nick Cave and Grinderman--Cave and Steve duet on their collaboration "Just Like a King". The title track, "Started out With Nothin'", is as catchy as it is wise, "One True" laments Steve's late dog ("my one true friend", of course) and the catchy full-band "Happy Man", featuring Turner and Tunstall is as near as Seasick gets to offering a single. Without the visual impact of seeing an elderly man tell travel stories in between torturing a three string guitar while kicking a wooden box, I Started out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most of It Left can only offer a simulacrum of his live show, but his crude appeal remains obvious even as his sound gets smoother. --Steve Jelbert
Product Description
Toe-tappin' 2008 album! Rudimentary hillbilly blues 'n' spirited roots from the US authentician, albeit this time recorded in a "proper" studio.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The negative reviewers here knock SS because he doesnt happen to be a. black b. dead or c. at least 80. However, being an ex hobo who rode the freighttrains probably lends him more blues authenticity than most not that he's ever said he's a bluesman as he calls his stuff 'doghouse' music. Other than saying such and such is not your bag there's no point having a pop at acts that dont make out they're anything other than entertainers. Anyway, I first saw SS at Glasto a few years back and frankly he was a refreshing change from all the indie poseurs on the Pyramid stage etc. This album's raw and rootsy lack of pretentiousness also makes a nice change from the glossy overproduction of most rock and pop that swamps the world. So, maybe he wont be hailed as another Robert Johnson whatever. Just take it all at face value, enjoy it and dont listen to all those purist snobs who drearily bore us on and on about authenticity, 'real' music blah blah
68 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
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!
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!
49 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
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.
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Title
Good modern take on good old fashioned blues - excellent! The title caught my imagination as I identify with that after closer of my business and divorce and this is a great album... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Evil
blues played as it should be...
have just discovered seasick after reading a review in a new zealand mag...ive trawled thru u tube to see him play live and he inspires me more than any other blues musician to... Read more
Published 10 months ago by flower child
I started out with nothin' and still got most of it left
Ever since seeing Seasick Steve on Jules Holland's show a couple of years ago his music has got me hooked. This album was great to hear for the earlier songs by Steve. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. L. M. Hobbs
Less chat would be nice
Interesting though it might be to listen to Steve's anecdotes, they wear a bit thin after, oooh, 1 listen. Read more
Published 10 months ago by josenid
Discover Seasick Steve now
Having previously only heard a couple of tracks by Seasick Steve I had no idea which album to go for, once I had decided that it was time to own one of his Cd's. Read more
Published 11 months ago by indie59
America as it should be
Actually this album has many of the songs that presented me to seasick steve world. My knowledge of steve is very recent (first contact was when he was put to test in the top gear... Read more
Published 13 months ago by harakiri
I Started Out With Nothing and I Still Got Most of It Left
My brother had been on at me for a while to buy a Seasick Steve album and give his bluesy, bluegrass, folky music a try. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Spider Monkey
HOBO, TRAMP OR BUM?
Seasick Steve (Steven Gene Wold) born in California 1941 said "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by DOPPLEGANGER
Great value.
Very cheap, and a great album. An ideal gift for someone who likes this genre of music, even if they haven't heard of Seasick Steve before.
Published 15 months ago by ECR1
It Could Have been so good
I bought 2 of Steve's CD's on a whim after seeing him on a re-run of top gear. The music, I liked very much but the audio quality? was dreadful. Read more
Published 17 months ago by John
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