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Mess of Blues
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Mess of Blues
Current price: $16.99
Barnes and Noble
Mess of Blues
Current price: $16.99
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While
Mess of Blues
may not be the last
Jeff Healey
recording we see, it is the one that will be accorded as his epitaph, seeing that it was issued in America less than two months after his death just three weeks shy of his 42nd birthday. There is no ambulance chasing or grave robbing process involved here. The album is sanctioned; it was set to be issued before he passed away.
Healey
wrote the liner notes for this date (his first
blues
release in eight years!), and explained the song choices he made for it. The strange thing when considering all the different recordings he made during his short life is that
's career is bookended -- on tape at least -- by blistering
electric blues
-
rock
albums. The very genre that established
's considerable (and deserved) reputation as a guitarist is also the one that underscored it at the end.
contains ten cuts, all of them chosen by
from what he considered "audience favorites," rather than his own or his fine band's preferred tunes. Four of these were recorded in front of audiences at the
Islington Academy
in London and, appropriately enough, at
Healey's Roadhouse
(his club) in Toronto. The other six were cut at
Studio 92
in Canada by
Norm Barker
and
Richard Uglow
. Make no mistake: while this an
record to be sure, the very eclectic selection of tracks also puts the words "blues-rock" in bold print. One example is the scorched earth reading of
Neil Young
's
"Like a Hurricane."
But there are others, too: the New Orleans-funked up second-line rhythmic pulse shoved right up against early
rockabilly
in the version of
Hank Williams
'
"Jambalaya"
; the excellent tribute to fellow Canadians (with an American drummer)
the Band
and songwriter
Robbie Robertson
with a moving version of
"The Weight."
This is a nearly reverential interpretation with brief, beautiful guitar fills by
Dan Noordermeer
, and brilliant piano work by
Dave Murphy
. But there are plenty of
as well. There are the screaming guitar freak-outs on
Sonny Thompson
"I'm Torn Down"
that opens the disc, and the old-school
R&B
of
"Shake, Rattle and Roll,"
updated by this killer band for the 21st century;
Doc Pomus
' terrific
jump blues
-meets-
doo wop
"Mess O' Blues,"
Murphy
's roadhouse rocker
"It's Only Money,"
(which he sings). But the greatest moments here are
playing the slow, deeply moving electric guitar-drenched
"How Blue Can You Get,"
that begins with a long biting guitar solo, and the classic
"Sittin' on Top of the World,"
that fuses the loping original version's tempo with the rockist one done by
Peter Green
and the original
Fleetwood Mac
back in the late '60s. This is a fitting send-off, beautifully recorded and presented by Germany's
Ruf
imprint (though it is readily available in the United States and Canada) and the only tribute that really counts: a man's next record. Cancer may have gotten
in the end, but as evidenced by this CD, he went out like a champ of an artist, still hungry, still restless, still playing his ass off and seeking out the elusive heart of the
and popular songs he loved in life. ~ Thom Jurek
Mess of Blues
may not be the last
Jeff Healey
recording we see, it is the one that will be accorded as his epitaph, seeing that it was issued in America less than two months after his death just three weeks shy of his 42nd birthday. There is no ambulance chasing or grave robbing process involved here. The album is sanctioned; it was set to be issued before he passed away.
Healey
wrote the liner notes for this date (his first
blues
release in eight years!), and explained the song choices he made for it. The strange thing when considering all the different recordings he made during his short life is that
's career is bookended -- on tape at least -- by blistering
electric blues
-
rock
albums. The very genre that established
's considerable (and deserved) reputation as a guitarist is also the one that underscored it at the end.
contains ten cuts, all of them chosen by
from what he considered "audience favorites," rather than his own or his fine band's preferred tunes. Four of these were recorded in front of audiences at the
Islington Academy
in London and, appropriately enough, at
Healey's Roadhouse
(his club) in Toronto. The other six were cut at
Studio 92
in Canada by
Norm Barker
and
Richard Uglow
. Make no mistake: while this an
record to be sure, the very eclectic selection of tracks also puts the words "blues-rock" in bold print. One example is the scorched earth reading of
Neil Young
's
"Like a Hurricane."
But there are others, too: the New Orleans-funked up second-line rhythmic pulse shoved right up against early
rockabilly
in the version of
Hank Williams
'
"Jambalaya"
; the excellent tribute to fellow Canadians (with an American drummer)
the Band
and songwriter
Robbie Robertson
with a moving version of
"The Weight."
This is a nearly reverential interpretation with brief, beautiful guitar fills by
Dan Noordermeer
, and brilliant piano work by
Dave Murphy
. But there are plenty of
as well. There are the screaming guitar freak-outs on
Sonny Thompson
"I'm Torn Down"
that opens the disc, and the old-school
R&B
of
"Shake, Rattle and Roll,"
updated by this killer band for the 21st century;
Doc Pomus
' terrific
jump blues
-meets-
doo wop
"Mess O' Blues,"
Murphy
's roadhouse rocker
"It's Only Money,"
(which he sings). But the greatest moments here are
playing the slow, deeply moving electric guitar-drenched
"How Blue Can You Get,"
that begins with a long biting guitar solo, and the classic
"Sittin' on Top of the World,"
that fuses the loping original version's tempo with the rockist one done by
Peter Green
and the original
Fleetwood Mac
back in the late '60s. This is a fitting send-off, beautifully recorded and presented by Germany's
Ruf
imprint (though it is readily available in the United States and Canada) and the only tribute that really counts: a man's next record. Cancer may have gotten
in the end, but as evidenced by this CD, he went out like a champ of an artist, still hungry, still restless, still playing his ass off and seeking out the elusive heart of the
and popular songs he loved in life. ~ Thom Jurek