EAN: 0804879202325

It's a sign of {|Joe Bonamassa'|}s increasing profile that he got blues legend {|B.B. King|} to guest on his eighth album {|Black Rock|} -- and if what you're doing is good enough to rope… More...

It's a sign of {|Joe Bonamassa'|}s increasing profile that he got blues legend {|B.B. King|} to guest on his eighth album {|Black Rock|} -- and if what you're doing is good enough to rope {|B.B.|} in, there's not much reason to change, so {|Bonamassa|} doesn't tinker with his formula here, retaining a little of the folky undertow of {|The Ballad of John Henry|}, but with its remaining roots in a thick, heavy blues-rock more redolent of '60s London than the '50s Delta. Of course, {|Bonamassa|} has never shied away from his love of Brit-blues, even underscoring it with a good streamlined cover of {|Jeff Beck'|}s {|Spanish Boots,|} but he retains a healthy respect for all manners of classic blues, kicking out a Chicago groove on a cover of {|Otis Rush'|}s {|Three Times a Fool,|} reaching back to {|Blind Boy Fuller|} for {|Baby You Gotta Change Your Mind|} and ably replicating {|B.B.'|}s latter-day soul groove on a horn-smacked cover of {|Willie Nelson'|}s {|Night Life.|} {|Bonamassa|} has an ear for non-blues writers too, cherrypicking {|Leonard Cohen'|}s {|Bird on a Wire|} and {|John Hiatt'|}s {|I Know a Place,|} tying it all together with beefy lead lines, but the provocative moments on {|Black Rock|} are all self-penned, whether it's the clattering stomp {|When the Fire Hits the Sea,|} the British folk lilt of {|Quarryman's Lament|} and {|Athens to Athens,|} or the droning dramatic epic {|Blue and Evil.|} These are easily the most intriguing songs here, suggesting {|Bonamassa|} realizes that the familiar covers allow him to stretch out elsewhere, and while it might be interesting hearing him follow this path for a full album, what's here on {|Black Rock|} is both satisfying and admirably, if reservedly, ambitious. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Music>Music>Blues>Blues>Blues, Universal Music Core >3<

ISBN: 0804879202325

CD Audio, Premier Artists