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01. STORMY MONDAY BLUES (T-Bone Walker)
02. I FEEL GOOD (James Brown)
03. THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING (Riley King)
04. THE THINGS I USED TO DO I DON'T DO 'EM NO MORE (Eddie Jones)
05. I REALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW (H.Barnes & D.Robertson)
06. CHARLESTON WOMAN (Drink Small)
07. INSTRUMENTAL (Drink Small)
08. I'M IN LOVE WITH A GRANDMA (Drink Small)
09. SHOUT (K.Isley, R.Isley, & R.Isley)
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| Living Blues: reviewed by Jim DeKoster As the title implies, this disc presents blues doctor Small recorded live, playing electric guitar. The venue is a club in Washington, DC, and unobtrusive accompaniment is provided by J.J. Miller on guitar and harmonica, Wayne Mitchum on bass, and Steve Kent on drums. The date was 1988, prior to Small's two Ichiban LPs, and, not surprisingly, Mapleshade's production values put the leader's voice and guitar a bit more to the fore than did Ichiban's. The sound is commendably clean and natural because, as the notes boast, there was "no mixing board, filtering, compression, equalization, noise reduction, multi-tracking, or overdubbing." Small, touted as "possibly the only major blues singer today with a true basso profundo voice, works his way through a playlist of mostly familiar material, with quite a lot of good-humored monologue extending most cuts. Although he is a sufficiently distinctive singer and guitarist to make even ten minutes of Stormy Monday bearable, Small is too fine a songwriter to be represented by only two originals both of which are quite good. Because Small's personality comes through so strongly, this is a more entertaining set than might be expected from the song selection. It provides the best showcase yet for his guitar skills, and an entirely solo set might make a worthy companion especially if it featured more original material. |
