Magnet (p.118) - "[I]ts finished sound is alternately white-hot and down-home....Among Ulmer's original material are burning interpretations of songs by Junior Kimbrough, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and Bessie Smith."
Vibe (p.134) - "[W]ith Ulmer's murky drawl and plangent electric guitar, it achieves a humid immediacy."
Dirty Linen (p.70) - "[With] muscular, unrelenting electric blues and biting, incisive lyrics."
Living Blues (p.40) - "Ulmer's voice is as raw and uncompromising as it's ever been, and Vernon Reid's guitar leads explode with anguished fury."
No Depression (p.101) - "Ulmer's own 'Katrina' demonstrates how a blues can be constructed without recourse to resolution. In this, the music perfectly matches his howl of outrage..."
Personnel include: James Blood Ulmer (guitar); Vernon Reid (acoustic guitar); Charlie Burnham (mandolin); David Barnes (harmonica); Leon Gruenbaum (clarinet); Mark Peterson (electric bass); Aubrey Dayle (drums); Irene Datcher (background vocals).
Recording information: Piety Recording Studios, New Orleans, Louisiana.