Blue Me (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Blues  »  General/Blues
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: May 23, 2006
• Label: Blues Bureau International
• UPC: 026245205321
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106007992
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #48449 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #1045 in Blues (See Top 100 Blues Bestsellers)
• #407 in General/Blues (See Top 100 General/Blues Bestsellers)

Browse more products related to "Blue Me"

Browse more products related to "Leslie West"

Recording information: Kevinth Heaven Studios, Las Vegas, NV; Showplace Studios, Dover, NJ; The Tone Factory, Las Vegas, NV.

Leslie West isn't a particularly innovative guitarist, and his style and approach have barely moved an eyelash since he first broke into the public consciousness with Mountain back in the early '70s, but boy can this guy get tone! West still sings with a gear-shredding roar and his guitar lines sound heavier than plutonium on this set of blues-rockers, and if he doesn't exactly do anything that he hasn't done before, his laser-on-steroids precision as a guitar player is still undeniable and when he gets cranking, it's guaranteed to blow the dust out of the eaves. That said, the most striking tracks here are the ones where he throttles things down just a hair. The opener, a version of Leroy Carr's classic "Blues Before Sunrise," is huge sounding without letting that overwhelm the song, while West's take on Percy Mayfield's "Hit the Road Jack" (best known in the Ray Charles version) is relatively sleek and elegant. The rendition of the Gershwins' "Summertime" that closes the set is plenty moody, with West's guitar weeping like the proverbial willow tree. He works the distinctive riff of John Fogerty's "Green River" for all it will give, turning this slice of faux swamp rock into a muscular monster ready to eat the whole bayou. These are the high points. Elsewhere, when the thunder and lightning of West's guitar lines die down, you're left with fairly rote arrangements of songs that seem essentially interchangeable. West's fans will get exactly what they expect with Blue Me, which means that West is doing his job, but there really isn't anything here that wasn't already in the first 20 seconds of "Mississippi Queen" when it hit the airwaves some 30-plus years ago. ~ Steve Leggett

There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!

• Great Deals on CDs under $9.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic Albums all for under $10! Great Music for Everyone's Tastes!

• Great Deals on DVDs under $12.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic DVDs all for under $13! Great Movies, TV and DVD Specials for Everyone's Tastes!

• Great Deals on Books under $14.99

  New Releases, Bestsellers and Classic Books all for under $15! Great Reads for Everyone's Tastes!