1. 99½ Won’t Do
2. Six O’Clock Blues
3. Goin’ Down Slow
4. Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes
5. For You
6. The Cape
7. ’Tain’t Such a Much
8. Needed Time
9. If I Stayed
10. Connected
11. Ribbons and Bows
12. Just Look Up
13. Cowgirl Queen
14. Kulanjan / Sebastian’s Tune
15. Dance Me To The End Of Time
Critically-acclaimed Eric Bibb keeps some pretty good company.
Funnily enough, they all turn up on this truly outstanding album, like Taj
Mahal, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster and a host of others
Eric Bibb. His stellar new CD ‘Friends’ is a polyphonic
delight. A protégé of Mahal, he’s the darling of the genre, and this
fantastic collection of 15 tracks consolidates his reputation as a Blues
breaking maverick. Rule – busting at every level, it’s awash with subtle
guitar technique, eclectic styles, and delicious harmonies .He continues
to push the boundaries to their limit, so it’s not text book stuff as
such, because he’s too sophisticated and experimental to be pigeon –
holed.
As with all great musicians, it’s the avante garde approach that
rubber stamps them into the history books. Friends is rustic, delicate,
soulful, and down right gorgeous. Instruments used include, 12 string
slide guitar, harmonica, fiddle, kora, piano, banjo, tablas, concertina,
mandolin – get the picture?
There isn’t a bad track, so choosing the
highlight is difficult, so here are my favs: Steel guitar-laden 99½
Won't Do, as he’s joined by Guy Davies, the Soul – Gospel of Needed Time.
Check the divine duet with Foster, For You – it’ll rip your heart
out, and Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes is something to behold. Oh, nearly
forgot, there’s even a Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) style harmonica on
Six O’Clock News. It’s a long time since a CD moved me emotionally, and
this really does the trick. A timeless classic. Worthy of massive
commercial success.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
