CD Review - Cyril Neville - "Brand New Blues" - MC Records 2009
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I admittedly don't have a lot of Neville music, by any of the brothers, in my collection. It's not a conscious omission from my expansive music collection, just one of those things you don't pick up on until you have that light bulb moment telling you to get a hold of an artist's work, or you'll always have that hole. Unfortunately with the Nevilles, that's a big freaking hole. I recently started filling the void, though, with Cyril Neville's Brand New Blues.
Brand New Blues is what you would expect from someone with the last name Neville, a rich jambalaya of sounds encompassing Blues, Soul, Funk, R&B, Reggae, and much more.
Cyril Neville pours his soul into the vocals on the ten song disc. The playing is first rate as well, with guests Art, Ivan, and Ian Neville, Tab Benoit, Waylon Thibodeaux. There's also some truly amazing Harmonica playing by Jumpin Johnny Sansone.
Neville plays around on fun songs like "Shake Your Gumbo" and "Cream Them Beans," the latter of which sounds like it belongs in the old Chess records catalogue. He also gets down to business, looking at the bad things men do, with songs like "Cheatin' and Lyin'" and "Mean Bodd Blues." There's an inspirational march, "Don't Move My Mountains;" and Neville included an inspired version of Bob Marley's "Slave Driver," turning the tune into a slow burn and adding another verse (dealing with the devastating loss of life due to Hurricane Katrina) to close out the CD's final song.
Brand New Blues is Cyril Neville's first Disc in eight years, and it's definitely worth the wait. It's an album that snuck up on me: listening to it as I drove around town, but listening carefully, and finally exclaiming "This is a damn good CD," about the time I pulled in the driveway.
I admittedly don't have a lot of Neville music, by any of the brothers, in my collection. It's not a conscious omission from my expansive music collection, just one of those things you don't pick up on until you have that light bulb moment telling you to get a hold of an artist's work, or you'll always have that hole. Unfortunately with the Nevilles, that's a big freaking hole. I recently started filling the void, though, with Cyril Neville's Brand New Blues.
Brand New Blues is what you would expect from someone with the last name Neville, a rich jambalaya of sounds encompassing Blues, Soul, Funk, R&B, Reggae, and much more.
Cyril Neville pours his soul into the vocals on the ten song disc. The playing is first rate as well, with guests Art, Ivan, and Ian Neville, Tab Benoit, Waylon Thibodeaux. There's also some truly amazing Harmonica playing by Jumpin Johnny Sansone.
Neville plays around on fun songs like "Shake Your Gumbo" and "Cream Them Beans," the latter of which sounds like it belongs in the old Chess records catalogue. He also gets down to business, looking at the bad things men do, with songs like "Cheatin' and Lyin'" and "Mean Bodd Blues." There's an inspirational march, "Don't Move My Mountains;" and Neville included an inspired version of Bob Marley's "Slave Driver," turning the tune into a slow burn and adding another verse (dealing with the devastating loss of life due to Hurricane Katrina) to close out the CD's final song.
Brand New Blues is Cyril Neville's first Disc in eight years, and it's definitely worth the wait. It's an album that snuck up on me: listening to it as I drove around town, but listening carefully, and finally exclaiming "This is a damn good CD," about the time I pulled in the driveway.
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