Rod Stewart ~ Unplugged ... And Seated (live) (album review) ... But, you will get up & rock out!

Style: pop rock, blues-rock, acoustic, classic rock, live
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1993
Home: n/a

Members: Rod Stewart ~ vocals/banjo
Jeff Golub, Jim Creagan ~ guitar
Don Teschner ~ guitar/mandolin/violin
Carmine Rojas ~ bass
Charles Kentiss III ~ piano
Kevin Savigar ~ piano/accordian
Phil Parlapiano ~ accordian/mandolin
Dorian Holley, Darryl Phinnessee, Fred White ~ backing vocals
Marilyn Baker, Haim Shtrum, Mari Tsumura, Jay Rosen, Kwihee Shamban, Miran Kojian, Brian Leonard, Jean Hugo, Joel Derouin, Bruce Dukov, Joseph Meyer, Ronald Clark, Joan Elardo, David Shostac, Norman Ludwin, Drew Dembowski, David Shamban, Suzie Katayama, James Ross, Larry Corbett ~ strings

Guest: Ron Wood ~ guitar

Pumping bass, acoustic guitars of every shape, steady unelaborate drums kick off the show with the classic romp "Hot Legs". It's classic 70's RS time! But, then things move right into a more somber mood with the slow bluesy "Tonight's The Night". It's classic rock RS but expect there's also going to be a lot of crooning more in line with the 80's Vegabond Heart "Forever Young" RS. The result is a fusion of the 70's energized rocker with the 80's soft rocker, of mixed reviews, into a new 90's vibrant RS that isn't trying to recreate the past  nor defy his age but create a loose & fun evening rediscovering old songs & largely ignoring the less memorable 80's hits. Thus comes one of the best MTV Unplugged concerts in my opinion right alongside Eric Clapton & Nirvana. I'd always heard about the vibrant 70's RS who had an amazing live presence, but the 80's soft rock crooner presented a shadow of that reputation. This was the first live album I heard by RS & it introduced me to the RS of my parents generation. Though, unlike Clapton & Nirvana whose acoustic forays became accidental climaxes, RS needs a career boost after disaster album after disaster album & always having an eye for trends jumped right on board. He's doing his best to show the name RS still matters, even hamming it up at times with his banter, but yet it's hard to see this as totally acting but that he really has gotten into the moment & enjoying the nostalgic romp honestly as much as the audience is. It helps that former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood comes out after the fourth song to man the guitar, which helps keep the vibrant 70's energy upfront & the weak 80's commercialism at bay, let alone its rare to see RS have someone to bounce off of. Yes, RS knew what he was doing inviting back his old bandmate from the Faces, he knew this would reinvent his career the way he needed. Particularly as they hadn't played together in twenty years. Excuse the deliberate nature, the well-planned set list, the backing strings, because it works & is a necessary album for anyone who wants to hear RS at his best. Oh, & excuse the fact that many of these songs originally were heavily acoustic so he's not taken to reinventing himself. But, many of the songs almost sound better here & certainly looser & his voice is raspier. Personally, I consider this the last album of classic RS as he'd never be this nostalgic nor vibrant again. This was also the formal goodbye to the slick RS that is full of RS's worst albums, the most uninspired music & one might be surprised how many albums he put out in the 80's that have gone intentionally forgotten by all parties sans a few songs that survived the garbage heap. What would follow Unplugged ... & Seated was the the under-rated Spanner In The Works, the brit-pop covers album When We Were The New Boys & the dance album Human. These would be would be nice codas, somewhat unmemorable but aging better than one might expect, but music of an artist unable to find a new direction after the high of his acoustic comeback & not wanting to return to the previous music. The later release also suffer from throat troubles that softened his vocal rasp, which some have said made him a better singer technically. Then RS would reinvent himself as the aging jazz & pop singer & cover artist to commercial success but critical failure. It might be one of the greatest facelifts in music become a torch song balladeer, but the music lacks the vibrancy that made RS famous, let alone might be a pleasant collection of albums for a middle aged man but a lightweight listening that's too contrived & lacking depth. But, for one wonderful minute we have RS sitting in a transition stage & he turned in a classic album that was everything RS wanted & needed & maybe a bit more. He wanted a successful album but got a legacy maker.

Saint Jude ~ Diary Of A Soul Fiend (album review) ... Singing the blues in stilettos!

Style: blues-rock
Label: Saint Jude Records
Year: 2010
Home: England

Members: Lynne Jackaman ~ vocals
Adam Greene ~ guitar
Joe Glossop ~ keyboards
Colin Palmer ~ bass
Lee Cook ~ drums

Guest: Ronnie Wood ~ guitar

Don't expect R&B soul cause this debut is actually a magical ride with a lip-curled hair tossing stiletto wearing blues-belter with electric slide guitars, a little honky-tonk piano & grooves to the max. Think Rolling Stones at their rockin' blues best, any era, with Ronnie Wood & Bobby Keys chugging away solos that could come out of the Mississippi swamp with a dynamic vocalist who sometimes shouts & sometimes whispers songs of sexy wild women & dangerous relationships. Actually, I'll confess that the previous description was written before looking at the linear notes that shows some guitar playing is by no other than Ronnie himself! I guess I've listened to him enough to recognize his style ... either that or this is what I've wanted the Stones to sound like so often but have been disappointed by ... the singer ... who tries to have the passion of vocalist Lynne Jackaman but you can't get this feeling in an arena. Jackaman is as vocally dynamic as the band behind her & moves between giving off a vibe of a dangerous beer drinkin' woman to a woman wanting some tender lovin' ... & you'll love her & want to be lookin' at her strut her stuff not just hearing her. Though Jackaman will surely get the attention & the rest of the band needs accolades. Guitarist Adam Greene plays hardcore raw blues but knows how to keep it upbeat & rockin', think Johnny Winter without some of the flash, while Joe Glossop adds both honkey-tonk keyboards, organ. It's just enough touches of classic blues to keep the songs floored in the past but not too much. There's even a horn section & every one knows every hardcore blues band has horns. The guitar may dominate but there's a smart producer behind the band who gives everyone a chance to shine in the spotlight with lots of improvisational room. & if the electric pounding gets to much there's even a couple acoustic tunes with some gentle slide in the slide. In many ways they're a downfall after the rockin' songs but they have a charm all their own. Though a warning should be attached to the album ... you will keep opener "Soul On Fire" on repeat & not even notice you haven't gotten to the rest of the album. Just enough rock & just enough roll to keep you long satisfied.

Rolling Stones ~ Steel Wheels (album review) ... Coming back from dirty work!

Style: rock, blues-rock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1989
Home: n/a

Members: Mick Jagger ~ vocals/guitar/harmonica
Keith Richards ~ guitar/vocals
Charlie Watts ~ drums
Ronnie Wood ~ guitar/bass/dobro/b. vocals
Bill Wyman ~ bass
Additional: Chuck Leavell ~ keyboards
Matt Clifford ~ keyboards/clavinet/harmonium
Sarah Dash, Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler, Tessa Niles, Sonia Morgan ~ b. vocals
Luis Jardim ~ percussion
Phil Beer ~ mandolin/violin
The Kick Horns ~ horns
Roddy Lorimer ~ trumpet
The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Bachir Attar Farafina ~ African-Moroccan instruments

Many people forget that the Rolling Stones broke-up in the 80's. Largely spurred by both musical differences in the band, declining sales & Mick Jagger's desire for a solo career the hiatus would give birth to the Charlie Watts Jazz Orchestra & Keith Richards' X-Pensive Winos ... eclipsing Jagger's solo outings & initiating his jealousy to reform the band ... so one version of the story goes. Steel Wheels, jokingly nicknamed 'Steel Wheelchairs' due to the aging band, was their comeback/reunion album. Though the Stones have never been predictable from one release to another, Steel Wheels once again changed the sound of the band. With this reunion the band went all the way with Jagger's desire to turn the band into an arena anthem rock outfit with such big radio friendly songs as "Rock & A Hard Place", "Mixed Emotions" & "Sad Sad Sad" yet surprisingly also gave ample space to the slower sobering ballads sung &/or often penned by Keith Richards (i.e. "Can't Be Seen"). It's an interesting study in contrasts with the ballads getting lost in the shuffle at the time until being revived years later thanks to HBO's Sopranos that featured Keith in the credits. Sadly the arena rock would take priority in later releases, further making the reunion less than a reunion, & making Steel Wheels a highlight of the later Stones output until A Bigger Bang brought the band back to its bluesy roots ... everything in between including the live albums tending toward gluttony if not a sign that the band was a business not a band. Another thing that changed with Steel Wheels was the expansion of the band. There had always been additional musicians outside the official quintet, considering the band was co-founded by pianist Ian Stuart who was deemed too unattractive to be seen anywhere except performing out of sight behind an amp, while after Stuart's death there continued to be numerous pianists in the backing band plus a horn section. But, on Steel Wheels was the addition of backing vocalists from Jagger's solo band along with Sarah Dash from the X-Pensive Winos. The later Bridges To Babylon would see even more studio musicians including numerous guitarists. It didn't help matter that this was the beginning of Jagger's habit of recording & writing separately in a different studio while the rest of the band, & friends, stayed together. This would also be the final album with bassist Bill Wyman whose musical contributions continue to be under-looked. But, all that being said Steel Wheels is loaded with more memorable songs than had been found on the previous few Stones albums (i.e. Undercover, Dirty Work) & some of the best songs they'd produce in the forthcoming decade. As for those that decry the anthem songs luckily they take up less than half the album with the rest being glossy but attractive ballady rockers from a middle-aged band of beloved musicians. There's a few throwaways, but there's never been a Stones album album that didn't have at least one or two. Yes, they've done better albums, but that was decades earlier in a world & with line-ups we'll never see again thus we can either enjoy where the Stones have gone since or just forget about them & ignore some music great without comparison of what came before.