GF music review club

[Carvalho Diablo]

Spotify : Captain Longhair - Crawfish Fiesta

[Jose Jones]

On 24/09/2020 at 00:04, TheHowieLama said:

Still want to listen again the the previous offering but will keep things moving along with the incomparable Fess.

 

 

 

Don't know how to embed the audio so @Fluter in Dakota take the wheel if you would.

Best album cover so far.

[Jose Jones]

I’ve been totally digging this one, listened to it four times already. First off, Professor Longhair is just a totally great name.

When @TheHowieLama informed that Dr John was on this record I assumed he was playing the piano. However turns out it’s the good Professor himself (the Night Stepper is on guitar).

The internet tells me Fess was a big influence on Dr John so explains why his playing is similar.

Anyway he’s great at the piano, his singing is boss and it’s all just great New Orleans Blues fun.

Bald Head and Her Mind is Gone are probably my favourites, but every song is good. Definitely going to keep this in the record bag for my next fiesta.

8.4/10

[Carvalho Diablo]

Review: Professor Longhair - Crawfish Fiesta

 

I won't ask how Howie discovered this fella, I really won't.

 

[presses play]

 

Big Chief jingles and jangles in with a euphoric honky tonk piano before the Professor does his best Roger Whittaker.

Whoa, the Prof's vocals are all over the shop, are they even in English?

A cross between Elvis and Super Glu, I like it, I think?

 

Her Mind Is Gone is totally Elvis, making me laugh out loud. Loads of fun this, the drums shuffle and the brass fills it all out.

His vocals though...

 

Something On Your Mind is Don't Be Cruel and I'm smiling throughout.

Live those brass swells.

 

You're Driving Me Crazy - Ha! Love this, corny as hell but no less fun for it.

Old Longhair sounds short tongued AND crazy. Bonus!

 

Red Beans - more honky tonk piano and boogie woogie goodness.

He's got his red Beans cookin' girl.

Great sax break.

 

Willie Fugal's Blues is a 2 minute honky tonk solo, totally in keeping with the rest.

 

It's My Fault Darling - ha ha, old Longhair is fessin' up to his old lady. "The man was twice my size and I do believe he was packing a John Lewis '20 ". Ha, brilliant.

Guitar solo too. Best song yet.

 

In The Wee Hours us more rock n roll boogie woogie. Great drums on this.

 

Cry To Me is almost grand in comparison, the Prof slowing it down with some dubious vocal lines.

Fantastic percussion and guitar. Love this one.

 

Bald Head is exactly the same as It's My Fault but with a different vocal melody. Does the Prof have his false teeth missing?

 

Whole Lotta Loving - obviously a huge inspiration to Zeppelin, I really need to wiki this and find out when it was recorded. 50s - 60s? Git down and jiggy.

 

Crawfish Fiesta is all saloon bar piano and an ode to Loony Tunes. Very apt and brilliant.

 

River's Invitation is the final track and just like the others, the piano is at it's heart.

The old Professor laments a long lost woman and he's in need of a little lovin'.

 

Phew, well that was totally unexpected. Even after 3 listens I'm still thoroughly confused and still smiling from ear to ear.

 

Great stuff, like Elvis with a stroke.

 

7/10

 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Any more reviews of Professor Longhair?

 

And who's next to pick?

[Guest]

On 07/09/2020 at 20:49, Fluter in Dakota said:

@ZonkoVille77

@TheHowieLama

@Jose Jones <---

@Carvalho Diablo 

@Fluter in Dakota

I haven't listened yet, really busy week. Hopefully have time to listen tomorrow. 

[ZonkoVille77]

I will get my review up later, might be short and sweet. I think my thoughts have been well covered in the other reviews. 

[TheHowieLama]

On 02/10/2020 at 05:03, Carvalho Diablo said:

 

Great stuff, like Elvis with a stroke.

 

 

 

Big influence on Elvis - he would have been a 15 year old kid when the Professors records started coming out.

[Guest]

@Carvalho Diablo If you enjoyed Nothing But Thieves first album, their second one (Broken Machine) might just be even better. It's a proper grower and thoroughly brilliant.

[Guest]

@TheHowieLama's last pick is right up there with the weird/brilliant combination of albums. I'd never heard of him but it's easy to hear where Elvis would have been led by it. Easily the best blues album on this thread and it might be my favourite album so far on here.

 

If more Elvis fans heard it they might wonder why he's not that famous. 

 

9/10.

[ZonkoVille77]

I'll have my review up tomorrow. Apologies for my tardiness, I've been up to my nipples lately. 

[Guest]

Must be due a new record soon, @Jose Jones... 

[Jose Jones]

Alright, cool, @ZonkoVille77 can add another review to his Spotify queue.
I was tossing up 3 or 4 as per, but decided to go with something a bit different tempo to albums we’ve had so far.

It’s the new one from one of my old favourites, Gold Record by Bill Callahan.

 

Here’s the link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/309GzmwSB1Aj3gh8Tpp3Fo?si=7qdGbeoUQzKnPgcw3OnlqQ

 

[cloggypop]

Bill Callahan is boss. It's a disgrace he isn't in the solo artist thread. 

[ZonkoVille77]

Professor Longhair - Crawfish Fiesta

 

I know very little about New Orleans based artists to be honest so it was nice to have something like this pop up on my radar. What a pianist. The intro to "You're driving me Crazy" is just so good.  The kids were bopping about the kitchen when I had it on over the weekend.

Overall such a brilliantly entertaining album. The musicianship throughout this album is a real pleasure to the ears. Guitar playing on "It's my fault, Darling" and "In the Wee Wee Hours" is top notch. There's a real happy energy in every single track. Totally get the Elvis shouts here too, especially on "Her Mind is Gone" and "Something on Your Mind". 

 

Stand out tracks:

Her Mind is Gone

You're driving me Crazy

It's my fault, Darling

 

I also bless my little ears - the first track "Big Chief" was indeed the music from the Kinder advert a good few years ago. That whistled tune has always stuck in my head and it's nice to finally put an artist to it. 

 

I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to put this album on but I certainly wouldn't switch it off if it was on. 

Solid 8.3/10

 

[ZonkoVille77]

12 hours ago, Jose Jones said:

Alright, cool, @ZonkoVille77 can add another review to his Spotify queue.
I was tossing up 3 or 4 as per, but decided to go with something a bit different tempo to albums we’ve had so far.

It’s the new one from one of my old favourites, Gold Record by Bill Callahan.

 

Here’s the link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/309GzmwSB1Aj3gh8Tpp3Fo?si=7qdGbeoUQzKnPgcw3OnlqQ

 

 

Nice one, Jose.

[Carvalho Diablo]

14 hours ago, cloggypop said:

Bill Callahan is boss. It's a disgrace he isn't in the solo artist thread. 

Another I've never heard of.

[cloggypop]

1 minute ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Another I've never heard of.

You're in for a treat. If you like him and then run out of albums under his name check out Smog. 

[ZonkoVille77]

Bill Callahan - Gold Record

 

I thought I had never heard of Bill Callahan until I started listening to this album. Then I recognised the voice and it made me realise I actually saw him live with a mate who was trying to get me into Bill's music. I don't remember very much about that gig to be honest other than thinking the atmosphere created from the band was excellent but that I felt bored from listening to him "sing". (Had to check, it was his "Dream River" album tour)

So therein lies my issue. He isn't really a singer, is he? He's just generally speaking melodically within a narrow range and I just can't "dig" artists like that because it never grabs my attention. Bill is a storyteller and therefore DEMANDS to be carefully listened to. I do try my best to do this but before I know it the song is over and I've forgotten what has just happened (I actually nodded off listening to this yesterday evening). That's not to say I have a short attention span, it's just my brain seems to reject this type of thing. He isn't my bag but I do see how people could like him though. So I think it would be churlish of me to provide a rating so I'll abstain on this one.
 

[Jose Jones]

Do the rating. Do it.

[ZonkoVille77]

2 minutes ago, Jose Jones said:

Do the rating. Do it.

 

Haha. I can't!!

 

There were elements that I enjoyed. Pigeons, Breakfast, Cowboy were good listens. But not my thing. 

[Jose Jones]

I did think this might be a bit slow and quiet for some. It’s a sit on the back porch with a whisky in the autumn sun pondering the peculiarities of life record.

[ZonkoVille77]

This is good. I think I'd like him in small doses.

 

 

https://open.spotify.com/track/0tOqFoIqfOVxb8MHlnxJ8L?si=8UisVQ4aTca1MUPDWCbIfg&utm_source=copy-link

[TheHowieLama]

Bill Callahan. Never heard of the cunt.

 

Gold Record

 

Pigeons - Sounds like Lou Reed on heroin, literally. Alot of interesting sounds - nice, maybe a little long. Trumpet at the end, nice.

 

Another Song - It is a really great country song, love it. Great guitar sounds. Good freakout at the end.

 

35 - cool open tuning - it is really long this one.

 

Protest Song - good riff, a little Doorsy here - like if Morrison was pretending to be Barry White. I do like how all the songs have that dark cowboy feel and some Tex Mex spice. 

 

The Mackenzies - any tune with beer thirty in it is great. 

Got a nice country lilt then he goes double time for a couple lines - pretty cool. "Stays inside and hides"

 

 

The guy reminds me of James McMurtry.

 

 

Let's Move to the Country -  a delta blues thing.  It is looonggg.

 

Breakfast - great groove - the traditional "band sound" helps. This is my favorite so far. Very cool lyric and some sweet changes in there.

 

Cowboy - very haunting track, maybe next best for me. You can smell it.

 

Ry Cooder - pretty funny, really well done. Good picking too - is he the playing all the guitars on these songs? The tones throughout are sweet.

 

As I Wander - really like the orchestration/instrumentation through the whole record. The sounds are very cool throughout - to be honest I found myself sometimes ignoring they lyric/vocal and just listening to the tune.

 

 

Very pleasant listening, definitely like the overall "sound". Agree with Zonk - you would really need to want to dig into the lyrics to get the full monty here. Pretty darn cool. In with a 7.

 

 

 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Listened to Jose's Bill Callahan AOW a few times but still need to write and post my review, will get it done tomorrow and then post the next AOW on Wednesday.

 

At least, that's the plan.