Strong persuader --- Robert Cray --- 1986 (Mercury)
One of the most influential blues guitar players of the last thirty or so years, Robert Cray has received five Grammy awards and just last year was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He has been into blues guitar since he was young and has played with the likes of John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and Eric Clapton, and has lent his name to a signature Stratocaster. This is his fifth of almost twenty albums recorded over the last more than thirty years.
To be honest, I bought this on the recommendations of a workmate, who was totally into blues, but when I played it the first time I wasn't overly impressed with it. Of course, back then I was only in my mid-twenties, and in the throes of coming out of an obsession with heavy metal, and running headlong into another, this time with progressive rock, so perhaps this just did not sit well with where I was at the time, musical appreciation wise.
It starts off well, rockin' with “Smoking gun”, some really low-key organ adding to the squeal of Cray's guitar, and his vocals are certainly up to scratch, sort of reminds me of the late Gary Moore in places. It's a good fast opener, and certainly grabs the attention, while trumpet and trombone from Wayne Jackson forms the backdrop for “I guess I showed her”, a bit slower and a bit more Chicago than Delta blues, with a good splash of New Orleans jazz thrown in. Cray's guitar of course plays a central role, but this song is less based around that than the brass, with a lyric in which Cray tries to convince himself that he's better off without his woman, and that she has got the worst of the deal:
”She can have the house/ She can have the car/ I'm content with this motel room...”
The next one up is one of the standouts, but for all that takes second place for the most selfish lyrics I've ever heard in a song, just behind Robert Johns' “Sad eyes”, and in effect it's the title track, although it's actually called “Right next door (Because of me)”. It concerns Cray's successful attempt to woo the wife of his neighbour, and once he has done so, he loses interest in her but listens to the argument as the couple fight it out.
”She was right next door/ And I'm such a strong persuader/ She was just another notch/ On my guitar.” It's played in a mid-paced fashion, with a lot of guitar, and no real sense of regret in Cray's lyric.
Cray writes or co-writes every track on the album, and indeed “Nothin' but a woman” is the last on which he collaborates, the final six all being his solo efforts. With a strong flavour of Creedence in the tune, he's joined on this by the Memphis Horns, and it's great blues fun, the guitar again pushed a little to the side in favour of the energetic brass section. Cray does his best BB King on “Still around”, with a striding, walking rhythm and some soulful organ, and here again we get a great tasteful little solo from the man, and the horns are back in control, this time courtesy of Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love, for the somewhat underwhelming “More than I can stand”, while “Foul play” is a lot better. A classic blues “suspicion” song, again reminding me of the dear departed Moore, with a solid guitar line and a sharp, acid vocal from Robert Cray, some nice keyboard and piano backup and a good backbeat.
Of course, no blues album would be complete without a ballad, and this is what we get with “I wonder”. A great, slow, meaty ballad with a superb lazy guitar line winding through it, it's almost the track I've been waiting for, and definitely one of my favourites on the album, if not the standout. Backed by Peter Boe on the organ it's close to perfect, Cray's wounded vocal laying the final veneer on a really classic blues ballad. Two fairly ok tracks then to close: “Fantasized” is good blues rock, with some great solos and a cool almost soul piano melody, while “New blood” is a thick, heavy blues slowburner with some very Rory Gallagher style guitar and a last appearance for the trumpet of Wayne Jackson.
It's a good album, but even though back then I was somewhat lacking in my appreciation of the blues, I wonder if it's anywhere close to seen as his best? The songs on the album are, mostly, fairly generic blues and I'm pretty sure that Cray is a lot better than this. He's had plenty of albums since and a few before, so maybe I just picked the wrong one. However, I remain a little disappointed at the lack of variety in the album, and I would have liked one or two more ballads. For all that though, it's certainly worth listening to. Whether there are better Robert Cray albums to start with, is a question I can't answer. Maybe someone out there can?
TRACKLISTING
1. Smoking gun
2. I guess I showed her
3. Right next door (Because of me)
4. Nothin' but a woman
5. Still around
6. More than I can stand
7. Foul play
8. I wonder
9. Fantasized
10. New blood