I totally forgot about this, my bad.
Dr. John - Locked Down
My partner sent me this New Orleans funk/blues album, and I'm very pleased with it. The album features Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys on guitar and background vocals. I'm not the biggest fan of The Black Keys, but Auerbach's work on the album ain't too shabby.
However, Dr. John steals the show on this album. He's got a great gravelly voice and uses it to his advantage without conflicting with higher notes (as some raspy vocalists have an issue with). His keyboard skills blends very fluently with the other instruments, but doesn't stand out too often.
Dr. John definitely knows his way around texture, the album just oozes with it. It could just be the variety of instruments, but it's still there. All of the songs are incredibly catchy as well, which is often something that albums with great texture leave behind. The song Revolution especially strikes me as a song that has some layers I didn't catch on the first listen but was incredibly catchy.
My one complaint on the album is the female choir background vocals. It's not that there's anything wrong with them because they're clearly great vocalists as well, but it's just a technique that I've never been a fan of. But luckily, they're not taking the lead and it's only a small element of the songs, so it doesn't affect my view of the songs too greatly.
There's only one song on the album that I'm not a fan of, which is "My Children, My Angels," which starts off with a lovely piano bit but then it starts to dwindle and I find it pretty boring from that point on. Also, it doesn't really fit on the album. Most of the songs are upbeat and funky, while the track is slow and solemn (well, to a certain extent). My favourite track is "Ice Age" because it's so damned catchy and the main guitar part is great. Overall I'd give the album an 8/10.
I'm guessing that the person who sent this to me based it off of my high Tom Waits and jazz stats on my last.fm. Pedestrian is my guess because I saw the album on her best of 2012 list, plus the more obvious hint of sending a friend request on last.fm soon after the event began
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