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Book Review: In a Sunburned Country
Buddy Guy -Damn Right, I've Got The Blues by Mott the Dog ***** 5 Blue Stars When Buddy Guy played the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok in 1992, he was asked which present day ‘Blues’ guitarists he liked. Buddy just laughed and said that he was the only real blues guitarist left, as everybody else was just in it for the money. He told the story of when he had followed Muddy Waters up to Chicago from Mississippi in the 50’s. Muddy Waters was broke and Buddy wanted to be just like him, in fact on his first meeting with his idol, he claimed that Muddy had saved his life, for if he hadn’t shared his dried salami & cheese with him the young Buddy Guy would have starved to death. For those of you wanting to hear some genuine ‘Blues’ music, recorded in a modern studio with all the sound quality that this gives, this is the album for you. It was, unanimously, voted Blues Album of the Year by the Grammies in 1992. This album just reeks of class. Buddy used his basic road band of long time bassist Greg Rzab on bass, Mick Weaver on keyboards and Richie Hayward on drums (temporarily borrowed from Little Feet). The group went to Battery studios with producer John Porter, who does a superb job keeping the sound clear and precise. Several musicians stopped round during this period to pay their respects and add a lick here and a solo there. These people included the guitarists, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, plus the Memphis Horns. Strangely, one of the weaker moments on the album is “Early In The Morning” which has the Memphis Horns, Clapton & Beck on it. It leaves the feeling that perhaps it was left on the album just to add to the star rating, not for its actual quality. The other low point on the album is a run through of Sir Mack Rice’s “Mustang Sally”, a fine song but Buddy does little to distinguish his version from the 500 other cover versions. The rest of the album, though, is pure golden Blues. The two long, slow Blues workouts are outstanding and allow Buddy to do what he does best, play his guitar. You get eight and a half minutes of the Eddie Boyd Classic “Five Long Years” and seven & a half minutes of “Black Night” by Jesse Robinson. John Porter’s production leaves both of these songs stripped to the bone, and lets the emotions drip from the guitar & vocals. Spiritually these songs leave you exhausted, but nothing can prepare you for the album’s final cut which is Buddy Guy’s tribute to his friend, Stevie Ray Vaughn. “Rememberin’ Stevie” is an outstanding instrumental Blues song that literally sends shivers up and down your spine. Close your eyes and you can see Buddy playing with his eyes shut and the band giving sympathetic support, with Stevie looking down from high above. On this album, Buddy Guy makes mere pale imitators of all those that try to follow him. If you want the Blues, go for the real thing, go for Buddy. Buddy Guy - vocals, electric guitar Track Listing 1. Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues
Movie Review: Kiss of the Dragon By Poppy
Tcheky Karyo, a Turkish-born actor who has made his career in France, plays the two-faced villain. One of his faces is a suave diplomat, and the other is an absolute loony. Bridget Fonda (Jessica) is an ex-junkie hooker who can cook, clean, sew (wounds on Liu) and likes Chinese food. Jessica has a good heart and yes, a young daughter in jeopardy. The fight sequences flow with the rest of the story; it’s a martial arts action film done right and gives a blend of drama and levity. Remember Li is the real thing, a genuine martial arts champion of China, and the star of more than two dozen Hong Kong films, at least several of them classics of the genre, “Fists of Legend,” “Once Upon a Time in China” and “Shaolin Temple” among others. A good action movie, violent in parts. Credited cast: Jet Li ... Liu Jian
Updated every Friday Updated by
Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk. |
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This week’s book is another from the pen of Bill
Bryson, one of the more amusing writers on life on this planet. Bryson
wrote this book on Australia and admits that before going Down Under he
had no idea what Australia was like. He researched the country by looking
up a number of articles in the New York Times Index. He concluded, “Put
in the crudest terms, Australia was slightly more important to us in 1997
than bananas, but not nearly as important as ice cream.”
Mott’s CD review:
Liu Jian plays an agent of the Chinese government in
Paris, on a temporary assignment to aid French police in a sting operation
to take down a Chinese heroine kingpin. Things go bad and a double-cross
ensues, leaving Liu Jian framed for murder and running for his life. He
finds himself stranded in a city that may be a tourist trap for others but
is a death trap for him. One thing is certain, though, our hero won’t be
taken without a fight. This is a man without any hidden emotional problems,
for a change, he simply loves his job and does it very well, but is still
human enough to make mistakes, feel pain and make realistic choices (well,
mostly).