Search - Various Artists :: Risque Blues: Keep on Churnin

Mildly Entertaining But Not Greatly Memorable

Gary F. Taylor | Biloxi, MS USA | 12/21/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When it comes to double entendre lyrics and suggestive intonations, 1920s blues makes every other decade seem tame. Even so, many recordings of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s have a lot of charm--particularly when the singer is the memorable Wynonie Harris, who belts out a version of "Keep On Churnin'" with enough raise-your-eyebrow power to compete with the best.

Unfortunately, however, the Harris cut on this release, which is one of several CDs in the King Records RISQUE BLUES series, is really the best thing you'll find in this particular collection. True enough, you'll get plenty of milage with "Rocket 69," but by and large the cuts here aren't really risque. Indeed, most of them aren't really blues, but a style generally known as rhythm and blues--which is something quite a bit different from blues pure and simple.

All the cuts, which date from between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, are well done, and the sound quality is generally very good. But they just aren't all that memorable. My own suggestion: unless you have a hankering for a particular selection included on this CD, pick up RISQUE BLUES: IT AIN'T THE MEAT instead, which offers several of the same artists from the same period... performing better songs!

GFT, Amazon Reviewer"