Search - James Blood Ulmer :: Bad Blood in the City: Piety Street Sessions

James Blood Ulmer
Bad Blood in the City: Piety Street Sessions
Genres: Blues, Jazz, Pop, R&B

Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
1. Survivors of the Hurricane
2. Sad Days, Lonely Nights
3. Katrina
4. Let's Talk About Jesus
5. This Land Is Nobody's Land
6. Dead Presidents
7. Commit A Crime
8. Grinnin' In Your Face
9. There Is Power In The Blues
10. Backwater Blues
11. Old Slave Master

CD Details

All Artists: James Blood Ulmer
Title: Bad Blood in the City: Piety Street Sessions
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: HYENA
Original Release Date: 1/1/2007
Re-Release Date: 5/8/2007
Genres: Blues, Jazz, Pop, R&B
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Funk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 825005935528

Synopsis

Album Description

Bad Blood In The City: The Piety Street Sessions is James Blood Ulmer's most recent collaboration with Vernon Reid and The Memphis Blood Blues Band. It's built around a cycle of original Ulmer songs which directly address Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. With this album, Ulmer has delivered one of the most stirring and emotionally powerful recordings of his career. There are also a handful of classic blues interpretations that serve to further explore Katrina's sub-plot of race, poverty and struggle, including readings of Son House's "Grinnin' In Your Face," Junior Kimbrough's "Sad Days, Lonely Nights," John Lee Hooker's "This Land Is No One's Land," Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues," Howlin Wolf's "Commit A Crime" and Willie Dixon's "Dead Presidents."

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CD Reviews

Good,but just a little overproduced

Rev KM Williams | dallas, tx United States | 05/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Don't get me wrong! I Am a Big Fan of James Blood Ulmer. I feel he has found his calling as a 21th century bluesman;but on this record ,which has a great concept and sound,I feel is a little overproduced;too much studio and not enough of that angular,Ornette Coleman sounding Blood Ulmer guitar(unlike his last disc "Birthright" which was brilliant!)Vernon Reid should have made the production a little more sparce sounding so more of that Blood Ulmer guitar would have come thru. That being said; the compositions on this CD are great and have an important message, I hope commerically, this CD is a success for Blood;because For my ears it's his most popular sounding,blues CD. Just wish it was a little more hardcore Blood Ulmer."

Vernon, leave your guitar at home.

Rick Bulwicz | Central Jersey | 06/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a Huge Blood fan, and love all of his music, but this record is a slight let-down. It's in no part due to James Ulmer's performance, but rather Vernon Reid's presence.

James Ulmer's strength is his droning, moody A-tuned guitar with his strong and slightly-garged voice. If you've heard "Birthright" that's Ulmer at his best.

Vernon Reid should remember to leave his guitar at home when producing Ulmer. Reid's 1,000 note-a-minute style just walks all over Ulmer. He is no blues player in the style that Ulmer is. Ulmer can play ONE note and weave it into a feeling. Vernon Reid is always in a race with himself. Combine that with the loud, overly-full production, and James Ulmer is drowned out and lost in the mix. Underneath it all is a great performance by Ulmer. But trying to listen to it through all of that noise is annoying."

Go away, Vernon

Frank Matheis | New York | 03/06/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After a superlative string of deep-roots acoustic artistic successes,this album seems like somewhat of a blunder. Just when JBU had established himself as one of the most original contemporary blues musicians, a tall feat in a redux genre where monotony and repetition is the norm, producer Vernon Reid capitulated to convention and cookie-cutter predictability. In my opinion, the best thing JBU could do is to emancipate himself from Reid after this, as this album is over-produced and unimaginative. I am particularly bothered by the incredibly overbearing, repetitive and soul-less harmonica playing of David Barnes, who does not seem to understand the concept of "feeling". No doubt, the brilliance of JBU comes through, and in spots he is an absolute genius, but all in all, it ain't happening as it had been.

Is it worth buying? For hardcore fans like me, yes it is. Does it rank as one of JBU's best? Not by a long shot. I recommend his recent series of acoustic albums over this."