Label: Blind Pig
Blues
There are white blues guitarists trying to sound authentic(black) and there are white blues guitarists working from the foundation laid by the (white) blues rock power trios of the late `60s and early `70s(basically, Cream to 10 Years After). None of these guitarists are going to hell for their musical direction and preference. Albert Cummings happens to be of the latter general grouping.
He's been on the road and recording for some time and never put out a record this reviewer would call "bad." He chooses good material and still, from the sounds of Feels So Good, feels so good about challenging himself to excel on every song, phrase and lick.
What makes him fairly unique among the white power trio front man blues rock axmen is that he does songs and shows for the audience. Most of these guys, these days, are out to amuse themselves, to see how long they can delude themselves into thinking they're not repeating any phrases during that 192-bar solo. Albert Cummings, for all his love of fast, screaming electric guitar, loves to entertain and give his audience a great show just as much.
Is this release any better than his previous work on this or other labels? It's as good. One can't really say much more than that. He's a praise-worthy, purchase-worthy, look-for-him-on-tour-worthy guy.
By Arthur Shuey.
**
Blues guitarist Albert Cummings isn't as well known as some of his peers, but in the decade since his self-released debut album, he should have become a household name. Often unfairly compared to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cummings has his own sound and musical direction. Although both guitarists deliver hard-rocking six-string performances, Cummings' material has more of a British blues-rock feel, informed, perhaps, by Clapton and Rory Gallagher rather than Vaughan's touchstones of Albert King and Otis Rush.
Cummings' Feel So Good was recorded in March 2008 in front of a raucous hometown crowd in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but I suspect that Cummings could get a rise out of just about any blues-loving audience, whether in New England, the Mississippi Delta, or deep in the heart of Texas. As Cummings' first live album, Feel So Good provides the perfect showcase for the fiery guitarist's axe-handling skills and enormous onstage charisma. Backed by his top-notch road band, Cummings and crew create high tension, and then blow it away with crackling energy and finely-tuned dynamics.
For instance, Delbert McClinton's Why Me is provided an upbeat mix of electric blues and roadhouse twang guaranteed to keep the crowd on its feet, while a Cummings' original, the menacing Sleep, is a slow-burning blues that rolls in like the fog across the bayou, and features some downright dangerous Stratocaster pyrotechnics. B.B. King's Rock Me is blown-up, larger than life, into a strutting, posturing thing of electrifying, terrifying majesty while a cover of Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll is delivered as an anarchistic, no-holds-barred clash of white lightwhite energy as Cummings' guitarwork slashes through the thick, industrial roar of the instrumentation.
If you prefer your blues with a taste of rock & roll on the side, then Feel So Good is just the sort of meat-and-potatoes feast that you've been hungry for...Cummings is an impressive blues guitarist, and Feel So Good is as good a place as any to discover his talents.
By Keith A. Gordon
**
I am an electric blues and blue/rock fanatic. I spend at least 25% of my free time researching electric blues. I read the few BLUES magazines available... and am always investigating on Amazon. I had this CD pop up as a recommended buy to me based on my buying history a couple of months ago... and after I listened to the 30 second minuscule samples on Amazon... I wasn't impressed enough to buy it. But a lesson learned... is that a 30 second sample... especially with electric blues... is worthless. The artist can't even tune his strings in 30 seconds. Then one day while I was brushing my teeth I had XM Bluesville on my TV... and I heard a long... great... string bending... blues song... and I turned around and saw that it was Albert Cummings' "FEEL SO GOOD". I don't know about you... but one of my 3 or 4 main criteria's when it comes to electric blues... is the length of songs. I then went back to Amazon to see the song lengths (not all Amazon products have that listed)... and 6 out of the 11 songs were over 5-minutes-30 seconds long... and three songs were over 7-minutes long. Of course this is no guarantee that they would be good... but to me... that is a better signal... than a 30 second sound bite. Well... I then ordered this CD... and to say I'm thrilled is an absolute understatement. This is a tremendous electric-blues-rock live performance. Albert bends the strings like SRV and his 8-minute-39-second medley "HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN/DIXIE CHICKEN" is a classic. And I must add that this song is the first live performance... that I've heard... where the part where the crowd joins in... has to make you smile. "BARRELHOUSE BLUES" is a 7-minute-19-second string-bending demonstration of what the blues are all about.
I could describe other songs in similar detail... and also add that Albert wrote six of the songs himself... which always makes me enjoy the music more... because I figure the artist feels the words more... when they're his words. The reason I entitled this review in the way I did... was because once I got this CD... I was so mad at myself for holding off with my buying decision... I wanted to take the time to help someone else speed up their decision... and not miss out on even a few days... let alone a few weeks... of joy... like I did. *YOU-WILL-NOT-BE-DISAPPOINTED*
By Rick Shaq Goldstein.
**
Albert Cummings- (Vocals, Guitar);
Daniel Broad- (Bass Guitar, Background Vocals);
Aaron Scapin- (Drums).
**
01. Party Right Here (Live) 3:34
02. Why Me (Live) 3:07
03. Sleep (Live) 6:03
04. Hoochie Coochie Man/Dixie Chicken Medley (Medley/Live) 8:38
05. Barrelhouse Blues (Live) 7:18
06. Tell It Like It Is (Live) 3:35
07. Rock Me Baby (Live) 6:22
08. Your Own Way (Live) 5:30
09. Together As One (Live) 7:32
10. Blues Makes Me Feel So Good (Live) 3:54
11. Rock and Roll (Live) 3:10
**
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