PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Bernard Allison

Showing posts with label Bernard Allison. Show all posts

Saturday, February 3, 2024

#658 : Bernard Allison - Luther's Blues (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2024 – Ruf Records

By Phillip Smith; Feb. 3, 2024

Release Date : January 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Bernard Allison’s records have always included a song or two written by his father the renowned blues recording artist Luther Allison ( 1939 – 1997 ). Luther’s Blues, the latest album from Bernard, celebrates the music of his dad with a spectacular collection of twenty songs on a two-disc set. Each song was hand-picked by Bernard and then remastered by Pauler Acoustics. Luther’s Blues joins in the festivities which celebrate Ruf Records’ Thirtieth anniversary. Ruf Records, launched in 1994 by Luther’s then European manager Thomas Ruf, recorded several albums with Luther. With Bernard at Ruf Records as well, this album exhibits the deep connection and bond which runs strong between the two families.

Guitar ablaze from the get-go, “Hang On” blasts out the gates on the first track with Jimi-Hendrix inspired deliciousness topped with Allison’s demanding vocals. I absolutely adore the funky, horn-infused “Too Many Women”. The inescapable groove pulls me right in to its masterful jam. I love how “Midnight Creeper” sneaks right in the door with its slow-swaying soul. Allison pours out some gut-wrenching early Chicago blues on “Back Down South”. The piano accompaniment snugs right up with Bernard’s smokin’ guitar playing. I feel every note played and every word sung as Allison gets down with the slow-burner “You’re Gonna Need Me”. Allison brings the album to closure with the beautiful “Castle”. I adore the soft Cat Stevens vibe. The song is gorgeous.

Luther’s Blues is an excellent album and a wonderful tribute.

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://bernardallison.com

Read additional PhillyCheeze reviews for Bernard Allison : https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=bernard+allison

Thursday, December 22, 2022

#590 : PhillyCheeze's Favorite 20 of 2022 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

By Phillip Smith; Dec.22, 2022

PhillyCheeze's Favorite 20 of 2022

(in alphabetical order)

Bernard Allison - Highs & Lows

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/01/537-bernard-allison-highs-lows.html

Bad Daddy - It's a Mad Mad Bad Dad World

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/08/568-bad-daddy-its-mad-mad-bad-dad-world.html

Buckmiller Schwager - To Memphis and Back

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/03/phillycheezebluesblogspotcom-545.html

Gary Cain - Next Stop

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/06/558-gary-cain-next-stop.html

Annika Chambers & Paul Deslauriers - Good Trouble

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/11/584-annika-chambers-paul-deslauriers.html

Ryan Lee Crosby - Winter Hill Blues

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/05/555-ryan-lee-crosby-winter-hill-blues.html

Robert Connely Farr - Shake It

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/10/581-robert-connely-farr-shake-it.html

GA-20 - Crackdown

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/08/572-ga-20-crackdown-phillycheezebluesbl.html

Diunna Greenleaf - I Ain't Playin'

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/05/phillycheezebluesblogspotcom-554-diunna.html

The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer - Live at the King Eddy

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/06/559-harpoonist-and-axe-murderer-live-at.html

Herman Hitson - Let the Gods Sing

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/10/578-herman-hitson-let-gods-sing.html

Spencer Mackenzie - Preach to my Soul

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/10/582-spencer-mackenzie-preach-to-my-soul.html

Eliza Neals - Badder to the Bone

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/04/phillycheezebluesblogspotcom-550-eliza.html

Prakash Slim - Country Blues From Nepal

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/03/phillycheezebluesblogspotcom-547.html

Gina Sicilia - Unchange

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/06/557-gina-sicilia-unchange.html

Sir Rod & the Blues Doctors - Keeping it in the Family

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/09/575-sir-rod-blues-doctors-keeping-it-in.html

Sugaray Rayford - In Too Deep

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2021/12/533-sugaray-rayford-in-too-deep.html

The Terraplanes Blues Band - Stepping Stones

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/02/phillycheezebluesblogspotcom-544.html

Dylan Triplett - Who is He?

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/07/562-dylan-triplett-who-is-he.html

Matty T Wall - Live Down Underground

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2022/07/561-matty-t-wall-live-down-underground.html

The Spotify Playlist

Saturday, January 15, 2022

#537 : Bernard Allison - Highs & Lows

2022 – Ruf Records

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 15, 2022

Bernard Allison is one of those artists who I totally admire, and I’m absolutely thrilled to hear fresh music from him. Highs & Lows, his latest album is hands-down fantastic. Produced by Grammy Award winner Jim Gaines, this eleven-track blues album is a slice of perfection. The core of Allison’s top-notch band consists of George Moye on bass guitar, Dylan Salfer on rhythm guitar and Steve Potts on drums.

Energy levels are high as Allison fearlessly hits the ground running on “So Excited”. It’s great to hear him blaze full-throttle on guitar. This is exactly what I was hoping for on an opening song. Title-track “Highs & Lows” rolls out with its funky, infectious riff and pulls me right in. Guitar in hand, Canadian blues artist Colin James joins Allison in a juicy duet of Texas-style electric blues on “My Way or the Highway”. The swampy sounds of the Mississippi delta are quite infused into “Side Step”, making it one of my favorite songs on the disc. What a pleasant surprise it is to hear Bobby Rush accompany Allison on “Hustler”. His distinctive voice and harp playing are delivered in his usual suave approach and it’s fun to hear him collaborate with Allison.

I love that Allison pays tribute to his father, Chicago blues legend Luther Allison by recording two of his songs. The first up is the 1974 single “Now You Got It” off the album Luther’s Blues. This is Seventies soul-blues at its best. Immediately following is “Gave it All”, from Luther’s 1994 album Soul Fixin’ Man. It swoops me right up in its cozy warm arms for an intoxicating horn-infused listen. Allison's performance on this is downright breathtaking.

Lows & Highs ends with a blast of funky downhome blues with “Last Night”. Lyrically timeless, this song hits on every cylinder, and I dig every bit of it. Allison pours everything he has into this guitar performance, making it a huge standout.

This is an album that delivers the goods with each and every song. It’s terrific through and through.

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://bernardallison.com

Past PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Bernard Allison :

PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: #313 : Bernard Allison - Let it Go (phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)

PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: #347 : Czech Village Blues - Aug 11, 2018 featuring Ruf Record's Blues Caravan (phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)

Friday, July 12, 2019

#400 : Ruf Records - 25 Years Anniversary

2019 - Ruf Records

by Phillip Smith; July 12, 2019

To commemorate the 400^th PhillyCheeze’s Rock & Blues Review, I want to shine some light on the special 25 Years Anniversary disc from Ruf Records. This is one hell of a collection. This edition contains both a 14 track CD, and a 12 video, 62-minute DVD . The CD features a ton of music from Ruf’s most recent releases, while the DVD delightfully spans their entire era, going back to the Luther Allison days.

After seeing Ruf’s Blues Caravan last year in 2018, I was happy to see the disc containing songs by Ally Venerable, Mike Zito, and Bernard Allison who all shared the stage at the 2^nd annual Czech Village Blues festival, here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last August. Ally rips it up on guitar and belts out the title track to her latest album, “Texas Honey”. Zito’s song is also the title track for his latest, “First Class Life”. I love the slide guitar on this one. The swampy, funky goodness of Bernard’s “Backdoor Man” is so enjoyable. Vanja Sky, who played on the European legs of the caravan, gives us the smokin’ blues in “Hard Working Woman”.

Ruf also includes the sultry “Chills and Fever” from the wonderful Samantha Fish, and Ina Forsman’s exquisitely danceable ’ “Get Mine”. For the classic blues-head, there is “Low Down“ from The B.B. King Blues Band, and hardcore soul music fans will surely dig “Deep in my Soul” from Big Daddy Wilson. Also nice to hear, is my favorite Savoy Brown song from the past few years, “Why Did You Hoodoo Me”. It definitely cuts to the bone.

The DVD begins with a spectacular performance of Denmark’s Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado fabulously performing “If You Wanna Leave”. It’s so cool to see Mike Zito, Devon Allman and Cyril Neville jam together on “Moonlight Over the Mississippi”. Oli Brown’s driving blues-rock anthem “Here I Am” is captivating. From the 2019 Blues Caravan, there’s a terrific video of Katarina Pejak, Ina Forsman and Ally Venable covering the classic Stevie Ray Vaughan song “If the House is Rocking”, and they sound great. For a wonderful song to close with, Luther Allison soulfully sings “Living in The House of Blues”.

Ruf Records 25 Years Anniversary should be in the collection of every blues fan. It is a powerhouse of a retrospective.

Associated PhillyCheeze Reviews include:

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/06/thorbjrn-risager-black-tornado-change.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2014/06/thorbjrn-risager-black-tornado-too-many.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/08/347-czech-village-blues-aug-11-2018.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/07/344-vanja-sky-bad-penny.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/06/395-big-daddy-wilson-deep-in-my-soul.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2019/03/384-bb-king-blues-band-soul-of-king.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/03/322-victor-wainwright-and-train-self.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2018/01/313-bernard-allison-let-it-go.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/09/savoy-brown-witchy-feelin.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2017/04/samantha-fish-chills-fever.html

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2016/02/ina-forsman-ina-forsman.html

Sunday, August 12, 2018

#347 : Czech Village Blues - Aug 11, 2018 featuring Ruf Record's Blues Caravan

Czech Village

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

All photos by Phillip Smith; Aug. 11, 2018

I am so thrilled and amazed to see how Czech Village Blues festival in Cedar Rapids has expanded and grown in just its second year. Again, the Linn County Blues Society has joined together with the Friends of Czech Village to keep this wonderful blues event going. It was incredible to see the musical talent and dedication to the blues presented on the Youth Stage by Kristopher Bries, Anderson Coates, Miles Damaso, and Matthew Burger. Accompanied by Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductees, Tom 'T-Bone' Giblin on keys, and Dan 'DJ' Johnson on bass guitar, they were quite impressive, and did a fantastic job to kick start this years festival which featured Tim@theTrutones , Shane Johnson's Blue Train, and Ruf Records' Blues Caravan presenting Bernard Allison, Mike Zito, and Ally Venable.