What little I knew of Wallace Coleman prior to the arrival of this disc, his debut as leader, led me to expect hard-core Chicago blues throughout. After all, participants include two stalwarts of the Windy City's traditional blues scene, guitarist Billy Flynn and bassist Bob Stroger.
To be sure, there are some nice blues that would sound just fine in any club on the South Side. But elsewhere Wallace is all over the stylistic map, from the achingly sweet "Southern Comfort," an instrumental with a vaguely pop-country feel, to the rootsy, old-timey "Standing Still," sounding a bit like something Taj Mahal might come up with. The title track combines a catchy chorus with Wallace's spoken tale of misadventure on a bus. It's cool enough but goes on awfully long for an opening cut; better sequencing would position it later in proceedings. And "Seems Like" falls somewhere between the swamp and Northern Soul, but Coleman's laconic delivery is almost lounge-like.
Yet "Pretty All Over," "Better Way To Live," and "Cloudy" are solid, if slightly subdued, slices of deep blue. "Blue Mist," another instrumental, shows Coleman can hold his own in the school of Little Walter, and "Mean Red Spider" proves him thoroughly convincing with material straight from the Delta. Coleman tries his hand at contemporary with "High Tech Blues," marrying modern concerns to a Hoochie Coochie riff to good effect, thought it won't make anyone forget the swaggering bravado of the original. And he chooses to wrap things up with a surprisingly sprightly take on Jimmy Oden's immortal "Going Down Slow" that sees the band shuffling merrily off into the sunset.
Coleman is a supremely relaxed singer with a natural, gruff delivery that works well. The band performs competently, again with a relaxed approach that might strike those conditioned by harder-edged production as slightly sleepy. But this is old-time stuff, with the tapestry created when all the instruments weave together more important than individual grandstanding; think Muddy's band when he and Jimmy Rogers seemed of one mind.
For all the variety on display here, this remains a satisfying listen. It's not a party disc, and depending on mood you might find yourself skipping tracks on occasion. It would be nice to hear Coleman do an all-blues disc, but then we'd miss some very interesting music and some revelatory harmonica playing.
Recommended, but with the caveat that this one isn't going to be for everyone. You might want to listen to see if it appeals to your tastes first.
Web: www.wallacecoleman.com
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