CD Review
Tab Benoit and Jimmy Thackery
Whiskey Store Live
Telarc (CD - 83584)
by Jim Angehr
Review date: August 2004
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By most accounts, Tab Benoit and Jimmy Thackery's 2002 joint effort Whiskey Store was that rare collaboration that did more than just showcase the artists' talents but actually yielded an enjoyable, cohesive album that added something substantial to its respective performers' catalogs. At the same time, I'll admit I was caught off guard by the release of a companion piece to the pair's studio venture, Whiskey Store Live, recorded live in Maine on March 24, 2003. A live release based upon a single studio record?
Whiskey Store Live effectively answers that objection by sufficiently differentiating itself from its predecessor. Fans who enjoyed Whiskey Store will welcome Live and not find it redundant, while those lukewarm towards the former may actually prefer the latter.
The main strength of Whiskey Store remains on the live version: Benoit and Thackery go together like big and fat. Who would've known that Thackery's brand of super-charged barroom blues (explosive guitar, shouted vocals) could mesh so well with the fleet-but-concise fretwork and more-subtle singing of Benoit? Credit Telarc for being on the ball here.
As for differences, Whiskey Store's Double Trouble rhythm section is replaced in favor of Jimmy Carpenter (sax), Ken Faltinson (B3), Carl Dufrene (bass), and Darryl White and Mark Stutso (drums). For me, this is a change for the better, since some of these players are Benoit alums and play with enough range to keep things consistently interesting; I may be in the minority, but Double Trouble never struck me as the most sympathetic rhythm section around. Six songs carry over from the studio, and few will complain that Thackery's take on Neil Young's "Unknown Legend" has been dropped (fans had wondered if Kenny Neal doing "Unchained Melody" was next). The three newcomers on this disc are standouts. When Benoit sings, "Last night, I got loaded," in the song of the same name, you believe him. Plus, "Bayou Boogie," with its double-time shuffle rhythm, brings the house down. Listening to Benoit's cover of Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine" will convince you that even if he never fingered a Fender in his life, Benoit's singing alone would place him at the very top of blues performers today. Concerning the carry-overs from Whiskey Store, most of the concert versions here are nearly three times longer. The tag-team guitar dueling makes these extended jams more engaging than if only a single axe were chugging through these workouts. These songs are long but never too long. Whether you would prefer the short and sweet studio cuts or the extended versions is up to you.
My only quibble with this set is that it sounds too sterile and clean for a romp like this. The fault may be with the performers themselves, or with the fact that it was recorded at an arts center instead of, say, Art's Centerfield, but my guess is that what the artists grease up, Telarc's all-digital production takes away. To counteract this drawback, have a whiskey while you listen.
www.telarc.com
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