CD Review
Tinsley Ellis
The Hard Way
(Telarc Blues cd83608)
by Tali Madden
Review date: June 2004
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award"
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Forty years of guitar playing renders Tinsley Ellis one of our better
journeyman blues artists.
Comfortably shifting from rock dominated to traditional blues styles often
with a funky soul skew, "The Hard Way" is perhaps, Ellis' most appealing
recording. A wealth of catchy guitar hooks and seductive grooves persists
throughout this disc. Pristine production, Little Feat's Richie Hayward's
controlled yet explosive drums are among the outstanding aspects driving the
music. Big Bass bottom is provided by someone just identified as "the Evil
One" (you'd better be the baddest cat around or a very demure woman with a
great sense of humor to call yourself this).
Ellis energizes the acoustic guitar on "And It Hurts" a fast paced blues in
the style of Earl King's "Come On" or Ray Charles' "What I Say". "La La
Land" is a loping bass driven languid piece with Ellis' wah-wah drenched
guitar seduction pulling the listener in. "Fountain Of Youth" a lazy
shuffle is spiked nicely by Sean Costello's Jimmy Reed style upper register
harp. Ellis rocks his openers "Still in the Game" and "Let Him Down Easy"
in classic Eric Clapton/Peter Green style, with considerably more passion
infused into his strong guitar playing. "My Love's The Medicine" is a
rousing classic Stax Records style soul romp. The scorching, blistering
instrumental "Love Bomb" is an explosive shuffle and one of the sets
high-energy points. "The Hard Way" is Tinsley Ellis' most focused release
yet.
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