Search - Alice Stuart :: Can't Find No Heaven

Everyone I've played this one for has commented on how good

Arthur Shuey | Wilmington, NC USA | 01/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Alice Stuart

Can't Find No Heaven

Burnside Records 0044

Everyone I've played this one for has commented on how good it is. Let us begin, then, by reflecting on how good a hardcore blues album issued by a hardcore blues label must be to reach out and grab a general audience. That's impressive.

I detest "Plays like a girl" thinking; the all-too-common notion among male musicians that women play differently by virtue of their gender. In all the catalogs and music stores I've perused, I have never seen any instruments (well, a couple of microphones configured for different vocal range) designed differently for men and women. There does seem to be, however, a stronger focus on attack in the intros of songs arranged and produced by women, so maybe there's a different outlook on some facets of music associated with a player with big ovaries than with a player with big testes.

In any event, the first song on Can't Find No Heaven, "Big Boss Man," is the most familiar, and it opens with a ferocious piano reminiscent of Saffire's great Ann Rabson. That's where the listener is grabbed and at no point while the record plays is the listener turned loose. This CD is a blueprint for creating a fine record. More than half the songs are covers, some familiar, some obscure, all outstanding. The Alice Stuart originals are obviously the best she's got, the ones she as a passionate blues purist believes can stand beside the work of Skip James, Furry Lewis and 'Mississippi' Fred McDowell. Blues musicians - think this way while making recording plans and you'll end up with a better CD. Ms. Stuart also thinks strategically in building her studio band, balancing veteran bandstand partners with studio guests who are in the top percentile of their instruments' proponents. Duffy Bishop, as legitimate a claimant to Janis Joplin's old crown as anyone out there, lends her pipes to one tune. Paul DeLay, certainly among the Top 20 blues harmonicists today, adds his intricate energies to three of the album's 11 cuts. Acoustic guitarist Terry Robb, whose fourth album I look forward to digging into for myself and for readers shortly, keeps it deep on a trio of Can't Find No Heaven cuts. Personnel decisions like these are also part of a recipe for the best possible recording.

Again, Ms. Stuart is a purist, so pure that her blues sounds like folk and like other "roots" forms, which is why it attracts listeners of all persuasions. It is as close to Steeleye Span as to John Hammond, which means that it is as close to Jethro Tull as to Johnny Winter. Her treatments are as important as her material and personnel choices, but musicians need not take notes on her treatments, as they are matters of personal tastes and it is unlikely that any two musicians will have exactly the same tastes. Ms. Stuart just got lucky and passed her luck along to purchasers of this CD.

The titles, which strongly suggest the nature of this release, follow: "Big Boss Man," "Blues in the Bottle," "Drop Down Daddy," "Turn Your Money Green," "Wild Bill Jones," "I Ruined Your Life," "Hard Time Killin' Floor," "Rather Be the Devil," "Sugar Babe," "The Man's So Good," "Night Patrol""

Tasty and smooth

Arthur Shuey | 08/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While the cuts available on this CD show a strong country flavor, she really kicks some serious booty with the blues - not a lot of notes, but each one is in just the right place. This new CD is tasty! Especially "You Ruined My Life" - an instant classic. Stuart's guitar playing is the real deal - all go, not just show."