Search - Buddy Guy :: Feels Like Rain

Pretty good, but not truly memorable

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 12/01/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"More of a mainstream rock record than Guy's first Silvertone album ("Damn Right I've Got The Blues"), and much more so than his third, "Feels Like Rain" is not where you go to listen to Buddy Guy the legendary blues guitarist.

In fact, this is some of Guy's least blues-oriented material...the only real blues tunes are Muddy Waters's "She's Nineteen Years Old" and John Mayall's "I Could Cry"; the rest of the album is dedicated to rock- and soul covers, blues-rock and pop-rock.



The production is rather slick...some more muscle and grit would have been nice, but Guy himself comes off quite well, as you'd expect. His guitar playing is not the best you'll ever hear from him, but his voice is excellent, strong and expressive, and while some of these covers are superflous at best, Guy's rendition of John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain", Ray Charles' "Mary Ann", and the soul classic "Some Kind Of Wonderful" are really enjoyable (the latter is a duet featuring Paul Rodgers of Bad Company).

Bonnie Raitt guests on "Feels Like Rain", playing bell-clear slide guitar, and the band includes a great pianist, Bill Payne from Little Feat.



If you want to hear Buddy Guy play the blues, pick up "Buddy's Blues" from MCA/Chess, and Rhino's "The Very Best Of Buddy Guy". If you just want a regular feel-good rock record played by a number of better-than-average musicians, well, you'll probably like this just fine. So, depending on what you're looking for, this is either a nice, well-executed rock record, or a wishy-washy middle-of-the-road piece of pandering ;-)"

90% Chance of Rain

06/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off I love this CD and listen to it all the time. The only reason I gave this CD 4 stars is that this album is very Heavily produced and at times get a little to slickish for my liking. Listen to "Sufferin' Mind" to see what I mean. But still the production doesn't alter the fact that this is a good album."

Some Kind Of Wonderful

David W. Darby | Davenport, IA United States | 04/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Feels Like Rain was my introduction to Buddy Guy, and what a fine introduction it is! Altho some blues purists will complain that it isn't "pure" blues, and with it's all star cast, a sell-out, but I prefer to look at it as Buddy showing his versatility. From the Stevie Ray Vaughan-sque She's A Superstar, and Feels Like Rain (the smoldering and sensuous cover of the John Hiatt classic), to the red hot finale of Country Man, this to me is a much more consistant album than Damn Right. This CD proves that blues doesn't have to be confined to 12 bar covers of Elmore James and Robert Johnson. And since blues was conceived from slaves easing the pain of their confinement, isn't that what it's all about?"