Search - Jeff Healey :: The Jeff Healey Band - Live at Montreux 1999

Not Bad at All, Mates

Misty Blue | Hamilton, Ontario Canada | 03/31/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Despite Healey's preference for playing brass and singing traditional jazz, he sure can make that blues-rock guitar sing, despite admitting to inebriation and jetlag during this live performance. It's a sign of professionalism that he can still inject passion and soul into music that doesn't otherwise inspire him.



Audiophiles may be scared off by the earlier tracks, but "Roadhouse Blues", "See The Light" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" are worth the price of the disc on their own. Drummer Tom Stephen and bassist Joe Rockman were right on top of their game here.



The tremendously talented Pat Rush played second guitar in 1999, but erstwhile feral guitarist Philip Sayce (Melissa Etheridge) appears on two 1997 insertions - Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and Healey's own "That's What They Say".



Other standouts were Robert Johnson's "Stop Breakin' Down" (featuring "Paddy" on slide guitar) and the requisite slow-blues of "Third Degree" (Boyd/Dixon). Healey's penchant for singing "visual" songs continues to inspire fans fascinated by his obviously non-debilitating blindness.



Jeff even outdoes himself on his classic interpretation of Mark Knopfler's "I Think I Love You Too Much". Although he denigrates his own songwriting skills, "See The Light" and "Can't Get My Hands on You" are ingenious compositions. The latter features a kick-ass drum solo outro by Stephen.



John Lennon's emotionally revealing "Yer Blues" begins the heavy-duty blowout, but there's a momentary breath-catcher on Koller/Hiatt's "Angel Eyes", with which Healey will forever be identified and possibly cursed.



From there on, it's almost a half-hour of full-tilt boogie! Healey may have had his fill of rock'n'roll, but fans of this outfit will fall in love with him all over again, particularly during the guitar-lick crescendos with Pat Rush on "Roadhouse Blues", where he concedes it's "not bad for a couple of jetlagged idiots".



Diane Wells



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