Search - Kenny Neal :: Let Life Flow

3 1/2 stars. Good to hear from Kenny again, even if this alb

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 10/11/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Now with Blind Pig Records, Kenny Neal has finally released a new solo album, his first in seven years if you don't count "A Tribute to Slim Harpo and Raful Neal" which was a pure cover album.

But he is back to writing songs here, at least some of them, including the title track, a mellow, mid-tempo soul number.



New Kenny album! Yay! I'm a big fan of Kenny's, I have all of his albums, and to me he is behind at least two of the finest modern electric blues albums of the 90s. Which is why "Let Life Flow" is a bit of a disappointment. Some of the material lacks nerve, and compared to Neal's high-water mark, the fabulous "Hoodoo Moon" album, a few songs come off as somewhat lightweight and pretictable. You can't help but feel that you have heard many of them, only they sounded better the first time around.



Still, as I said, "Let Life Flow" is a good album, if not a great one. But the covers are generally the best, actually, and that's not happy news considering what a great songwriter Neal used to be.

Indeed, the highlights are pretty much all covers, from Larry Duane Addisons's slow blues "You've Got To Hurt Before You Heal" to Joe Campbell's swaggering "Another Man's Cologne" ("...tippin' in here, baby, smellin' like Aramis...").



"Starlight Diamond" (by brother Raful Neal, jr.) is pure Jimmy Reed, right down to the drawling delivery. Kenny does a good, funky rendition of Willie Dixon's relative little-known "It Don't Make Sense". And J.K. "Lucky" Peterson's piano and Neal's tasteful guitar licks combine to make a really fine, soulful cover of Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby", the classic 50s blues.



Happily, Kenny Neal still sounds great. He has lost none of his chops as a singer or as as musician, but his songwriting doesn't reach the level that it used to, and that's a real shame. The Kenny-penned songs on this album are a little bit bland and unoriginal. Not bad, but not great either. There is no new "The Son I Never Knew" or "Don't Fix Our Love" here.

And while "Let Life Flow" is still better than many half-baked modern "blues" albums, it is one of the lesser items in Kenny Neal's distinguished catalogue. A good album, but Kenny is capable of making great ones."