Search - Michael Hill & Blues Mob :: Bloodlines

Intense modern blues

Thelonious | 09/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bloodlines, the inaugural effort from Michael Hill's Blues Mob, is an intense and varied musical offering. To simply call Michael Hill a blues artist limits him. Hill uses the blues as a jumping off point for his explorations of modern relationships and meaningful social issues. The blues is also the foundation of Hill and the Blues Mob's multifaceted musical style. Bloodlines is a pitch perfect tour-de-force of emotions and musical textures. The cd's opener, "Can't Recall A Time", is pure coiled lyrical and musical intensity, with a steely guitar solo from Hill breaking the tension. "Why We Play The Blues" is a masterpiece of hairpin rhythmic turns, ending with a quote from Sly & The Family Stone's "Wanna Take You Higher". "Promises You Can't Keep" is a burning slow blues showcase, with Hill's alternately screaming, crying, and wailing guitar ratcheting up the emotional intensity. A brief respite is provided by "Bluesman At Heart", a playful shuffle about a construction worker who dreams of jamming with the blues greats. "Evil In The Air" is the centerpiece of the cd, a modernist urban blues that is pure stark, driving menace. The driving, funky romp "Hard Blues For Hard Times" is a showcase for the Mob's tight rhythm section, while "Righteous Love" marries passionate lyrics to Hill's clean chording and mouthy wah-wah soloing. Hill displays excellent slide chops on the ominous "Soldier's Blues", which also features a monster guitar solo from the late, lamented Living Colour's Vernon Reid, on the infectiously funky "Signifying Monkey/Watch What You Say", and on the soothing "Heading Home". "Wrong Number" is a humorous slow blues that mixes Hill's alternately searing and skull-crushing guitar tones with witty lyrics. The cd's closer, "Soul Emergency" is an urban violence lament that features an extreme Hendrixian intro, screaming slide, and intense single-note volleys. This is great work produced by an underappreciated artist."

The future is right

Thelonious | 05/15/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I truly think that when, about 20 years from now, the most innovative and earth-changing blues albums of the 90s will be discussed, "Bloodlines" will be one of the records most talked about. Michael Hill always delivers upbeat, joyous live performances, and his lyrics and drenched with passion. We haven't even started to talk about his guitar playing yet! This is an amazing performer and a wonderful man, and you are missing out on one of the true coming stars of blues when you talk of Michael Hill. I can't recommend this album enough. I love all the young blues musicians from New York, such as Michael Hill, Shemekia Copeland, Robert Charels, Todd Wolfe and Bill Perry. They are all doing something DIFFERENT, and that's what the blues world needs more of!"

Brings up an aesthetic question re: the blues...

T. A. Smith | iowa city | 11/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've owned this album for the entire time it's been out, my wife having read a review and bought it solely on that basis. I have never regretted it--this is one of few people I feel are capable of playing guitar at a capacity entirely beyond my own, and I doubt if I'll ever catch up. But his lyrics sometimes make me cringe. He has no sense of irony or understatement, so he does the trent reznor thing, which is, take it entirely over the top, a kind of naiive bombast, which may be utterly sincere, but makes me wince when it happens. The woman getting it on the side running her finger along a razor's edge and thinking of her husband's neck...it may be entirely true, and evocative, it's also a cliche, and has been used by everybody from Robert Johnson to Steven Speilberg (Color Purple). It goes on and on that way. I guess we're living in an age of bombast, without restraints, but when it comes to expressing yourself, a little understatement, like Howlin Wolf was so good at, goes a long way."