Search - Rick Derringer :: Jackhammer Blues

Rock & Roll Over and Get Ready to Party, Stevie Ray!

hyjyljyj | Florida | 01/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"SMOKIN'! Jackhammer Blues is the best in Rick Derringer's evolving mastery of the genre of blues guitar. They just keep getting better and better. Derringer's voice may be naturally better suited to rock & pop than the blues, but he belts it with soul and lets his guitar do the rest of the talking. If you can handle mean, fluid, scuttling, slicing, vicious blues guitar from an absolute virtuoso, then this CD is a must-have. From boiling hot slippery licks to shimmering cascades of impossible arpeggios, a volcanic collection of blues covers from an unrivaled master of the six-string. It's hard to define what's more amazing: Derringer's innate sense of control--when to end a riff and let that last note linger and cry--or the fact that, for all the torrents of notes, he manages never, ever to overplay even one lick. Even the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan was guilty of occasionally running his marvelous riffs together in indistinguishable groups, instead of taking a breath and letting you savor that last incredible phrase. On Jackhammer Blues, Rick Derringer takes the blues guitar to the next level, a level of such surreal complexity that it simply must be heard to be believed. Hint: If you can listen to "Somebody Loan Me A Dime" with dry eyes, give up on trying to understand the blues. You ain't got 'em. After the opening track Shake Your Money Maker, capably rendered though never a particular favorite song of mine anyway, the real fun begins. And it doesn't stop till the end, when my CD player's "REPEAT" function comes in handy.Six stars for that six-string. Can't miss.Hyjyljyj"

Rick Rules.... as they say.

cocre | Cayce, SC United States | 07/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Ricks since Hang on Sloopy, and Jackhammer Blues is perhaps Rick's best work. Shake Your Moneymaker starts out the CD and lets you know real quick what Jackhammer Blues is all about. The CD continues with great renditions of You've Got to Love Her With a Feeling and Somebody Loan Me a Dime. The latter cut is about as Blue as it gets. Rick finishes the CD with some great favorites. If you like Rockin' Blues, Jackhammer is for you.



"

Rockin blues

howard lee teitel | GLENDALE, NEW YORK United States | 09/04/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A NICE COLLECTION OF BLUES TUNES PLAYED WITH THE USUAL ROCK EDGE. RICK PLAYS EACH SONG WITH CONVICTION AND PASSION. THE BEST CUTS ARE FRDDIE KINGS "LOVE HER WITH A FEELING" AND FENTON ROBINSONS "LOAN ME A DIME" AND A GOOD VERSION OF SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKER TO OPEN THIS CD"