Search - Sean Costello :: Sean's Blues

RICK ""SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THE LONG AND SHORT OF SEAN COS

Rick Shaq Goldstein | Danville, Ca, USA | 10/29/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When Sean Costello died on April 15, 2008 the night before his twenty-ninth birthday the world lost not only a talented performer... but they also lost an artist who had the burgeoning potential to be a shining star in the electric blues field for years to come. This posthumously released CD that tantalizingly has the word *BLUES* in the title... hauntingly reminds electric blues lovers once again... that there just isn't enough new quality electric blues being created.



Sean's voice was so unique it was hard for me to easily describe it... to people that I was trying to turn on to electric blues... and using Sean as an example of a young "BLUES-HOPEFUL". Since this CD covers many prior years... some songs he sounds like a young Dylan... sometimes his fabulous voice would have a "growl" that sounded like Louis Armstrong... and then without taking a breath... his voice would rise to pure unadulterated clarity. There are twenty songs on this CD and twelve of them are previously unreleased. Since my personal preference leans to long string-bending electric blues... one small personal disappointment is the fact that six songs are under three-minutes long. In fact one song (#3 Call The Cops) is only one-minute-forty-five seconds-short. A generation ago that might have even been too short for a 45 RPM record.



In my opinion the absolute greatest performance on this retrospective is #10- "DOUBLE TROUBLE" a cover of an Otis Rush classic. Otis Rush is one of my six all-time favorite electric blues guitarist's... and Sean's seven-minute-thirty-one-second rendition is breath-taking and mesmerizing. He bends the strings and puts his entire being into the song. With all due respect to Otis... I think Sean performs it better than Otis himself. I can envision Otis up in *BLUES-HEAVEN" slapping Sean on the back and high-fiving him for bringing a new youthful vitality to his great song. Coincidentally Sean "covers" two other of Rush's classics on this CD... #12- "ALL YOUR LOVE (I MISS LOVING) -5-minutes-thirty-five-seconds... and I have to say that Costello sounds *EXACTLY* like Otis on this track. The third Rush song is #17- "IT TAKES TIME"- three-minutes-thirty seconds.



In addition there is little bit of everything for electric blues lovers ranging from #9- "WALKING BLUES" the Robert Johnson standard with lead vocals by Susan Tedeschi... and sounding reminiscent of some old-time Paul Butterfield Blues Band "cooking" blues on this and a number of other roadhouse-blues-boogieing ensembles... including #15- "DON'T BE RECKLESS WITH MY HEART" written by Sean himself.



As the electric blues world tries to learn to accept that Sean is no more... if there were to be but one "live" memory of Sean to carry in my heart and mind for eternity... it would be his performing "DOUBLE TROUBLE"!"

No brainer

Daniel T. Irwin | 02/21/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sean Costello is one of the very few guitarists, of any genre, that literally left my jaw hanging while listening to him play. His chops are second to none. I already have his previous CD's. I'm getting this for the unreleased tracks. If there was only 1 unreleased track on the album I'd get it. If you are just hearing about Sean this is a great introduction. R. I. P. Sean, you're sorely missed."