Some people might cry nepotism when they look at the track list, with Fat Possum label mates Heartless Bastards, The Black Keys, Thee Shams, and Entrance, but it's a label with a blues orientation, dammit, and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys taught himself to play guitar by listening to Junior's records.
Plus, it means that you are forced to listen to the Heartless Bastards, and if you don't think that Erika Wennerstrom's voice on "Done Got Old" sounds like a midnight wind screaming through the Mississippi delta, if it doesn't conjure 3 a.m. with a lonesome train whistle in the distance, you don't have much of a heart or an imagination.
Thee Shams' version of "Release Me" sounds like it was recorded at the Crawdaddy Club. And Guy Blakeslee, AKA Entrance, teams up with the great Cat Power for an ethereal rendition of "Do The Romp." The album would be decidedly poorer without the contribution of these Fat Possum label mates.
It's not a surprise that the Fiery Furnaces are one of the highlights of the compilation but the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's number isn't as incendiary as one would anticipate. It's worth noting that their version of "Meet Me In The City" features the late Elliott Smith on acoustic guitar.
Mark Lanegan's whiskey-smoked voice competes with Iggy's in terms of putting the fear into you; he's never sounded better, and "All Night Long" is one of the record's true standouts.
Heck, this record makes me like Pete Yorn. Pete Yorn! Or at least relate to the respect presented in his cover of "I Feel Good Again," one of Kimbrough's few acoustic numbers.
This is true, even if Yorn's version is familiar from a record called "Live In New Jersey". Every time I hear the record and get to this track, I stop and think, "God, this is good, who does this again?"
That's the surest sign of a tribute album's success ever. The record suceeds precisely because the songs on Sunday Night - The Songs of Junior Kimbrough are each nothing less than heartfelt interpretations that bring you inside Junior's Place, make you want to know more, to hear more, and draw you closer to a sound that inspired, well, everyone worth listening to.
Article comments
1 - HW Saxton
I dig the hell out of Junior Kimbrough.
I feel this CD falls short though.But it
is worth the $ however, for The Stooges
track alone.It's just pounding!!!!!!!!!!
It sounds like something that could have
been on "Funhouse".It's just nasty assed
white boy garage blues raunch n roll.
2 - Temple Stark
Wooohooo boobies. Oh, my mistake that's Iggy's Pop.
I don't know how anyone survives in the world with the name Junior, but there ya go.
I point you to the Alabama music review site of Advance.net.
Your review's up there, loud and proud. Please go and tell your contacts that hundreds of thousands more readers will now have access to your review.
Thanks Caryn, Temple
3 - Eric Olsen
really super review Caryn, and excellent points about the inadequacies of most tribute albums. I am inspired to give it a serious whirl - thanks!