JAMES BLOOD ULMER
No Escape From the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions
(Hyena Records)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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James Blood Ulmer's follow-up to Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions continues his blues journey to the bright lights and big city from the Delta. While James soaked up the Delta during his sessions at Sun (and was nominated for a Grammy for that record), his stop at Electric Lady studios, courtesy of Hyena Records, in New York, is filled with urban, postwar classics played with a sharp edge. Check out the searing metal blues guitar solos on some traditional blues standards, and the understated, sparse production on "Are You Glad to Be in America" that lets Ulmer's poignant lyrics and picking stand out front. James asks many questions, and in a post-9/11 world, this introspective song will make people think. The banter inside the acoustic "Goin' to New York" is a lot of fun, and the rollicking "No Escape from the Blues" is true to Muddy Waters' original, although there's some pretty out-there soloing that recalls producer Vernon Reid's days with Living Color more than Muddy's home in the Delta. Ulmer's breaking new ground by amping up some traditional blues standards, and I'd like to think that the ghosts who once recorded in that fabled New York recording studio are smiling.

Track List:

Goin' to New York * The Hustle Is On * Who's Been Talkin' * Ghetto Child * Are You Glad to Be in America? * You Know, I Know * Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) * Bright Lights, Big City * No Escape From The Blues * Satisfy (Story of My Life) * Trouble in Mind * The Blues Had a Baby and Called in Rock and Roll

© 2003 - Eric Steiner