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| Total: 14 Songs |
Customer Reviews
Jonathan
These guys are awesome!!! I'm watching them play here in Destin Fl from my table at Rum Runners! Amazing skills, incredible energy, and down right groovy! Really dug the bass player!!! Glad to hear Mr. Victor is residing in Memphis TN. I'm from Chattanooga and it's great to know there's some TN flavor down here in Fl.
Victor Wainwright and the Wildroots - Lit Up!
The phrase "highly anticipated" can carry some dangerous baggage with it; there's a huge potential for a letdown, and on the overall, precious few albums live up to the moniker. Thankfully, Lit Up from Victor Wainwright and the Wildroots not only meets those expectations but exceeds them.
The followup to Wainwright's critical success "Beale Street To The Bayou" builds on all the good juju from that release and actually manages to improve on every level. From any aspect you care to view this disc - songwriting, recording quality, and of course performance - this disc is an absolute winner. For starters, there's no chance a blues fan can get bored with this disc. Stylistically, Lit Up exhibits an understanding of a wide range of blues, from the flat out boogie of the album-opening "Big Dog's Runnin' This Town," straight through the heart of New Orleans with "Subliminal Criminal;" from a fine and comfortable Delta country feel with "Dixie Highway," through a superbly aching slow blues with "Our Last Goodbye;" for all of it, Wainwright and Company (Stephen Dees, Greg Gumpel, Patricia Ann Dees, Billy Dean and Ray Guyiser) show themselves as consummate wizened pros. Folks... this is seriously good blues!
Oh, and don't be shy about adding "stellar production values" to the list of this album's merits. Producer/Arranger Stephen Dees exhibits superb judgement and taste with every flourish on the disc. Horns are added where they sound fantastic - never for mere effect, and as with all other aspects of the album, never gratuitously. Solos are appropriate, tasteful and skillful, adding to the solidarity of the feel throughout this album of a very, very good band playing together, never against one another. Adding a final perfect touch to the disc, Wainwright plays a proper acoustic piano on the album's entirety; he makes his love for and extreme skill on the instrument exceedingly obvious from start to finish.
Picking a favorite track on this release might be akin to choosing your favorite gem from a perfect necklace... but if my feet were held to the fire, I might go with "Walk Away My Blues." A medium-to-slow aching blues, it gives Wainwright a chance to shine in his two most accomplished arenas; his vocals (which never get enough credit in my book) are pleading and aching, and his piano playing on this track is a microcosm of the entire album; brilliantly presented, never flash for the sake of flash but in possession of every necessary chop in the book... and then some. The horns on this track again add so much to the presentation, lending something between a big band feel and the ambiance of a smokey back-room strip joint. The whole track just blows me away.
In fact, and I'm sure it's obvious by now, the whole album blows me away. Perhaps the simplest and most effective way I can say it is this... I've been living in Memphis for over three years now. I love the city, love the music and the musicians here and I do what I can to bathe myself in as much of our city's music as I can. To these ears, Lit Up is by far the finest recording I've heard from Memphis in my entire time here. Victor Wainwright and the Wildroots have done themselves, Memphis and all of the blues world very proud.
Copyright, Silver Michaels, 2011.
Susan
I love it........
Top Albums and Songs By Victor Wainwright and the WildRoots
| Name | Album | Time | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
Honky Tonk Heaven | Lit Up | 3:45 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Little Ole' Shack | Lit Up | 3:15 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Long Way to Go | Beale Street to the Bayou | 4:34 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Subliminal Criminal | Lit Up | 3:12 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Sweet Louise | Beale Street to the Bayou | 3:43 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Weeds | Lit Up | 3:52 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Walk Away My Blues | Lit Up | 6:00 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Ting Tang Bang | Lit Up | 3:00 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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9 |
Lit Up | Lit Up | 3:18 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
|
10 |
Blues In the Rain | Beale Street to the Bayou | 5:27 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
