Rating 3.5
Sappy 50's doo-wop, and album filler, NOT good music!The artistic quality of these two albums are nil, NON-EXISTANT! This is commercial doo-wop inspired garbage. Album filler, at best. The 1st album consists of ballads with muzaky piano playing, that sounds too sickeningly easy listening(considering he was once a boogie woogie great in the 1940's). These albums sound like they were desperatley trying for a hit. The 1st albumn at least has several uptempo numbers taht might have been pretty cool, if they weren't weighed down by obviously white, non-swingign backup singers. The 2nd album is even worst, if that's possible, Joe sings some old gems but the arrangements are so corny and filled with a chior backing him up, that it sounds SO DATED! This is Ivory Joe's lowest point of his career, thsi is really bad, get some of his earlier stuff, but skip this depressign and EMBERESSING Atlantic sides.A little something for everyoneWith some effort, I acquired Ivory Joe Hunter/The Old and the New, mainly for one of my favorites: Since I Met You Baby. This tune came out when I was in seventh grade.I got hooked in the mass market rock and roll music as it developed in the mid to late 1950s. So I have not really bonded with some of the more traditional blues songs on this CD. An even older generation can probably appreciate them more. But I am trying, by playing them over and over again, to develop a real appreciation. Others that I can really go for include the more country type, such as A Tear Fell and Worried Mind. It is said that Ivory Joe estimated that he wrote between 7 and 8 thousand songs in his lifetime. I have checked with other musicians as to whether this is really possible. To prove it, one of my friends then composed a basic blues tune on the spot. Maybe those songs weren't all fully developed and worth marketing. But he sure left us a lot that were recorded, for their own entertainment value and as influence on others. Great songs - indifferent sound qualityTell me you know of a more talented singer-songwriter and i'll suggest you have been drinking!The album comprises R&B classics (No other version of 'Since I Met You Baby' comes anywhere close to the perfection of Joe's original) and classic ballads (I'll Take You Home again, Kathleen etc) and represents excellent value. The dissapointment for me is the mastering. Problem is, it will always come out second best to the likes of the ACE label. Anyhow, let's place this artist where he deserves to be - At the top! |
