Unknown.
The beast from the swamps is back. Again. Tony Joe White has lubricated his vocal cords and finally presents us a solid rock album. Actually the description 'rock' does not fully cover the content. White fires a thick mixture of soul, rock and blues onto the audience. With his dark voice and the, ever so typical, slow rhythm the songs go skin deep.
In the past record companies have tried to mould the man, who created hits as 'Polk Salad Annie' (for Elvis) and 'Rainy Night in Georgia' (Brook Benton), into a disco formula, but that is something which should not be tried with straight-lined musicians of this kind. Tony Joe White is someone who should be let alone to do his thing, just like Randy Newman. It will work itself out. The label Munich understands this. On his new cd 'Uncovered' White can simply be himself. Even if the King of Swamps will never reach the level of 'Homemade Icecream', 'Continued' or 'Black & White' anymore, this album does have the ambiance of the albums of the above mentioned list.
White seems to have overcome the depth of 'Path of a Decent Groove', the ups and downs of 'Lake Placid Blues' and 'The Beginning'. New songs as 'Run for Cover' and 'Not One Bad Thought' are solid as a rock. White has invited Eric Clapton, JJ Cale and Mark Knopfler to jam along with some of his older successful songs, but that is absolutely not disturbing on this cd. One only realizes this as it is mentioned on the cover, otherwise it would have passed unnoticed.
Play Rock (NL), Jan 2007
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