Artist................... Mark Cook Project
Album.....................Blue Voodoo
Label.....................Wendster
Genre.....................Blues
Release...................04/23/2006
Street....................xx/xx/2006
Encoder...................LAME 3.97 beta
Quality...................--aps 44.1kHz/joint
# NAME TiME
01. No One Likes A Good Woman 05:18
(When She's Down)
02. Gonna Fly the Coop 04:35
03. Moonlight Blues 04:43
04. Doin' What I Do Best 04:50
05. At the Brew House 03:45
06. Back Home to Tennessee 03:32
07. What Was, Will Never Be 03:54
08. Blue Voodoo 04:07
09. Don't Pull Me Down 03:52
10. In A Funk 03:36
11. Sunday Afternoon 00:59
12. Livin' on the Outside 04:38
13. Gonna Live for Today 04:36
14. When You're Feelin' the Blues 05:01
15. Tomorrow's Come and Gone 04:55
Just about a week ago, I did a review of a CD from a
band called BLUE VOODOO, now here I am doing a review
of a CD, by THE MARK COOK PROJECT, called "BLUE
VOODOO". Is this a coincidence or should I be expecting
to receive a doll called BLUE VOODOO soon? Hmmmm!
I must admit that when MARK COOK contacted me recently
and asked if I'd give his latest release a listen, I
was ECSTATIC! I immediately thought back to one of his
prior releases that I had reviewed in 2003 and found
myself hoping that this new disc would be as good as
that one was. As a matter of fact, it was that earlier
release - "AN EVENING WITH THE BLUES" - that won the
very first BLEWZZY, the award we give annually to
Blewzzman's favorite CD of all the CD's reviewed that
year.
As Mark usually does, when he assembled this band, he
chose from some of the finest musicians in his area,
and he chose a lot of them. His ensembles are generally
the size of a small audience. Hence the word "PROJECT".
The members of this MARK COOK PROJECT, in alphabetical
order, are: MIKE BARRY, trumpet; CHUCK BITHORN,
percussion; ANDREW BLACK, vocals; MARK COOK, guitar,
bass and keyboards; WENDY COOK, porch board; HEAVEN
DAVIS, vocals; TOM GIBSON, trombone; LARRY GRIFFITH,
vocals; LOLA GULLEY, vocals; JOEY HUFFMAN, B3 organ,
STEVE MAYS, bass; BOB MOBLEY, B3 organ and piano; SEAN
O'ROURKE, drums; STEVE RUSIN, harmonica; RIC SEYMOUR,
vocals; SAM SKELTON, alto, tenor and baritone saxes;
TIM YOUNG, bass.
"BLUE VOODOO" is a very tasteful and versatile mix of
Funk, Soul, R&B, Roots Blues, Blues Rock, Big Band
Blues and good old straight up, lowdown Chicago Blues.
The disc contains 15 excellent tracks of which all
lyrics and music were written, produced, recorded and
mixed by MARK COOK. Amazing!
Although it will be difficult to not name them all,
here are some of the tracks that particularly got my
mojo working.
If you've got any speakers near a smoke alarm, be very
careful as the opening track, "NO ONE LIKES A GOOD
WOMAN (WHEN SHE'S DOWN)", comes on. This one's very hot
and full of fiery funk. The rhythm section of SEAN, TOM
and JOEY is rippin', the horns of SAM, MIKE and TOM are
howlin', STEVE'S harmonica's hummin' and LOLA's vocals
is the fuse that sets it all off.
There's no indication of anyone letting up, as the heat
continues to spread into the next track, "GONNA FLY THE
COOP". This one features ANDREW singing his heart out
and mixing in lots scintillating scat. The horn
section, once again - and as usual - are right there,
and MARK and BOBBY are tearing up the guitar and
keyboards. What a hell of a one-two punch for opening
tracks.
"MOONLIGHT BLUES" brings things down a bit, but
certainly not in quality - only in tempo. Once again,
LOLA is featured on the vocals but this time she's
belting out some good old down home blues, and damn can
she belt it out. As you'd expect, there are lots of
great blues guitar licks by MARK.
"BACK TO TENNEESSEE", is a very Sonny Terry & Brownee
McGhee / Cephas & Wiggins sounding roots blues track
which is all about STEVE on harmonica and LARRY on down
home vocals.
"DON'T PULL ME DOWN" is another one of those tracks
that everyone's tearing it up on, with RIC, one of a
slew of excellent vocalists who have sung on this disc,
leading the way. MARK, STEVE & JOEY are at their best
on guitar, harp and organ.
"TOMORROW'S COME AND GONE", is a steamy and sultry
vocal virtuoso performance by HEAVEN & LARRY. This
wonderfully done 5 minute track added 75 minutes on
this review because I literally listened to it 15 times
over. It's songs like this that create a need for "Song
of the Year Awards".
"BLUE VOODOO" is the musical comparison to the sky on a
very clear and cloudless night....IT'S FULL OF STARS.
Never have I listened to a CD and been this impressed
with each and every performer. It breaks my heart to
know that there are such talented people doing such
talented things and the masses will never know about
it. On the other hand, I'm thankful that I am one of
the those that do.
We use LAME 3.97 now, which is approved.
62:21 min
93,2 Mb