Buddy Guy – The Blues Is Alive And Well (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Buddy Guy – The Blues Is Alive And Well (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:10 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Silvertone

Damn Right ! Who could disagree? Of course Buddy Guy has blues in the blood! The Chicago guitar legend is saying it loud on this album: The Blues Is Alive And Well! At 81 years old, he seems on better form than ever, and has a lot to teach the youth. This is a punkier, rockier bluesman than the present generation, who knows how to bring the blues to a white audience. Old fashioned? The accusation wouldn’t offend Buddy Guy, who’s just playing his guitar right. Here, the guitarist is discussing the blues with guests who have the stature to hold a conversation with him. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck and James Bay feed his talent, and stay in perfect harmony with his genius. And what would be blues without talk of booze and old friends? On Cognac, Buddy Guy seems to shed twenty years when he evokes Muddy Waters.

It’s too late to sip a brandy with him, but now he’s got Keith and others for company. Getting wasted in style, filling up on booze and the blues, dealing out a hand that can’t ever end: that’s the spirit of the blues. Beyond the music, there is a real discussion that starts between guitar riffs, piano chords and the singer’s penetrating voice. Better than a trance, this is a stairway to the underworld opening up. And then there’s such a captivating groove on The Blues Is Alive And Well. It’s a grand declaration of love for the genre, which, through solitude, poverty and suffering, remains a faithful friend, a life-saver, an intimate journal. Perhaps the album should be seen as a kind of passing-onward of the blues to the generations to come. Blue No More gives a fair account of the idea. It’s a duet where Buddy Guy is singing face-to-face with the Pearly Gates. It doesn’t dampen his mood at all, through, because he knows that others down below will pick up his baton. And James Bay echoes his master’s words back to him: “I won’t be blue no more”.  – Clara Bismuth

Tracklist:

1-01. Buddy Guy – A Few Good Years (04:47)
1-02. Buddy Guy – Guilty As Charged (03:20)
1-03. Buddy Guy – Cognac (05:22)
1-04. Buddy Guy – The Blues Is Alive And Well (05:13)
1-05. Buddy Guy – Bad Day (03:48)
1-06. Buddy Guy – Blue No More (03:39)
1-07. Buddy Guy – Whiskey For Sale (04:02)
1-08. Buddy Guy – You Did The Crime (06:53)
1-09. Buddy Guy – Old Fashioned (03:57)
1-10. Buddy Guy – When My Day Comes (04:38)
1-11. Buddy Guy – Nine Below Zero (06:19)
1-12. Buddy Guy – Ooh Daddy (03:17)
1-13. Buddy Guy – Somebody Up There (04:27)
1-14. Buddy Guy – End Of The Line (03:25)
1-15. Buddy Guy – Milking Muther For Ya (00:57)

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