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Start With the Soul Alvin Youngblood Hart Hannibal, 2000
Buy it online
Tracks 1:
Fightin' Hard
Reviewed by Claude Lalumière
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Alvin Youngblood Hart is the kind of artist who doesn't bow to expectations. He cares deeply about his music. All of his recordings display an intense commitment to being absolutely true to the songs he performs, whether they're his own compositions or covers of popular and traditional material. Like Chris Isaak and Taj Mahal, his work shows a profound knowledge of -- and insatiable curiosity about -- the various source and sibling genres of his chosen mode of musical expression. Hart is a blues musician. His music is firmly rooted in tradition, yet constantly stepping across the boundaries of strict genre definitions. In his hands, blues becomes both rich with history and vibrant with pertinent immediacy. The breadth and quality of his unpredictable talent are evident in his latest album, the bluesy rock 'n' roller Start with the Soul, which avoids the worn clichés of blues rock (such as macho guitar licks and ad nauseam repetition of the same lyrics). Hart's first album, Big Mama's Door (which, in 1997, won him the W.C. Handy Blues Award for Best New Artist and the Living Blues Critics Poll Awards for Best Blues Album, Best Debut Album and Best Traditional Album), was -- and is -- an acoustic masterpiece. While it did set up the format he has since followed (a mix of originals, traditionals and popular covers), it didn't prepare audiences for the diversity that would soon erupt. Initial response to Territory, his second album, was a bit mixed. Hart, it was believed, was an acoustic bluesman. Territory mapped out a much wider -- hmm -- territory for blues, from swamp music to ska and from folk and country to roots blues and Louisiana soul. A virtuoso instrumentalist, Hart considerably expanded his choice in this regard, using 10 different guitar-based instruments, including the as-far-as-you-can-get-from-acoustic synth guitar. Territory was, if anything, even more accomplished than his celebrated debut. It not only showcased Hart's mastery over an impressive range of sub-genres but also a wider palette of emotions. Its tone was both sadder and, in a strange way, more celebratory. Territory earned the 1999 Best Blues Album of the Year awards from both Down Beat and the Living Blues Critics Poll. In the meantime, Hart had started to record songs for the House of Blues This Ain't No Tribute series, which featured blues musicians covering songs by blues-inspired rock 'n' roll artists such as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin. His contributions to those anthologies further astonished his audience. He covered rock/blues hybrids like Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" in a surprisingly modern rock style. And thus paved the way for his third -- and most electric -- album, Start With the Soul. This time, Hart embraces Neil Young-style grunge (even the lyrics have a Rust Never Sleeps attitude) and infuses it with his own bluesy voice. He also flirts with R&B à la B.B. King ("Treat Her Like a Lady" and "Maxwell Street Jimmy"), briefly wanders over into Tom Waits territory ("Once Again"), and gives a rockin' and groovin' rendition of Chuck Berry's "Back to Memphis." The album as a whole travels the byways linking these (and more) diverse sources to create a collection of exciting songs that are oblivious to genre definitions. Start With the Soul, like its two predecessors, is a wide-ranging yet focused testament to Hart's love affair with music. Oh... and it's damn good. | August
2000 |
The breadth and quality of his unpredictable talent are evident in his latest album, the bluesy rock 'n' roller Start with the Soul, which avoids the worn clichés of blues rock (such as macho guitar licks and ad nauseam repetition of the same lyrics). |
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