Anyone who has heard Cray's 1999 album Take Your Shoes Off won't exactly be blown away by the originality of the singer-guitarist's latest enterprise. This is essentially...
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Perhaps the most telling tune on Shoulda Been Home is the T-Bone Walker-influenced "Renew Blues," not because of the style, but because the slow blues fades out after just...
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In 1986 blues stylist Robert Cray catapulted to stardom with Strong Persuader, an album that not only launched his career, but also fired the blues revival, which continues...
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Even diehard Robert Cray fans admit that over the course of the last decade, the singer/guitarist/songwriter has crafted albums that are practically interchangeable....
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Featuring "The Forecast Calls For Pain" and the up-tempo "Consequences," Cray is moving in a soul direction here, with particularly effective use of the Memphis...
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Cray went into a more soul-slanted direction for this solid collection, coarsening his vocal cords for "The Forecast (Calls for Pain)" and the rest of the set. ~ Bill Dahl,...
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Shame + A Sin 10/5/1993, Yahoo! Music, John Quaintance
Cray idol/influence Albert Collins becomes the first celeb to guest on one of his albums here, as Cray returns to his roots. "You're Gonna Need Me" and "I'm Just Lucky That...
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This time, Cray veered back toward the blues (most convincingly, too), even covering Albert King's "You're Gonna Need Me" and bemoaning paying taxes on the humorous "1040...
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Cray's classic career-making album, this went double-platinum, put him on the cover of Rolling Stone and won him a Grammy. Songs like "Smoking Gun" and "It's Because Of Me"...
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The set that made Cray a pop star, despite its enduring blues base. Cray's smoldering stance on "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door" rendered him the first sex symbol to...
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Bluesman Robert Cray has occasionally been critized for mixing pop and funk elements in his music but no such criticism can be made about this CD reissue of his recording...
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This one starts promisingly, with the title track, reminiscent of his work on Strong Persuader, and the searing "Don't You Even Care," but suffers after that from...
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With 1986's Strong Persuader, guitarist and vocalist Robert Cray stepped to the front of the line as a smooth and intelligent practitioner of the blues genre. Strong...
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If its predecessor hadn't been so powerful, this collection might have been a little more striking in its own right. As it is, a solid if not overwhelming album sporting the...
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Cray's confident debut, later re-issued as Too Many Cooks, signaled a new voice of the blues. By reconciling the split between blues and R&B, covering O.V. Wright and Willie...
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The Pacific Northwest-based blues savior's first album in 1980 boded well for his immediate future. Unfurling a sterling vocal delivery equally conversant with blues and...
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Robert Cray's soulful vocals and spanky, sustainless guitar enliven the fairly by-the-numbers blues-influenced R&B on I Was Warned. The band itself is solid (especially...
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Fans will be jarred by the lack of horn accompaniment for the first time in Cray's career, but the switch works well, yielding a more intimate sound and quieting critics who...
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Typically well-produced and well-played outing -- mostly originals, with smoldering covers of Syl Johnson's "Steppin' Out" and Wilson Pickett's "Jealous Love" for good...
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Cray's most confident soul outing also features the Memphis Horns. Recorded in Memphis to capture an authentic Stax-era sound, this is Cray's most infectious work in...
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No longer the kid who helped spark a blues revival a decade ago,
Robert Cray has aged with consummate grace. Indeed, middle age suits him far better than the role of...
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It's evident right from the start that Robert Cray's aiming for a Memphis soul groove on Take Your Shoes Off. Willie Mitchell of Hi Records fame co-wrote and did the horn...
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Robert Cray left his longtime home Mercury Records following the release of 1997's Sweet Potato Pie, moving to Rykodisc in 1999. Not long after his Ryko debut Take Your...
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Although long departed from Mercury Records, Robert Cray served as a co-compiler on this discount-priced best-of, which reviews his career from 1986 to 1997 by way of ten...
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After 25 years and 14 albums, it seems a little churlish to complain that Robert Cray has been mining the same low-key, mellow Memphis soul-blues groove for well over...
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