Description
Joe Bonamassa – Different Shades Of Blue / Provogue Audio CD 2014 / PRD7441 4
UPC 819873011194
Product Details:
Label: Provogue – PRD 7441 4
Format: CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: 19 Sep 2014
Genre: Blues
Description:
Different Shades of Blue is the eleventh studio album by blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa. It was released on September 22, 2014.
The album debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, which makes this Bonamassa's highest charting album, and his first top 10 on the chart. It was ranked No. 3 on Billboard's Year End Blues Album Chart of 2015. It has sold 96,000 copies in the United States as of February 2016.
Editorial Review:
Joe Bonamassa has moved far past his initial incarnation as a kid guitar wiz with a Stevie Ray Vaughan fascination, and has developed into an elegantly reverent guitarist and a fine singer as well, bringing a little R&B blue-eyed soul to the blues. For Different Shades of Blue, Bonamassa co-wrote songs with veteran Nashville songwriters Jeffrey Steele, Gary Nicholson, James House, Jerry Flowers, and Jonathan Cain, then took 11 of the songs and tracked them in Las Vegas at Studio at the Palms with producer Kevin Shirley and a solid band of studio musicians including Reese Wynans (organ, piano), Carmine Rojas (bass), Michael Rhodes (bass), Anton Fig (drums, percussion), Lenny Castro (percussion), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, trombone), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), the Bovaland Orchestra (strings), and background vocalists Doug Henthorn and Melanie Williams. Bonamassa used 20 different vintage guitars for the project, along with 13 different amps, and lists each one in the liner notes. Consequently, this is an album about guitar tones, as each song demands its own and Bonamassa empties the tool kit. The best songs here, like the poppy and R&B-laced "Love Ain't a Love Song," the hard-driving honky tonk blues "Never Give All Your Heart," and "Trouble Town," a slice of horn-driven garage blues, are vintage Bonamassa, blending all of his influences, from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and Rory Gallagher to Jimi Hendrix and Hank Garland, into his own voice for the blues. The clear highlight here, and undoubtedly already or soon to be a high point of Bonamassa's live shows, is the stately and powerful "Oh Beautiful!," which alternates between hushed vocals and slashing, soaring electric guitar breaks, a sort of 21st century version of Blind Willie Johnson adorned with tone washes and blistering guitar. It's a striking and timeless recording, and a great blues song by anyone's standards. The problem here, though, is that with the exception of the above songs, and maybe one or two others, the songs on Different Shades of Blue shade toward the generic side of things, and no matter how wonderful and gorgeous the guitar tones may be, it's hard to make a generic song sing memorably.
Tracklist:
| 1 | Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
Songwriter – Jimi Hendrix |
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| 2 | Oh Beautiful !
Songwriter – James House, Joe Bonamassa |
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| 3 | Love Ain`t A Love Song
Songwriter – Jerry Flowers (2), Joe Bonamassa |
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| 4 | Living On The Moon
Songwriter – James House, Joe Bonamassa |
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| 5 | Heartache Follows Wherever I Go
Songwriter – James House, Joe Bonamassa |
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| 6 | Never Give All Your Heart
Songwriter – Joe Bonamassa, Jonathan Cain |
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| 7 | I Gave Up Everything For You, `Cept The Blues
Songwriter – Jeffrey Steele (2), Jerry Flowers (2), Joe Bonamassa |
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| 8 | Different Shades Of Blue
Songwriter – James House, Joe Bonamassa |
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| 9 | Get Back My Tomorrow
Songwriter – Jeffrey Steele (2), Jerry Flowers (2), Joe Bonamassa |
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| 10 |
Trouble Town
Songwriter – Gary Nicholson, Joe Bonamassa |
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| 11 | So, What Would I Do
Songwriter – Joe Bonamassa |
More Details:
- Arranged By [Horn] – Lee Thornburg
- Arranged By [String] – Jeff Bova
- Backing Vocals – Doug Henthorn, Melanie Williams
- Bass – Carmine Rojas, Michael Rhodes
- Drums – Anton Fig
- Engineer – Kevin Shirley, Mark Gray (5)
- Executive-Producer – Roy Weisman
- Guitar – Joe Bonamassa
- Lead Vocals – Joe Bonamassa
- Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
- Mixed By – Kevin Shirley
- Organ – Reese Wynans
- Photography By – Erik Kabik, Philippe Klose, Rick Gould
- Piano – Reese Wynans
- Producer – Kevin Shirley
- Saxophone – Ron Dziubla
- Strings – The Bovaland Symphonic Orchestra
- Trombone – Lee Thornburg
- Trumpet – Lee Thornburg
