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Mem Shannon: Spend Some Time with Me |
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Monday, 06 February 2006 23:32 |
Mem Shannon
Spend Some Time with Me
Shanachie Records CBD 9013
By John Sinclair
New Orleans bluesman Mem Shannon has a sound and style all his own. Like the masters of the genre, Mem composes fiercely original blues songs drawn from actual life and filtered through his own particular worldview, and he delivers them--backed by his tight and extremely sympathetic band--with palpable conviction and emotive force.
Spend Some Time with Me is Mem Shannon's third album of original material since he cut his first CD, A Cab Driver's Blues, with producer Mark Bingham in 1995. There Shannon and Bingham skillfully wove a series of candid conversations recorded in Mem's cab into the musical program, setting off Shannon's songs like a string of uniquely brilliant gems contrasted by passages of real-life hilarity and wierdness.
Mem Shannon's Second Blues Album offered another full helping of fine Mem Shannon originals like "Wrong People In Charge," "Old Men," "One Thin Dime" and "My Humble Opinion," delivered with force and conviction by Mem's distinctive voice and guitar framed by an excellent band in a second tasty production by Mark Bingham.
For his third outing Mem has switched labels (from Rykodisc to Shanachie) and selected producer Dennis Walker to direct the proceedings, which have been designed to showcase Mem's working band of keyboardist Chuck Chaplin, bassist Jimmy Ivey, drummer Tony Seruntine and saxophonist Jason Mingledorff, a spirited bunch of young Crescent City veterans who are completely attuned to their leader's every direction.
Aided and abetted by trombonist Mark Mullins and trumpeter Tracy Griffin, the highly personalized pedal steel guitar of Dave Easley and the congas of Pupi Menes, Mem Shannon & The Membership rip through a well-balanced program of original songs drawn from everyday life and indelibly stamped with the composer's down-to-earth outlook.
"Who Are They" (and has anyone ever seen 'em) is Mem's response to what "they" have to say about the way he lives; "Paying My Dues" is an autobiographical plaint reflecting the troubles Shannon has encountered since selling his cab and taking to the road as a modern bluesman; "Not My Friend" treats personal betrayal; and "Don't Talk About My Mama" is as blunt and bristling as it sounds.
"The Last Time I Was Here" is a truly remarkable blues song dealing with the painful African-American past in the equally severe context of today; this theme is effectively extended in "Pray For The Children." "Dirty Dishes" is a humorous twist on the modern cheatin' blues, and "A Certain Shade of Blue" is a gorgeous blues ballad sung with grace and conviction.
The title track, "Mother's Love," "Born in This Time" and the closing track, "No Such Thing (My Humble Opinion--2nd Movement)," continue to impress, and every song is treated to a telling performance by Shannon and the band.
Keep your eyes and ears on Mem Shannon as he works his way through the ranks of the modern blues world and continues his emergence as an exciting individual talent of ever more promising proportions. He waited quite a while to make his move, but he's coming on strong now, and he's not about to stop.
--New Orleans
April 29, 1999
(c) 1999, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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