“The sound of the first few bars is familiar with the kind of blues shuffle that could have been recorded in the 1950’s in Chicago or Louisiana, but from the moment the singer comes in its like someone dropped a bottle on a concrete floor. You stop whatever you were doing and turn to look at the speaker, hoping that an explanation will come out of the cabinet. Didn’t somebody say that the singer was British? When did a British singer ever sound like this?
George Sueref wails higher than most blues singers, and more relaxed too. Back when the city blues was being hammered out, not many singers chose to float their voices over the rhythm. Among the exceptions were Junior Parker in Memphis and J.B. Lenoir in Chicago, two of my all-time favourites and Little George doesn’t suffer from being compared to either of them.
If his voice is a revelation, so is the quality of his songwriting. One song after another feels like it’s been steeped in time. George wrote all but four of them and they all sound completely convincing. He’s even got the tracks sequenced perfectly, bouncing us along for a couple of tracks and the dropping us into a pool of desolation.
One other miracle, George has found an engineer that understands that to record this music you do not jam microphones up close against every instrument, with half a dozen covering the drum kit. Instead it feels like the musicians are hearing each other acoustically in the same space, with just a few microphones picking up everything happening in the room. Each song is recorded as a particular moment of time, with nobody worried if the tempo changes a bit or if somebody fluffs a note.
Each time I listen, a different song envelops me in its atmosphere, andas I write these notes, ‘Living in the city’ feels like an all-timeclassic. When was the last time youfound an album that held up its quality from track one to track 15? Thanks to Mike Gavin in the basement of Ray’sJazz Records on the corner of Monmouth St and Shaftesbury Ave for sending me acopy of this album in February 2001. Ithas since become one of the years hits for listening to London Live on Saturdaynight.”
(Original liner by Charlie Gillett notes from 2000 CD release.)
The album has been out of print for two decades and is available on vinyl for the first time. The 2-disc LP plays at 45 rpm for maximum pleasure! The recordings feature appearances by Louisiana bluesman Lazy Lester along with Ike and Tina Turner alumni and hit soul singer Jimmy Thomas.
LP Tracklisting
Side 1
1. Six Sixty Six
2. Feel SoLonesome
3. Tell YourMother
4. Papers
Side 2
1. Treat YourDaddy Right
2. FingerLickin’
3. The Clock
Side 3
1. Living In TheCity
2. Every DayAbout This Time
3. 3-6-9
Side 4
1. I’m Leaving
2. Catfish
3. Further OnDown The Line
4. RhythmRockin’ Boogie
5. Don’t TakeYour Daughter
“The sound of the first few bars is familiar with the kind of blues shuffle that could have been recorded in the 1950’s in Chicago or Louisiana, but from the moment the singer comes in its like someone dropped a bottle on a concrete floor. You stop whatever you were doing and turn to look at the speaker, hoping that an explanation will come out of the cabinet. Didn’t somebody say that the singer was British? When did a British singer ever sound like this?
George Sueref wails higher than most blues singers, and more relaxed too. Back when the city blues was being hammered out, not many singers chose to float their voices over the rhythm. Among the exceptions were Junior Parker in Memphis and J.B. Lenoir in Chicago, two of my all-time favourites and Little George doesn’t suffer from being compared to either of them.
If his voice is a revelation, so is the quality of his songwriting. One song after another feels like it’s been steeped in time. George wrote all but four of them and they all sound completely convincing. He’s even got the tracks sequenced perfectly, bouncing us along for a couple of tracks and the dropping us into a pool of desolation.
One other miracle, George has found an engineer that understands that to record this music you do not jam microphones up close against every instrument, with half a dozen covering the drum kit. Instead it feels like the musicians are hearing each other acoustically in the same space, with just a few microphones picking up everything happening in the room. Each song is recorded as a particular moment of time, with nobody worried if the tempo changes a bit or if somebody fluffs a note.
Each time I listen, a different song envelops me in its atmosphere, andas I write these notes, ‘Living in the city’ feels like an all-timeclassic. When was the last time youfound an album that held up its quality from track one to track 15? Thanks to Mike Gavin in the basement of Ray’sJazz Records on the corner of Monmouth St and Shaftesbury Ave for sending me acopy of this album in February 2001. Ithas since become one of the years hits for listening to London Live on Saturdaynight.”
(Original liner by Charlie Gillett notes from 2000 CD release.)
The album has been out of print for two decades and is available on vinyl for the first time. The 2-disc LP plays at 45 rpm for maximum pleasure! The recordings feature appearances by Louisiana bluesman Lazy Lester along with Ike and Tina Turner alumni and hit soul singer Jimmy Thomas.
LP Tracklisting
Side 1
1. Six Sixty Six
2. Feel SoLonesome
3. Tell YourMother
4. Papers
Side 2
1. Treat YourDaddy Right
2. FingerLickin’
3. The Clock
Side 3
1. Living In TheCity
2. Every DayAbout This Time
3. 3-6-9
Side 4
1. I’m Leaving
2. Catfish
3. Further OnDown The Line
4. RhythmRockin’ Boogie
5. Don’t TakeYour Daughter
Available in:
CD, Vinyl, and Digital Download
