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R.L. Burnside
Bad Luck City
Album: Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down
Genres: Blues
Can you get behind the idea of Fat Possum's premier bluesman posing as an old-school soul crooner? Then check out this bizarre but hypnotic track from R.L.'s latest record! |
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They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but R.L. Burnside seems willing to keep pushing the envelope, even at the ripe old age of 73. A six-minute cut from the new Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down, "Bad Luck City" (a place we've all visited, though it ain't on any map you'd buy at the service station) is about a million miles removed from the gritty, John Lee Hooker-influenced stomps that filled R.L.'s earlier records. Instead, this slow-grooving track is layered with electric pianos, vintage synthesizers and Dire Straits-style guitar licks, while R.L. himself divides his time between expostulating on the vagaries of love and trying to croon like an old-school soul man. The song doesn't always work -- especially the "scratching" breaks, which feel really forced and superfluous -- but R.L.'s singing exudes a rough-edged sweetness, and folks who liked 1998's loop-heavy Come On In will probably dig it. But if it's down-and-dirty Fat Possum blues ye be lookin' for, Robert Belfour or T-Model Ford are much better bets.
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Dan Epstein |
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Dan Epstein is a Los Angeles-based journalist and pop-culture historian whose work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, BAM, Raygun, Guitar World and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. His first book, Twentieth Century Pop Culture, was published in 1999 by Carlton Books.
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for R.L. Burnside
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R.L. Burnside at Fat Possum
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All Music Guide: R.L. Burnside
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