| Product Summary | | Label: Uni/mca | | UPC: 00731454655729 | | Release Date: 11/16/1999 | | Buy.com Sku: 60369144 | | Item#: MK64TW | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
(P) 1999 The Island Def Jam Music Group
(C) 1999 The Island Def Jam Music Group
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Robert Cray (vocals, guitar); Albert Collins, Tim Kaihatsu (guitar); Curtis Salgado (harmonica); David Li (tenor saxophone); Nolan Smith (trumpet); David Stewart (piano); Allen Batts (organ); Peter Boe, Jim Pugh, Mike Vannice (keyboards); Richard Cousins, Johnny B. Gayden, Karl Severeid (bass); David Olson, Kevin Hayes, Tom Murphy, Casey Jones (drums); | | Lee Spath (percussion). | | The Memphis Horns: Andrew Love (tenor saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet). | | The Miami Horns: Edward Manion (tenor saxophone); Mark Pender (trumpet). | | Midtown Memphis Rhythm Section: Antoine Salley, O. Wahington, Night Train Clemons, Madison Cooper (percussion). | | Producers include: Bruce Bromberg, Dennis Walker, Robert Cray, Bruce Iglauer, | | Dick Shurman. | | Compilation producers: Robert Cray, Bas Hartong, Mike Kappus. | | Includes liner notes by David Nathan. | | Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Universal Music Studios, Edison, New Jersey). | | Personnel: Robert Cray (vocals, guitar); Tim Kaihatsu (guitar); Curtis Salgado (harmonica); Warren Rand (saxophone); Edward Manion, David Li, Andrew Love (tenor saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet, trombone); Mark Pender (trumpet); Allen Batts (organ); Mike Vannice, Jim Pugh, Peter Boe (keyboards); Tom Murphy (drums); Lee Spath (percussion). | | Audio Mixers: Jeff Hendrickson; John Hampton; Justin Niebank; Bill Dashiell. | | Throughout the '80s, Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan were heralded as the "new hopes" for the blues. Although Vaughan's fiery blues-based playing made this sobriquet more appropriate, Cray's style took as much from Memphis soul as it did Chicago blues. HEAVY PICKS compiles the cream of Cray's material released between 1980 and 1997. | | Combining a fluid guitar sound and a creamy vocal style, Robert Cray wrote music often based on the fragility of relationships between men and women. His high-caliber songwriting not only found Cray being covered by the likes of Albert King ("Phone Booth") and Eric Clapton ("Bad Influence"), but also landed him in the Top 40 ("Smoking Gun"). Although covers of Willie Dixon ("Too Many Cooks") and Otis Redding ("Trick or Treat") bridged the blues and soul divide, Cray's R&B strengths leapt out more in his collaborations with the Memphis Horns. On songs such as "Consequences," "Forecast (Calls for Pain)," and "I Guess I Showed Her," Cray's singing not only channels the influence of soul legend O.V. Wright, but his crisp guitar playing also points to Steve Cropper's Stax/Volt legacy. |
Engineer: Justin Niebank; Bill Dashiell |
Musical Guests | | Albert Collins | | The Memphis Horns |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 11/16/1999 | | Original Release Date : 1999 | | Catalog ID : 546557 | | Label : Mercury | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00731454655729 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Entertainment Weekly (12/17/99, p.87)
- "...a solid survey of Cray's 1980-'97 breakthrough years." - Rating: B |
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| | Bio | | | Robert Cray For thirty-plus years Robert Cray has laid down track after track of good-time, uptown, low-down blues. He's won five Grammys and been nominated for 11 more, inspired critics to praise his soulful vocal and instrumental artistry, earned respect from his peers, and sent young guitarists running back to the woodshed. What he hasn't done is work this magic on a full-length concert CD, where the fires that drive him onstage burn on disc as well. Not, that is, until now. On The Robert Cray Band: Live from Across the Pond, the first release on Cray's own Nozzle Records imprint, the celebrated triple-threat singer, guitar slinger, and songwriter presents the best moments from his week-long run at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2006, opening for friend and mutual admirer Eric Clapton. From classic titles ("Phone Booth") to highlights from his latest releases ("Poor Johnny"), whether addressing timeless themes of heartache and romance ("The Things You Do to Me") or this morning's headlines ("Twenty"), Cray delivers on a promise he's been making since his first trip into the studio. That promise to record himself and his band when inspired by their fans at the instant of performance pays off on Live. And it pays double, by the way, on two CDs, each packed with about as much intense, emotional playing as a listener can handle in one sitting all of it a pristine reproduction of what transpired under the spotlights, without a single edit or punch-in. Once the rush of Live begins to settle down, though, it's natural to wonder why Cray took this long to document his stage chops. Ask him, and his answer is disarmingly candid. "In the past, whenever we've known that we were going to record ourselves onstage, we've just gotten too psyched up to sound as strong as we normally do," he says. "You go into it feeling like you've got this one shot, and that can be challenging. I've actually lost my voice from the anticipation."
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