Robert Cray
(Born 1st August 1953 in
Colombus, Georgia)
One of the younger generation of Blues players - it could be argued that Cray more than any other individual was responsible for the revival of guitar based blues that began in the 1980s.
Another of the artists that the Primer admires who deviates from the pure Blues form - in his case by incorporating soul and rock  influences - his vocals in particular are smoother than many of his contemporaries.
He hit big in 1983 with the album "Bad Influence", although he had recorded an earlier debut record ("Who's Been Talking") which was reissued on the back of the success of the Bad Influence set.
"Strong Persuader", which followed "False Accusations", was the strongest selling Blues record for years, and Cray soon received admiring noises from other experienced players such as Albert Collins and Eric Clapton, who both recorded some of his material.
Phillip Walker first recorded the title track of Cray's album "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" (they shared the same producer) but it didn't prevent Cray's album selling over a million and Cray himself going from  strength to strength.
Cray hasn't been afraid to diversify and develop as he continues to release material such as "Midnight Stroll", which highlights the soul and R&B; in his playing, and "Some Rainy Morning", which showcased Cray's vocal ability and therefore emphasised his soulsinging credentials. Both demonstrate his desire to diversify from the mainstream. Having said all that, there is still a danger that his music is beginning to get a little comfortable. Recent releases have shown signs of a fine talent treading water, although perhaps the primary complaint is that the songs on the recent albums simply aren't up to the quality of those on the earlier releases. Maybe he needs to start throwing in a few more interpretations of material from other writers again.
 One of his more recent releases, the 1999 "Take Your Shoes Off" gives us Cray's take on the Hi label sound - it even has Willie Mitchell around for the odd track. It's all very polished but I'm still not convinced that the songs are strong enough - it's interesting that the non-Cray cuts (Solomon Burke, Willie Dixon, Mack Rice etc.) are by far the stronger tracks on the CD. Having said that, cutting a blues-soul album with an authentic feel is harder than it sounds and Cray does it well. It's certainly more interesting than ploughing the more obvious blues furrow would have been. The "Heavy Picks" compilation is a good (and cheap) single CD retrospective of his earlier work prior to him leaving the Mercury label.
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Primer Picks |
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Cray's been around for a while now, no longer the young kid on the block. But if you're coming to the man's work for the first time, the early albums hold by far the stronger material and are therefore the best way in to Cray's material. ("Heavy Picks" is a good single CD compilation of the earlier material and so is a good Primer choice)
Favourite Album:-
Heavy Picks
Favourite Track:-
Bad Influence
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Buy Now On-Line |
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