BAND Robert Cray - Guitar & Vocals Jim Pugh - Keyboards Karl Sevareid - Bass Kevin Hayes - Drums TRACKS CD 1 1. Phone Booth - Vannice, Michael/Cray, Robert/Cousins, Richard/Walker, Dennis 2. Poor Johnny - Cray, Robert 3. Our Last Time - Hanes, John/Pugh, Jim 4. Right Next Door (Because of Me) - Walker, Dennis 5. 12 Year Old Boy - London, M.R. 6. I Guess I Showed Her - Walker, Dennis 7. The Things You Do to Me - Cray, Robert TRACKS CD 2 8.I Was Warned - Cray, Robert/Walker, Dennis 9.Twenty - Cray, Robert 10.Bad Influence - Vannice, Michael/Cray, Robert 11.The One in the Middle - Pugh, Jim 12.Back Door Slam - Hayes, Bonnie/Hayes, Kevin 13.Time Makes Two - Cray, Robert 14.I'm Walkin' - Hayes, Chris/Hayes, Kevin REVIEWS It is hardly a secret that Robert Cray has often been dismissed in certain blues purist circles as being a mainstream pop player. Cray himself acknowledges this, brushing his detractors off as "bluenatics." Whatever else might be said about his style, however, the fact remains that he can make a guitar talk. The only debate centers over what he makes the guitar say. Live From Across the Pond, the latest release from the Robert Cray Band, will do little to dissuade either faction. But it will give both sides pause to consider their stances. Recorded over the course of seven shows at London's Royal Albert Hall earlier this year, when Cray and his band were opening for Eric Clapton, it's an album that showcases the band's strengths as a live act. Alternately restrained and wide open, the band plays to the audience in a way that only seasoned pros can, hitting each note with authority and dead-on timing. And while Cray is indisputably the focal point of the band, he readily acknowledges his band mates, particularly keyboardist Jim Pugh. Through the course of the album, Pugh's Hammond organ styling play off Cray's blues licks, creating a sound as much R&B as it is traditional blues. Kevin Hayes on drums and bassist Karl Sevareid make no attempt at at showcasing their talents. Rather, they do exactly what it is a rhythm section is supposed to do - they cement the performances. Robert Cray has never been a blues player - at least not in the traditional sense. His sensibilities as a musician owe as much to Stax soul artists and Eric Clapton's take on blues as they do the roots of the genre. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, Cray has always geared his music to an upscale audience than what is thematically associated with the blues - his backdrop is more SoHo than NoLa. What results is an idiom that is a fusion of urban soul and delta blues. Left to his own devices, Cray will opt for the claustrophobia of a rain-soaked phone booth over an open house door to express the anguish of failed relationships. The lyrics are nearly inconsequential in most of these songs — it is the conversation between Cray's Stratocaster and Pugh's Hammond B3 that ultimately resonates with the listener. Particularly on songs like "Our Last Time" and "I Guess I Showed Her," the relationship between strings and keys is played like foreplay resulting in the climax of "The Things You Do To Me." On "Twenty," Cray finally offers a definition of "modern blues", with his tale of a young urbanite wanting to avenge 9/11 in Afghanistan, only to be shipped to be Iraq, where he meets a uselesss death. It's a poignant tune, not overtly political, that sizes up the confusion of our current state of mindset. But it's on "Back Door Slam" that Cray dispells any notions that he is not, at least in heart, a bluesman to be reckoned with. "I am what I am," he growls defiantly. "I am the backdoor slam." This may be more prophecy than bravado. Cray and his band pay tribute both to the blues and to the Stax definition of soul. They don't by any definition set new standards here. What they do accomplish, however, is a collection of tunes that serve as an introduction to soul music and the blues. Longtime blues aficionados are unlikely to embrace Live Across the Pond as a turning point in Robert Cray's career. Nor should they. This is hardly a groundbreaking album. It is, however, the first live album the Robert Cray Band has ever released. As such, it offers us a perspective on the way the man puts his performance together. It goes down to this: Robert Cray can play the hell out of a Stratocaster. Robert Cray plays to the room. Robert Cray is not a blues player in the traditional sence. Neither was Stevie Ray Vaughan. As Stevie brought a rock sensibility to blues, Robert Cray brings a Memphis soul sensibility to blues. Both brought blues into a mainstream mindset. In the end, Robert Cray's influence on the state of so-called modern blues cannot be underestimated. Live Across the Pond shows why. © Ray Ellis, Published September 13, 2006, http://blogcritics.org/music/ Robert Cray live has always been about the long guitar solos, period. I've seen the dude several times, and that's the drill. Sometimes, a Cray gig can resemble a jam-band show; in fact, rock historians with a little imagination could argue that the Robert Cray Band bridged the gap between 1970s blues-jam originators like the Allmans and Cream and their 1990s offspring like Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, and Phish. Of course, that would be short-changing Cray, whose smooth, soulful urban blues caters to more intelligent music consumers than white potheads in their flip-flops, woven hemp fannypacks, and bright tie-dyes simply looking for a place to spark up. Perhaps Cray's sophistication has been his blessing and curse. His sharp "Right Next Door" and "Smoking Gun" singles fueled his popularity in the 1980s, getting widespread airplay on pop and rock radio. He and Stevie Ray Vaughn almost singlehandedly revived blues at the time. While he soon faded from the spotlight, Cray built a hardcore following with tireless touring and the development of a beautifully polished road show that never strayed from his blues sound – an oeuvre never very fashionable in Cray's time as, say, grunge rock or electronica. The 2-CD Live from Across the Pond, Cray's first live album, documents the sublime, subtle perfection of his concerts. It's a beautifully recorded piece, featuring all the Cray tunes his fans enjoy from the Cray chestnut "Right Next Door" to the early-'80s "Phone Booth," and even the very recent poignant anti-Iraq-war "Twenty" that departs from his typical love-lost or love-about-to-be-lost content. The one missing cut is "Smoking Gun." Its absence is a double-edged sword: on one hand, everyone who was alive in the 1980s has heard that cut a thousand times already, and Cray's probably tired of playing it. On the other hand, leaving one's biggest hit off one's first-ever live album feels like a glaring omission. Yet overall, Cray makes the grade; like many singers of his ilk, his voice is mellowing and even more beautiful than when he first broke out some 20 years ago, and of course, the guitar solos are brilliant. That's also a curse. If you're not a six-string worshiper, the songs can sound a little like a vehicle to get from one brilliant guitar solo to the next. But that's a minor complaint Live from Across the Pond reminds us that Cray is not only still around, but the leader of his generation's bluesmen. If you like Cray, you'll love this album. © Mojo Flucke, PhD, © 2000-2006 Bullz-Eye.com®, All Rights Reserved The five-time Grammy award winner recorded the long awaited CD during seven shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May, 2006, while opening for Eric Clapton. Not only does this excellent live album display the amazing onstage talent of Cray, known for his crisp, subtle, and virtually dry guitar tone, but the Robert Cray Band is certainly a big part of it also. Playing a fine combination of soul inspired pop, blues, and rousing ballads alongside the Stratocaster picker are longtime members Jim Pugh on keyboards (his Hammond B3 sound in "The One In The Middle" is incredible), Karl Sevareid on bass (who replaced Richard Cousins in 1991), and Kevin Hayes on drums. Jointly, it’s a band that’s all about teamwork and melody. This is a worthwhile live release, resplendent with tasteful music that’s smooth and genuine. © Brian D. Holland, (September 15, 2006) , Modern Guitars Magazine unless otherwise noted. Robert Cray may have a whole batch of Grammys to his name, and may have shared the stage with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Stones to Eric Clapton, but he has been around for so long, and plays so often, that he's in danger of being taken for granted. This live set, amazingly the first in his 30-year career, is a timely reminder that he shouldn't be ignored. Recorded at the Albert Hall in London (no one bothered to change the title for the UK release), it proves that, like many great musicians, Cray is even better in concert than in the studio. His easy-going blues style takes in everything from upbeat chugging funk to pained and personal ballads, though his fluid guitar work often sounds more emotional than his pleasantly soulful vocals. Still, there's some fine playing here, and reminders that he's a good songwriter on the upbeat Poor Johnny and the powerful Twenty, the story of a burned-out young soldier in Iraq. © Robin Denselow, Friday December 22, 2006, The Guardian , Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007