Review Summary: The Canadian blues guitarist disappoints this time around.
Ah yes, the blues. That staple of Americana that has permeated through generations to remain at least somewhat vibrant today. Nothing conjures the imagery of gin soaked bars in the southern America quite like the guitar centered genre. Rather simplistic lyrics sung over those familiar sets of bluesy chords with a few great guitar licks or solos thrown in for good measure. When done properly, the genre has that loose vibe that gets to you and just sticks. However, blues can also become quickly tiresome if not expanded enough on. Colin James encounters this problem on his album
Limelight, as while the music is great for the most part, I just can’t sit through this album for very long without wanting to put something else on. There are several factors for this problem, partly due to James himself and partly due to the inherent limitations of the genre.
Those classic blues singers, the likes of B.B. King for example, have that certain raspiness in their voice. Those rough, alcohol laboured voices fit the downtrodden lyrics that gave the blues its name. It gave the listener a sense of connection to the musician, as if they felt every pain in their voice. Colin James on the other hand has a very polished, hell even good voice, but it just doesn’t suit the blues. Title track, “Limelight”, sounds ready to be given a crappy pop redux on the next episode of “American Idol”, which frustrates me. That song immediately proceeded a classic blues romp, “Watchin’ the River Flow”, where James lets his voice loosen up a little bit and the piano backed guitar licks work superbly. This sort of back and forth between traditional blues and mainstream pop-rock disguised as blues ruins the entire album and weighs the great tracks down.
With the middle section heavy on those poppy tunes the album becomes tedious to listen too. Fortunately, songs such as the mid-tempo, “Speakeasy”, with its effortless glide and solid guitar solo and bayou slither of “Healing Time” lift the album into a more interesting place. The skill of the musicians, especially James on guitar, also helps the album. The guitar parts are usually very interesting in its variations on classic blues riffs. While mainly acoustic, the electric guitar does show its face a few times on
Limelight. The almost psychedelic slide solo on “Travellin’” reminds me of David Trucks, only more restrained (as in, on less drugs). The end of the record is also fairly solid, especially with the closer “Into the Mystic”, an interesting cover of the Van Morrison track. Unfortunately, these tracks can’t make up for the abundance of rather bland tracks on the album.
While there are no outright terrible songs on
Limelight, there are too many tracks that are simply mediocre. When Colin James tries to put something a little different, or more traditional together, the song benefits. When he rests on his laurels and pumps out average, poppy mainstream tracks, I immediately look for the skip button. While I’m not a huge fan of the blues in the first place, I do appreciated its nuances from time to time. This album can pretty much sum up my feelings on the blues. It can be great, but sometimes it begins to feel repetitive and I yearn for something a little more dynamic. I can’t really recommend Limelight because it just isn’t a great album. I can recommend some of the songs, mainly the ones mentioned above, you should check those out if you’re into blues at all.
