Reviews

BEAT FARMERS, "LIVE AT THE SPRING VALLEY INN, 1983"

NO DEPRESSION
"Live At The Spring Valley Inn, 1983" is an expansive yet fast-paced trip, with 21 tracks in almost 67 minutes that toe the line between ambition and a sort of beyond-the-spotlight innocence, all delivered in a supercharged, 12-ounce sort of way.

There are bullet-train versions of the country classic "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud Loud Music)" and Willie Dixon's blues staple "You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover," and a rock reading of Bruce Springsteen's somber folk song "Reason To Believe." Elsewhere, there's a muscular take on Elvis Presley's "Trying To Get To You," Montana's whimsical reads of beat poet Rod McKuen's "Beat Generation" and the traditional "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and several originals built on multiple influences.

The Beat Farmers got better, maybe just months later when the group expanded its sonic palette to include more Creedence-like rock, such as a considerable re-dressing of the Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again." Still, if "Spring Valley Inn" precedes such a zenith, it succeeds in documenting the band falling into its great moment and it tells no lies. As Blue writes in the liners: "We were hammered, we were out of tune, we were sloppy, we were raw and we had a whole fuckin' blast. No one could have told us or the dozen-odd Spring Valley Inn-breds in attendance that we weren't the greatest band in the world on that fine evening long ago."

Precisely.
--Neal Weiss

BUDDY BLUE, "SORDID LIVES"

SAN DIEGO CITY BEAT
"Sordid Lives" doesn't reinvent jazz -- it just greases the joints. Blue and his band switch smoothly from Cab Calloway-like jumpers to low-swinging blues-jazz to West Coast cool a la Dave Brubeck. The tales are populated by degenerate drunks, barflies and coyote women, Coltrane, bourbon, Ward Cleaver, murder, Harlem, Monk, comic books, the devil, Robert Mitchum movies, poverty, Kool cigarettes, chicken rhythm and matzoballs, Chet Baker, Marcus Garvey and a whole lot of wine as medication. If Tom Waits decided to lighten up and make a swingin' jazz bar album....
--Troy Jennings

FARENHEIT
"Sordid Lives" is supposedly Buddy Blue's first all-jazz album, but "Sordid Lives" is solely jazz the way Elvis Presley was solely a white gospel singer. Blue can't possibly escape all the other influences that permeate his thick, spicy stew of American music - and why on earth would we want him to? Of course, as with every Buddy Blue release, there are some new twists to that sound of his. The instrumental "Horn Rims" shows a straight-ahead bop-tinged side. "Uptown at Minton's" is an atonal, dissonant nod to Thelonious Monk, and utterly unlike Blue's usually melodic approach - and yet as spry as it is intriguing. "Monk Side Story" is an accessible straight-ahead bop piece, reminiscent of early '70s Dizzy Gillespie. Longtime fans will be comforted by "Jesse's Back in Town," which could have been lifted from a lost Beat Farmers session. Those who dig his forays into the blues will find his cover of the traditional "St. James Infirmary" to be one of his best interpretations of traditional material he's yet made. Pure jazz? God forbid - this is something much better. It's Buddy Blue jazz.
--Jim Trageser

PERFORMING SONGWRITER
A veteran of the San Diego R&B/blues scene, guitarist-songwriter Buddy Blue draws his swing, lounge and rockabilly cards on his latest indie album. Muted horns and finger-snapping rhythms dominate the aptly titled jazz instrumental "Horn Rims." Blue's smooth-as-whiskey vocals and stylishly subtle six-string work highlight the swing-lounge tune "Jesse's Back in Town," as well as the big band influenced "Uptown at Minton's." On his sixth album, Blue proves himself again as a hot slide guitarist and humorous songwriter.
--HJ

BUDDY BLUE, "PRETEND IT'S OKAY"

SLAMM
Blue has re-invented himself -- again. He's at the top of his game and his new CD, "Pretend It's Okay," proves it -- a rock 'n' roll summation of everything he's done musically up to now....Blue re-envisions rock 'n' roll as one giant backyard barbecue, complete with hot rods, greasy meat, cheap weed and old whiskey....Blue's guitar mastery has been the stuff of legend since the '80s. He can invoke drunken, stumbling nightmares or glass-cutting lust with his solos.....his bands have revived a lost art.
-- Dave Good

VENTURA COUNTY STAR
As good as Buddy Blue was with the Beat Farmers, he's a better guitarist, singer and, most importantly, a better songwriter today....In a world of plastic pop, Blue is one of a small cadre of Southern California musicians -- such as Dave Alvin, Big Sandy and Deke Dickerson -- who are producing honest music for honest people...."Pretend It's Okay" is Blue's most varied and ambitious project....Maybe, someday, Blue will escape his Beat Farmers legacy. If he does, it will primarily be the result of consistently putting out music that is much better than just about anything else on the market. "Pretend It's Okay" continues that tradition.
--Howard Owens

ATOMIC
"Pretend It's Okay" lifts Southern California's Buddy Blue to a new level of musicianship. Achieving a perfect blend of blues and rockabilly perhaps best dubbed "bluesabilly," Buddy Blue takes his listeners through a range of tempos, from raucous guitar riffs to smooth, soulful jazz licks. "Pretend It's Okay" deftly captures Buddy Blue's sense of humor and boasts strong vocals, great musicianship and powerful arrangements. If you pick up this CD-which I highly recommend-listen for the hidden Popeye track.
--Smilin' Buddha Joe

BUDDY BLUE, "DIPSOMANIA!"

SLAMM
***** (Five Stars) After listening to 1998's Greasy Jass (Clarence Records), I thought Blue had pretty much outdone himself, but Blue and his crack sidemen have managed to better themselves on this year's "Dipsomania," Blue's third jump blues disc. On "Upsettin' Me," Blue sweats and grunts and grinds out a mesmerizing passage; his guitar rises up from the depths of stone lust and jealous passion and claws out of that possessive hole note by note….Blue has worked from "Greasy Jass"' success and come into his own as a singer on "Dipsomania." Listen to "Milky Way Blues" and ask yourself, "Who can do this better?" Blue represents a veritable chunk of San Diego's musical history, and "Dipsomania" is his defining moment as a bandleader, performer and composer.
--Dave Good

ROOTSTOWN
"Dipsomania!" is typical Buddy Blue: an overall swing and jump festival in the good old style -- sharp horns on "Talkin' Woman," guitar and sax joyful on "Whiskey Goggles," that same sax foolin' around on "Fat, 40 'n' Flatulent," and the guitar playing in "Milky Way Blues" as tasty as a well-filled glass of whiskey.
--Marc Nolis

LISTEN.COM
Buddy Blue is a hardened veteran of the roots revival scene. His picture-perfect jump blues will delight the rockabilly, blues, and swing crowds, but the real surprise is his strength in jazz. Who knew that underneath that leather jacket beat a hard bop heart?
--Nick Dedina

BUDDY BLUE, "GREASY JASS"

LIVING BLUES
San Diego-based guitarist Buddy Blue is no overnight convert to the suddenly mobbed swing music arena. The ex-Beat Farmer's irreverent lyrics transcend the synthetic shallowness that too often characterizes the retro swing movement: "Hi 5n White Boy" is a hilarious, scathing indictment of yuppies (a few zoot-suited swing children may take offense, too), while "Slim Jam" pays hepcat tribute to jazz pioneer Slim Gaillard. Blue unleashes some intriguing licks on a rocking "Drunk Again," his horn section blowing mightily; "Ball Tonight" reeks of late-night hipster cool.
--Bill Dahl

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
"Greasy Jass" is easily Blue's most ambitious and accomplished work to date. The album finds Blue writing, singing and playing with more strength and confidence than ever. What makes "Greasy Jass" one of the best albums in recent memory is its stylistic diversity and uniformly high quality. Witness the seamless manner in which Blue combines dance-happy jump blues and swing with bop-inspired instrumentals, a Dixieland-flavored lament, bluesy reveries and even a droll, spoken-word opus on the dangers of alcohol, "Conversation With The Bottle." It surely would make Tom Waits smile and nod with approval. "Greasy Jass" makes it clear Blue and his crack band can swing with the best of them.
--George Varga

CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
Buddy Blue's point of departure here is mid-40s jump and R&B bands e.g. Louis Jordan, but Blue and his band members aren't merely copying this style, as even a cursory listen to the lyrics indicates. Some of the simple, catchy tunes here are reminiscent of '40s pieces, but more contemporary influences are present as well; the spare melodic waltz "Horn Rims" and the vamp-based "Pray For Rain" have Miles Davis influences. Blue's a powerful, intense singer who combines R&B and rockabilly influences; his fast vibrato is reminiscent of Elvis Presley's. The instrumental solos swing buoyantly. Blue really cooks, he's a much-improved technician, which enables him to take more chances and broaden his musical vocabulary. The spots by Ed Croft on alto and tenor sax and Sweetlips Mysterioso on trumpet jump infectiously. These guys are headed in the right direction.
--Harvey Pekar