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Now with the release of "Hollywood BLVD", Raoul And The Big Time bring us another great Album, containing eight Originals all written by Raoul and four very fine Covers which included Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Someday", Allan Toussaint's "Get Out Of My Life Woman", P. Staples "Why I Am Treated So Bad", and a Blues Traditional "In The Shadow Of The Pine". "Hollywood BLVD" starts the ball rolling with "Nothin' Gonna Take Me Down" and right off the bat we are treated not only to the great Harmonica work of Raoul, but also the great Guitar work of Special Guest Musician Rick Holmstrom, one of believe it or not, a dozen Special Guests playing on this album. In fact the first Track features Raoul with only Special Guests, which further included Jeff Turmes (Electric Bass), Stephen Hodges (Drums), and Donny Gerrard (Backing Vocals). When you first start listening to "Nothin' Gonna Take Me Down", you get a really good feeling for the kind of sound that uniquely envelopes this album and it certainly is a 50's Chess Records feel. This unique sound and feel comes no doubt from that fact that "Hollywood BLVD" was "recorded on two inch tape, live off the floor with minimal overdubs". "Hollywood BLVD" features four instrumentals, of which Track 2, the title Track is the first. Harmonica is certainly the order of the day on this slightly Latin Infused number. Other great performances on this Track included the mighty fine Piano work courtesy of Fred Kaplan, whom then offers up the stage to Junior Watson on Guitar, before Raoul once again lets his Harp work put the finishing touches on this fine Track. Other interesting and unique Instrumentals were Track 7 "Left Coast Fred" a swinging number with the same lineup as "Hollywood BLVD", which additionally included Larry Taylor doing a great job on Upright Bass and Richard Innes keeping it all together on Drums. "Left Coast Fred" really came across with a nice Swinging Jazzy Room feel. Track 5 "Amphetamine", was a full on tour de force between Raoul on Harp and Rick Holmstrom Guitar. Track 11 "Curtis Charm", the last of the four Instrumentals, was a two Harp affair with Raoul and Curtis Salgado showing us their masterful work on Harmonica. One of my favorite Tracks was Track 6 "Get Out Of My Life Woman" the song written by Allan Toussaint. No Harp on this beauty, but that is all made up for with the great Vocals of Raoul, brilliantly backed up with nice Guitar work from both Rusty Zinn and Darren Gallen. A few other great performancers on this Track were Pat Carey and Alison Young on Saxophones, Jake Wilkinson on Trumpet, and Tyler Yarema on Piano. Certainly was hard to get past this Track without hitting the replay button. Another big favorite on mine was the closing Track, the Traditional "In The Shadow Of The Pine", a song which was completely different from the rest of the album, done in a wonderful softly sung manner accompanied by Johnny Sansone on Accordion, Raoul doing Vocals and on Acoustic Guitar, Terry Wilkins on Upright Bass, and John Showman on Violin. This song was an absolutely wonderful closer to an absolutely wonderful album. Releases such as "Hollywood BLVD" simply do not come around that often. They are a rare breed indeed, bringing us music in styles that are to often neglected with all the Modern Blues floating around. To be quite honest this little gem from Raoul And The Big Time and all the extraordinary talent involved is no less than an Essential Blues Masterpiece, one for which if you only had money to buy one album this year, "Hollywood BLVD" should really be one of your top choices. 5***** Review by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network) Listen To Samples Here... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/raoulandthebigtime3 Additional Artist Info... http://www.raoulandthebigtime.com/
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Raoul And The Big Time's newest release "Hollywood BLVD" marks the second Album I have received from this super talented band, of which their previous release I wrote, "Little Walter was certainly a king when it came to the Harmonica and Raoul And The Big Time, plus all the other participants, have done nothing less than give him the royal treatment on "Blue Midnight - A Tribute To Little Walter", by offering us a unique opportunity to feel and experience the greatness that was, Little Walter. "Blue Midnight - A Tribute To Little Walter" is one of the best Tribute Albums around, filled not only with a broad spectrum of songs from his famed career, but also an Tribute Album that would of made Little Walter, not only proud, but also honored".