The perfect comedy for
the holiday season!
A
TUNA
CHRISTMAS
byjaston Williams, Joe Sears &
Ed Hoeard
Directed by Joe Zingo
Dec. 5,10,11,12.13.17,18 <S 19,1998
Actors Cabaret - 996 Willamette
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Call 683-4368
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"The Land East"
Traditional
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Lunch
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343-9661
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4
Little Charlie and the
Nightcats combined hard
Chicago blues and swing
jazz to produce their lat
est album‘Shadow of the
Blues.'
Courtesy photo
Shadow of the Blues’lacks originality
Little Charlie and the
Nightcats offers recycled
sounds and cliche vocals
By Casey Kelly
lor the Emerald
On their latest CD, “Shadow of
the Blues,” Little Charlie and the
Nightcats offer up 13 tracks of re
cycled guitar riffs and horribly
cliche vocals that actually make
the swing revival sound almost in
novative.
Revolving around Little Charlie
Baty’s guitar stylings and RickEs
trin’s ridiculous vocal delivery,
The Nightcats create the type of
banal blues that typically accom
panies commercials for breakfast
cereals and soft drinks. In short:
nothing terribly original, or for
that matter interesting.
Baty and Estrin began collabo
rating almost 25 years ago while
attending college at UC Berkeley.
They formed Little Charlie and
The Nightcats and released their
first album, “All The Way Crazy,”
in 1987. In the time since, they
have released seven full-length al
bums, in
cluding a
greatest
hits col
lection.
“Shad
ow of the
Blues” be
gins with
“Never
Shadow of the
Blues
Little Charlie and the
Nightcats
TYPE: Jazz
RATING:
Trust A
Woman,” a tongue-in-cheek tune
about unfaithfulness.
Instead of trying to capture the
raw emotions of the situation, it
seems as if The Nightcats are just
poking fun at it. Estrin’s lyrics are
delivered without a hint of the
pain and suffering that factors
heavily into the most successful
blues songs. And as with all the
tracks on this CD, it includes a gra
tuitous guitar solo that is as dull
and unimpressive as it is drawn
out.
Another song that employs
ridiculous humor rather than real
feeling is “Big and Fat." Featuring
vocals that can only be described
as nerve grating, it’s by far the
worst song of the album. Estrin
reaches a lyrical low when he
sings, “We go together like big and
fat/Just like an alley and an alley
cat.” It’s not quite clear what mes
sage such inane subject matter is
supposed to convey, but in any
event it seems out of place on a
blues CD.
The next track is a cover of
“You Don’t Love Me That Way,”
by legendary blues harmonica
player Sonny Boy Williamson. It’s
bad enough that The Nightcats
have to ruin the blues with their
own songs, but here they tarnish
a tune by one of the genre’s most
influential artists. Integrating ele
ments of swing and jazz, “You
Don’t Love Me That Way” is easi
ly the most upbeat track of the
record. But Estrin’s insipid har
monica fails to live up to
Williamson’s genius.
Little Charlie and The Nightcats
will play at the Good Times Cafe
tonight and Saturday night. Both
performances begin at 9 p.m. But
if "Shadow of the Blues” is any in
dication of what their live set will
be like, it would probably be a
good idea to steer clear.
Cj?y
Cf?v
^IcBAr£
SJ?IffD£XX
See
Cry Cry Cry
live
The
Majestic
Theatre
Sunday
Dec. 6th
005145