Healey, Jeff

Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached the Top 10 in Canada with the songs "I Think I Love You Too Much" and "How Long Can a Man Be Strong." Hell to Pay is the second album by The Jeff Healey Band. It was released in 1990, and was one of the top albums in Canada. In 1991 it was nominated for an "Album of the Year" Juno. Guest musicians on the album include George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bobby Whitlock and Mark Knopfler. The album was recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada in January and February 1990.

Appearing almost 18 months after his death, Songs from the Road collects highlights from Jeff Healey's 2006 performance at Norway's Nottoden Blues Festival, plus 2007 gigs in London and Toronto (the latter at his hometown club, the Jeff Healey Roadhouse). Songs from the Road paints a good portrait of Healey the road warrior, playing old favorites, both of his own and a wide variety of classic rock and blues artists, including Muddy Waters and two from the Beatles. Healey doesn't surprise here, either in repertoire or attack, but he does satisfy, both as a guitarist and an all-around entertainer, making this collection a nice coda to his career.

Billed as a "companion" to the 2016 posthumous collection Heal My Soul, Holding On combines a full live concert from 1999 with five additional studio outtakes. According to Roger Costa, the compilation's producer, these five songs were left off of Heal My Soul "primarily because they didn't quite fit into the flow" and "they were too good not to share." They had been shared once before, on a limited-edition vinyl called Heal My Soul: Bonus Sessions, but the digital release is welcome because they're solid songs, highlighted by the charging "Love Takes Time," the hooky "Every Other Guy," and "All That I Believe," which feels a bit like a conscious re-write of Hootie & the Blowfish. All are nice additions to the Healey catalog and the concert is solid, too – perhaps a little too pristine and polished, but still worthy for Healey heads.

Capturing a homecoming gig for the conquering hero, Live at Grossman's 1994 finds blues-rocker Jeff Healey returning to a favorite club. Looking back, it’s easy to see that Healey was between stages: his most popular albums were just behind him and the years of him carving out a niche as a working bluesman who dabbled in jazz were ahead of him. Here, he was performing with the velocity and volume of a blues-rocker at his peak, invigorated by an intimate setting where he could just play, not worrying about throwing in “Angel Eyes” or “I Think I Love You Too Much.” The result is a set where he salutes his idols – Clapton, Elmore James, Albert King, Howlin’ Wolf, Hendrix, even the Beatles via an excellent “Yer Blues” – and it’s one of his purest and best records as a straight-ahead blues-rocker.

Released on what would've been Jeff Healey's 50th birthday, Heal My Soul is the first collection of unheard original Healey material released in 15 years. These recordings were left incomplete at the time of Healey's death, so it was up to his estate to complete the tapes, and the efforts are relatively seamless: it all sounds like it dates from somewhere in the early 2000s, a period arriving after his hits but before he started exploring hot jazz. In other words, it's guitar-heavy blues-rock, where the songs are sometimes nicely constructed ("Baby Blue," "I Misunderstood") but sometimes feel like vehicles for tasty licks. Because Healey isn't around to spin out more of these tasty licks, there's value to this – his solos and riffs are vibrant, elastic, and alive – but the record is best understood as a testament to his talent assembled by family for his fans to cherish.

Third time up for sightless guitar wunderkid Jeff Healey and gang; Feel This offers the power trio's meatiest and most satisfying outing. JHB's brand of roadhouse rock can be somewhat bland on disc; here the group captures much more of its trademark live intensity than in the past. The unobtrusive addition of keyboards adds a more expansive dimension to several tracks. Boogie fans will want to check out the ZZ Top-like "Cruel Little Number"; blues-rockers will come away satisfied with the likes of "House That Love Built." Hip-hop connoisseurs, on the other hand, will likely want to avoid JHB's rap spoof on "If You Can't Feel Anything Else."

Jeff Healey's debut album See the Light may be similar to Stevie Ray Vaughan's high-octane blues-rock, but in blues and blues-rock, it's often the little things that count, such as guitar styles, and there's no denying that Healey has a distinctive style. Healey plays his Stratocaster flat on his lap, allowing him to perform unusual long stretches that give his otherwise fairly predictable music real heart and unpredictability. Throughout the album, his guitar work keeps things interesting, even on slow ballads like "Angel Eyes" (one of two John Hiatt songs, by the way, along with the ripping "Confidence Man"). That's what keeps See the Light interesting, and it's what makes it an intriguing, promising debut. Unfortunately, Healey has never quite fulfilled that promise, but it's still exciting to hear the first flowerings of his talent.

See The Light is the first album from the Jeff Healey Band. Selling a million copies, the album rocketed the Band into the spotlight and kicked off over a decade of intense touring and recording all over the world. “The three years following the release of See The Light were a whirlwind… Almost non-stop touring, talk shows, press and radio interviews with a three-month break only to write and record a new album [Hell To Pay]. I was meeting and touring with ZZ Top, Little Feat, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others.”