Rory Block Blues Walkin' Like A Man A Tribute To Son House (2008)

"… spine-tingling… Rory Block more than honors Son House's memory: she sets the standard for acoustic blues tribute records."

Texas is a breeding ground for the blues and Ed Maly is an integral part of that community. Walking Shoes Blues, his fifth album, is a tribute to his talent for playing the blues and at the same time, he pays tribute to one of the legends Jimi Hendrix on the tracks ‘While His Guitar" and "Guitar Burn." It never is a surprise for an artist to give the nod to Jimi. Many artists have been paying tribute to the late great one recently. This music lover welcomes these tributes. Where would rock-blues music be without the contributions Hendrix made?…..

Something of a companion piece to the 2005 Les Paul & Friends album American Made World Played, A Tribute to a Legend again finds contemporary rock musicians playing on tracks that, in most cases, also feature Paul himself. The guitarist was 93-years-old on the day the album was released, and it isn't clear how much he participated on the seven out of ten tracks on which he is credited. The term "tribute" does not suggest what the naïve potential consumer might suppose. As Slash (whose contribution, "Vocalese," does not feature Paul) puts it in his liner notes, "This is a record where instead of playing Les Paul's music & trying to imitate his inimitable style, it is a showcase of guitar players doing their own thing, but in tribute to his influence on our musicianship, techniques & use of effects."

'Still On The Road To Freedom' contains 13 new Alvin Lee songs in a journey all it's own, traveling from On The Road To Freedom, back to the '50s, up to present day, then arriving fill circle to Love Like A Man, A Ten Years After classic. In 1972, after Woodstock catapulted Ten Years After into the rock arenas, Alvin Lee decided to take the road to freedom rather than the road to fame and fortune. In 1973, he recorded his first solo work, 'On The Road To Freedom', with Mylon Lefevre. It was a major change in Alvin's work with TYA as that it wasn't just a hard driven rock/blues album, but a collection of introspective songs with acoustic guitars and strong melodies.

As far as tribute albums go, this homage to seminal Canadian rockers Rush is hard to beat. For one thing, Magna Carta has made an inspired decision to have each song recorded by an all-star lineup rather than letting one band handle all the chores (with one exception - Fates Warning get sole credit for "Closer to the Heart"). Often projects of this magnitude are doomed to failure from the start as a result of inadequate rehearsing, a shoestring budget, and sometimes a lack of talent capable of handling the songs with the respect they deserve. Working Man is a rare instance of everything going right. Terry Brown has done an incredible mixing job considering nearly all of the songs were recorded in different studios. The musicianship rivals the original versions - occasionally besting them, particularly where the vocals are concerned…