Car Electric

J. Geils and Magic Dick's debut duo recording, 1994's Bluestime, was a straightforward tribute to hard-core Chicago blues, but the follow-up, Little Car Blues, embraces such far-flung blues offshoots as Kansas City jump, Duke Ellington swing, Louis Armstrong hot jazz, Etta James R&B, and Marvin Gaye soul. If the truth be told, Geils and Magic Dick are much more enjoyable as generalists than as specialists, for they can't compete with the top artists in any one genre but they cover many styles better than most. Magic Dick is a gifted harp blower, especially when he's imitating old jazz solos by Armstrong or Charlie Parker, with a quicksilver phrasing and big, reedy tone. Geils isn't particularly fast or flashy a guitarist, but he has a rare rhythmic instinct that makes the swing and jump of his tunes lively indeed.

J. Geils and Magic Dick's debut duo recording, 1994's Bluestime, was a straightforward tribute to hard-core Chicago blues, but the follow-up, Little Car Blues, embraces such far-flung blues offshoots as Kansas City jump, Duke Ellington swing, Louis Armstrong hot jazz, Etta James R&B, and Marvin Gaye soul. If the truth be told, Geils and Magic Dick are much more enjoyable as generalists than as specialists, for they can't compete with the top artists in any one genre but they cover many styles better than most. Magic Dick is a gifted harp blower, especially when he's imitating old jazz solos by Armstrong or Charlie Parker, with a quicksilver phrasing and big, reedy tone. Geils isn't particularly fast or flashy a guitarist, but he has a rare rhythmic instinct that makes the swing and jump of his tunes lively indeed.

Sue Foley pretty much sticks to her guns on New Used Car – her tenth album and second for Germany's Ruf Records – resisting the urge to go pure pop and turning out instead another set of blues-inflected roots rock originals that prominently feature her laser-guided electric guitar leads. This is certainly good news, and things get off to a great start with the spunky opener and title tune "New Used Car," which cooks along on Foley's guitar and sharp lyrics that are fully aware that a car is just a metaphor for getting where you want to go and that the back seat is full of all the baggage a life brings.