Mechnical Seals

Son Seals in an experimental mood, utilizing chord progressions that occasionally don't quite fit together seamlessly (but give him an A for trying to expand the idiom's boundaries). Less innovative but perhaps more accessible are his smoking covers of Albert King's "Nobody Wants a Loser" and Junior Parker's "Goodbye Little Girl".

Son Seals is a very powerful performer. While his vocals are full of passion, it is Seals' explosive guitar solos (egged on by a driving rhythm section along with two fine horn players who have some solo spots) that are most notable. Recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago, Seals' interpretations of these spirited blues would certainly please the club owner. This enthusiastic set serves as a perfect introduction to the accessible and memorable blues of Son Seals.

The grotesque cover illustration is an abomination, but the contents are right in the growling grizzly bear style that we've come to expect. Only four Seals-penned originals, but the R&B-laced "Life Is Hard" and "I'm Gonna Take It All Back" are quality efforts. So is his heartfelt tribute to Hound Dog Taylor, "Sadie".

Son Seals 1991 Alligator release "Living In The Danger Zone" is arguably one of Seal's finest studio releases to date. His best live performances being "Live and Burning" and "Spontaneous Combustion". Like the live disc's, Danger Zone features and abundance of gritty vocals and piercing guitar solo's in the style of Albert King. The songs on the disc range from the humorous "Frigidaire Woman" to the slow blues number "Danger Zone" to the funky "Bad Axe" to a ballad like "My Life". Seal's is a natural for the blues. He was born in Osceola Arkansas and, as a child, spent much of his time in his dad's juke joint surrounded by the likes of Albert King, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk. About four years after recording this CD his wife shot him in the face. He would survive that trauma only to later have his leg amputated due to complications from diabetes. As the saying goes, you got to live the blues to play the blues.

Son Seals is a very powerful performer. While his vocals are full of passion, it is Seals' explosive guitar solos (egged on by a driving rhythm section along with two fine horn players who have some solo spots) that are most notable. Recorded live at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago, Seals' interpretations of these spirited blues would certainly please the club owner. This enthusiastic set serves as a perfect introduction to the accessible and memorable blues of Son Seals.

A much more polished set than its predecessor, Midnight Son is a particularly effective effort with several numbers that remained in Son Seals on-stage repertoire for quite some time – "Telephone Angel," "On My Knees," the jumping "Four Full Seasons of Love." The addition of a brisk horn section enhanced his staccato guitar attack and uncompromising vocals, rendering this his best set to date.

One of Son Seals's finest collections, studded with vicious performances ranging from covers of Eddie Vinson's "Person to Person" and Little Sonny's "Going Home (Where Women Got Meat on Their Bones)" to his own "Can't Stand to See Her Cry" and swaggering "Cold Blood." Top-drawer Windy City studio musicians lay down skin-tight grooves throughout.