Marcia Ball - Live! Down the Road
by
Paul Barile
June 2005
Finally, after all these years and countless concert appearances and a
formidable stack of recordings, finally I see why people love piano-tickling blues queen Marcia Ball.
Having seen her live and having heard other discs, I just couldn't
understand why people placed this woman on such a high pedestal.
Then I heard Live! Down the Road and I am converted. I am ready
to sing the praises of the woman and her band of
house-shaking-rumble-jetters.
She kicks the disc off with her "Big Shot" and it is off to the races.
Recorded in the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, CA, the fidelity
is unlike many of the huge-budget live discs we have heard over the
years. It is pristine and clear, and not one single joy-filled note is
missing.
"The Right Tool for the Job" is typical double-entendre blues, but she
layers it with intelligent humor. She lets it all hang out as she and
the band wind their way through more complex progressions than most
blues artists would try these days.
Ball pretty much lets it all hang out all evening. She keeps it lively
and exciting, but she does it with such seamless ease and energy, you
almost feel like applauding with the audience who were fortunate enough
to be there for the taping.
One of the most endearing aspects of this disc is that Ball and the band
just play their hearts out from the gate to the finish line. They don't
take breaks for longwinded stories or extended bouts of
self-congratulations. They let the music do the talking, and the message
is clear: if you love blues, you need to get this disc. If you were
waiting for the right disc to introduce the blues into your musical
vocabulary, you need to get this disc.
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