CCD 11064 Mississippi Heat - Handyman

Mississippi Heat

Handyman

CD Digipac
CCD 11064
EAN 4014924110642
2000
63:06
  1. One More Chance
  2. Excuse Me
  3. Handyman
  4. These Men Look Good To Me
  5. Farewell To S.P. Leary
  6. Cornell Street Boogie
  7. Ghost Daddy
  8. Dog In My Back Yard
  9. Don't Cross Me
  10. Hurts To Be Lonesome
  11. Payday
  12. Stay With Me
  13. Johnny Boy
  14. Please Don't Cry *
  15. Early Morning Blues *

PIERRE LACOCOQUE – hca
KATHERINE DAVIS – voc BARRELHOSUE CHUCK – pno
GEORGE BAZE – gtr
IKE ANDERSON – bass
KENNETH SMITH – drums

Special Guests:
CARL WEATHERSBY – gtr (all tracks)
BILLY BOY ARNOLD – hca/voc (3 tracks)
ZORA YOUNG – voc

Original Van der Linden recordings

'Handyman' was voted “Best Chicago Blues Album” by Canadian 'Real Blues Magazine', “One Of The Best Modern Blues Records From Chicago” by 'Living Blues Magazine' and received the best review value in French 'Soul Bag Magazine'.
We licensed the album for Europe but insisted on two newly recorded, never before released songs for our special European Digipak®-edition, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the band.

Leader is Pierre Lacocque, harmonica ace.
The music is a mix of traditional and modern blues.
The band's one of the finest from Chicago. Great stuff!

Special European “10th Annversary” edition with two newly recorded songs * not on the original US version. Digipak®.

Reviews CCD 11064

It's a factor that greatly contributes to the sheer variety on parade and for this release there is the added bonus of superb guests appearances from Billy Boy Arnold, Carl Weathersby and Zora Young. It adds up to a wonderful revue style release and a blistering little set. (…) I think it quite astonishing that a band of this calibre is producing and promoting their own releases and being overlooked by the serious blues labels. They're seriously handy, man.

Juke Blues
#46, Spring 2000
Ian Jones

Traditioneller, aber astrein dargebotener Chicago-Blues, klar der 50er-Jahre-Variante verwandt, mit ein paar stilistischen Ausreißern, die auflockern.

Good Times
August/September 2000
pro

Eine überzeugende, streckenweise gar geniale Huldigung des bluestechnischen Kulturgutes seiner Wahlheimat Chicago gelingt Pierre Lacocque mit dem vierten Werk des ehrgeizigen Bandprojektes Mississippi Heat. Vielschichtiger Breitwand-Blues in bestem sinne, der Tradition zutiefst verpflichtet und dennoch alles andere als altbacken. (…) Fazit: unerhört spannendes Produkt mit superb eingespieltem Songmaterial.

Blues News Magazin, Seite 46
Oktober – Dezember 2000
fh

It is great to hear an album with such a solid blues base. This excellent album is cock full of all originals written by several of the band members. (…) Several tunes have an exciting high energy level. One can imagine Snoopy, the dog, dancing around in the Payday song. There is a catchy Cajun flavour to Handyman. The bouncy rumba rhythm makes Ghost Daddy very danceable. Stay With Me is full of dramatic energy with guest vocalist, Zora Young singing and a chorus joining in. The musicians are highly talented and imaginative. The piece de resistance is the fantastic harp playing by Pierre Lacoque (…). His powerful, creatice and melodic blowing can be heard throughout most of the CD, both in lengthy solos and harmony with the band. This exceptional CD is a fitting tribute to Mississippi Heat, the band that has been together for ten years. It is a pleasure to hear such a solid blues album of original tunes that can be enjoyed repeatedly. This is a highly recommended CD.

Blues News
Januar 2001
Maria Bainer