Blood Red Blues by “The Vocal Volcano” herself, Cee Cee James, is in and it is smoking! Issued on the FWG label, this third studio album from Cee Cee delivers vocal performances that are just stunning. Production values and sound quality are solid and really enhance the performances. Nothing here is overly produced or excessively “slick” – just sonically well crafted.
There are several standout cuts on this CD and at least two Top Ten contenders; “Feel My love Come Down” and “Wounds.” The opener, “Blood Red Blues”, features laid back smokey vocals over some really sweet slide guitar. “Let’s All Get Loose” has Cee Cee purring over a bouncy romp with a rolling backbeat and punchy guitar lines. “Feel My Love Come Down” has a solid beat, wonderful slide guitar and you can just picture Cee Cee singing this to you as she leans across the counter and gives you that “come hither” stare. “Comfort Of A Good Heart” is slow and bluesy with some excellent pickin’, great rhythm playing and a thumping bass line that Cee Cee overlays with an aching and subtlety powerful vocal – just an exceptional cut.
“I Got A Right To Sing The Blues”, offers a vocal that is down home blues, delivered in a haunting, earthy, urgent tone that drips with pain. On “Worn Out Sins” Cee Cee sings about carrying “the baggage of [her] soul” over an uptempo jam with a piercing guitar lead. “Walk On” is reminiscent of Deborah Coleman: sparse but well placed guitar, and a great smokey vocal. “Wounds” is a powerful, slow, standout cut that offers guitar work that could have been on the best Temptations recordings, topped off with a slow and subdued intimate vocal delivery; the overall effect is stunning. “Cover Me With Love” is a feel good foot tapper with honky tonk piano that adds great texture to the mix. “100 Ways To Make Love” is a fine cut; smooth, slow and sultry. The CD closes with “I’m Taking Mine”, a Keith Richards-esque outing that has Cee Cee sounding very Janis Joplin, only stronger and smoother.
Overall there is not a bad or “filler” track on this CD. It is worth the price of admission, and then some – a very solid disc all the way through.
