Claudia Carawan blows away this album with her full and powerful voice! Her vocal range is fully on display, and it begins with “Bring Your Fine Self Home”. The gospel backup consisting of Almeta Ingram-Miller and Cheryl Beaver, blend perfectly with Claudia’s noticeable trained crooning.
Grouped with Li’l Ronnie and the Blues Beats, the addition of Claudia and the gospel voices turns out to be one of the best collaborations in the industry. Ronnie and Claudia share the microphone well, each one complimenting each other throughout the album. The Blues Beats provide some of the best sounds a band will have ever heard. Everything about this group is chemistry.
“Too Fast for Conditions” highlights the beauty of Ronnie Owens harmonica and altogether the male vocalists of the Blues Beats. “Get Tough” and “Unfinished Business” are blues at the heart, and then they add in the familiar song “Jump, Jive, Then You Wail”, a great rendition that showcases the bands eclectic tastes in music.
The soulful saxophone introduction on “Hard Times” and the twang of the opening guitar riff on “I Feel a Heartache Coming On” are two of the albums best and emotionally driven songs. “Thick and Thin” is fun, and “I Just Met a Man” is a great swing styled, jazzy classic adorned with Claudia’s timeless singing.
Perfect for anyone’s collection, Unfinished Business’s twenty-three years of recording finally pays off here with a golden record, and a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration.
