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“You Still Got Me” is her fifteenth album (eleventh studio album) and features
contributions by the increasingly ubiquitous ‘Slash’ and by ace guitar man Eric Gales.
Here we have eleven tracks all featuring the emotion laden contralto of Ms Hart with
some deeply impressive arrangements. The guest musicians feature on the first two
tracks but the outstanding track on the album is without a doubt ‘Little Heartbreak
Girl’ a largely autobiographical piece which stems from a period in which Hart was
enduring some mental health challenges; an experience which Beth has said before
often drive her to the piano as a therapeutic tool.
Taken as a whole, this album is an emotional roller-coaster, a few steps from the
blues it is true, but for all that, a wonderful example of Beth Hart’s talent and a gentle
hint that there are many more years of self-revelation and burgeoning talent yet to
come.
Ian K McKenzie
Prakash Slim—8000 Miles To The Crossroads—
Blue Point Records
Just one look at the sleeve of this album should tell you
that it is a quality offering well worth a further look
(or listen). Produced by Michael Freeman (Brit,
Grammy Award Winning Producer (of more than 75
albums), recording engineer, and (former) Chairman
of the Blues Foundation), recorded by Scott Bowman
(Bo-Keys, “Black Snake Moan”) Emmy Awards winning
producer, at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN
and with special guest Johnny Burgin; American, and an outstanding guitar and
harmonica player.
Prakash Slim of course hails from Nepal (where MT Everest is) a location not well
known for its link to the blues and 8000 miles from the Crossroads. Somehow, it’s
still not clear to me how, Prakash Slim has so profoundly absorbed the ethos of blues
music and, allowing his home environment to have its influence, has turned them
into a source of magic.
Here are twelve acoustic blues, three of them covers and once again, Slim reveals
how deeply he has assimilated the genre and how skilfully he can emulate the style
and form of a music from the early part of the twentieth century and another country
8000 miles away. Even the American accent is convincing. The electiric guitar fills
by Johnny Burgin are sensitive and well delivered.
I am going to predict that this one will be an award winner and that Prakash Slim
is taking a path that will see him ere long, sitting on top of the world.
Ian K McKenzie