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bunch of blues lovers gathered together" with great guitar and harp (lovely typical solo from
Charlie), then it's a nice version of Rosevelt Sykes' 'West Helena Blues' with Charlie on vocals.

'What the Hell' is a state-of-the-nation blues by Elvin, where he answers his own question "know
what I like about this President? not a goddam thing!" - that's one thing I love about Elvin,
throughout his career he has always (uniquely) combined blues and humour. 'Good Times' is a slow

blues featuring slide guitar, and 'Old School' is a nice song featuring Elvin expounding his
philosophy on life - "don't send me an email, send me a female...", while 'If I Should Have Bad Luck'
is a rocking blues. The pair combine for an atmospheric reading of Leroy Carr's 'Midnight Hour
Blues' and 'Blues Why Do You Worry Me' is one of Charlie's songs that here is powered along by
Bob Welsh's boogie piano. We then get a great version of Sonny Boy Williamson's 'Help Me' (as
featured on Charlie's first LP in 1967) before the record ends with ‘100 Years of Blues’ where the

pair of septuagenarians tell their life stories, starting with their time in Chicago "If you like what
you hear and think we’ve paid our dues, I just want you to remember, we bring you 100 years of the
blues”. I did like what I heard, this is straight ahead blues, spontaneous and raw but beautifully
played by all involved and Mr. Andersen's production captures the proceedings brilliantly, with
Elvin's humour just adding that extra something.

Graham Harrison

Sugar Ray & The Bluetones—Too Far From the Bar—Severn
Records ASIN : B085RRNW22
This is Sugar Ray Norcia with a version of the Bluetones featuring

their original keyboard player Anthony Geraci and on guitar
Charlie Batty formerly of Little Charlie and the Nightcats - indeed
these are probably Charlie's last recordings before he passed away
in March 2020 - with a rhythm section of Michael 'Mudcat' Ward
(bass) and Neil Gouvin (drums). The album was produced by Duke
Robillard (Mr. Norcia played with Duke's band Roomful Of Blues

in the 90s) and features nine originals (including six written by
Norcia) as well as covers of songs by Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis
Spann, Jerry McCain and Little Walter. From the opening track The Five Royales 'Don’t Give No
More Than You Can Take' the album has a much more jazzy 'jump blues' feel - featuring both
Batty's guitar and Geraci's piano - I've got to say that personally I prefer the more Chicago sound of
recent Bluetones' albums featuring Mike Welch on guitar. However, Little Walter's 'Can’t Hold Out'

is a superb authentic version of this classic Chicago blues with great harp and vocals from Sugar
Ray and the band supporting him wonderfully.

Sonny Boy Williamson’s 'Bluebird Blues' also captures that early 1940s Chicago blues sound and
Otis Spann's 'What Will Become of Me' is a lovely loping piano blues with subtle vocals from Sugar
Ray and Charlie's guitar skipping around in the background. More great vocals on the jazz standard

'I Got A Right To Sing The Blues' and I also liked the Norcia original blues 'Numb and Dumb' “yes,
she’s got me under her thumb…I’m gonna’ keep drinkin’ until I’m numb and dumb” and Geraci's
'From The Horse’s Mouth'. For fans of Duke Robillard he also adds his guitar to 'Too Little Too
Late', 'The Night I Got Pulled Over', the instrumental 'Reel Burner' and 'I Got A Right To Sing The
Blues'. As I say the jump blues here isn't really to my taste but I've got to admit this is a fine album.
Everything is very well-played and sounds very authentic.

Graham Harrison