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written by Whitney and her partner Adam J. Eros. Personally I would have liked a few more covers

of established songs but I did like the jazzy, fun “Boy Sit Down”, the horn-driven "You Won't Put Out
This Flame" and the classic soul stomper "Change With The Times". The cover of Etta James’ soul

ballad “I Never Meant To Love Him” is nice but then again so is Whitney's own soul ballad "I
Thought We Were Through". It would have been easy for Whitney to go back up the Californian

coast to San Jose to make 'A Woman Rules the World - 2' but I'm glad that she has tried something

different, Kazanoff's production doesn't have the vintage sound of Greaseland and the Texas
musicians bring a more modern, less bluesy edge to the sound here. It's not a case of this being

better or worse than 'A Woman Rules the World' - it's just different.
Graham Harrison

Robert Cray That’s What I Heard Nozzle Records ASIN:

B0833XNHRT

I've always preferred Robert's soul-leaning songs rather than his

straight blues tracks and for me his best albums have always been
a combination of the two. This album is again produced by Steve

Jordan and Robert rings the changes early on with a version of the

Sensational Nightingales’ 1956 gospel song “New Burying Ground”
which sees him testifying over a very traditional gospel backing.

Straight out of that he goes into Bobby Bland's “You’re The One"

but he gives it his own relaxed working - very Sam Cooke rather than Bobby's more muscular
reading, but "This Man" proves that Robert hasn't deserted the blues, with its nice guitar solo and

funky bass from long-time associate Richard Cousins.

“You’ll Want Me Back” was a hit for Major Lance (written by Curtis Mayfield) but is a perfect vehicle

for Mr. Cray with its muted brass and subtle guitar fills, then "Hot" - a Cray funk original - picks up
the pace and intensity with Robert adding tough vocals and guitar. “Promises You Can’t Keep” is a

lovely new soul ballad written by Steve Jordan, Kim Wilson and Danny Kortchmar that sounds like

a vintage soul classic and “To Be with You” is a beautiful Cray original melodic ballad dedicated to
Arnie Cottrell
the late Tony Joe White. More vintage funk with Don Gardner’s “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo” and

also Billy Sha-Rae’s "Do It", which features Ray Parker Jr. on guitar (Parker was in Sha-Rae's band
as a teenager), other band members are Dover Weinberg on keyboards, Terence F. Clark and Jordan

on drums. I think that this is one of Robert's best albums for a while, it's full of variety and features

old and original songs that all perfectly suit his delivery and style, his voice is better than ever and

his guitar although not featured massively is always spot on when it appears - listen to the solos on
"You Can't Make Me Change". This is Robert Cray on the top of his game.

Graham Harrison