CD Review: Moore CD Panned, Bruce Still Praised


I found this interesting. This site shredded Sam Moore's CD but liked
Bruce.

Sam Moore "Overnight Sensational" (Rhino) here's the link
http://www.bluescritic.com/september2006reviews.htm


by Dylann DeAnna www.bluescritic.com

* 1/2 Like a lot of soul aficionados I've been hoping for a modern Sam
Moore Soul album for years. The man was blessed with one of the most
ethereal, aching tenor voices popular music has yet to produce. Yet
we've heard it very little since the demise of Sam & Dave some three
decades ago. We got something close a couple years ago with the release
of "Plenty Good Lovin': The Lost Album" , an unreleased record Moore
cut in 1971 but he had yet to take advantage of the fledgling revival
of authentic Soul music in our day. Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke,
Howard Tate, Bobby Purify, Bettye LaVette have all made strong
comebacks in the last decade so Moore was due!

So you can understand my extreme disappointment over this crass, vapid,
"Genius Loves Company"-wannabe mess called "Overnight Sensational".
Okay, one can't blame Rhino for reaching for that multi-platinum
success Concord Records enjoyed with the Ray Charles record (Of course
Rhino already tried to follow that up with their own Ray Charles duets
album, "Genius & Friends") but somebody should be fired for the
results.

Grabbing for that crossover bottled water/Starbucks appeal, Rhino teams
Moore up with the likes of Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Wynonna,
American Idol winner Fantasia, Vince Gill and overrated hat model
Travis Tritt. Yep if that sounds bad to you you are correct. In
fairness, I did leave out two performers who actually make perfect
sense for this project. Bruce Sprinsgteen, who borrowed Moore's talents
for his 1992 LP "Human Touch", is at his raucous, fun-loving best with
Moore on "Better To Have And Not Need". When he starts off calling
Moore, "brother man, brother man" you can't help but smile. Also the
Blue-Eyed Soulful Steve Winwood has always proven himself to be an
admirer of Moore (and Charles for that matter) with his singing style.
He and Moore roll with it on Paul Carrack's "Ain't No Love" in high
style.

Beyond those likable moments you are left with embarrassingly awful
moments like Moore's duet with Fantasia on Millie Vanilli's (!) "Blame
It On The Rain". Granted this version's better than the original but
four minutes of weedwacker noise would also be an improvement. Bon Jovi
is completely out of his element on "Lookin' For A Love", sounding like
he's constipated with every syllable he grunts forth, and Mariah Carey
reveals just how shallow a singer she is next to Moore on "It's Only
Make Believe". Being that Sam sounds great on his parts it's even more
frustrating (pun intended) digging through this bowl of rancid nuts for
those precious few cashews. Moore can still soar so it took an awfully
lot of effort to blanch out the Soul on an album he appears on. You
won't respect "Overnight Sensational" the morning after.


here's the link http://www.bluescritic.com/september2006reviews.htm

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