Album Description: The very best of his BBC Concert performances, recorded between 1988-1991 during the tours to promote Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark and Midnight Stroll. Robert Cray is one of the few blues artists who managed to cultivate a mainstream following in the 1980s and 1990s. In the course of a long-running career that began in the 1970s, he uniquely blended elements of Rhythm and Blues, Pop, and traditional Blues to win fans to a more contemporary Blues sound. He has to date, received five Grammy Awards for his innovative style. 14 tracks. Universal.
One of his best with only a few disappointing tracks This has a lot of hot tracks taken from a 1988 and a 1991 performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon, but it's not perfect. Cray spices up some staid studio performances with horns and extended guitar solos and turns mediocrities like Don't You Even Care, Night Patrol and These Things into winners. But slow tunes like Right Next Door, My Problem and Acting This Way, which are thinly-veiled bragging about his conquests, ruin the high-energy pace that was developed during the first half of the album and should have been excluded in favor of better tunes such as Porch Light and I Was Warned. A major disappointment was Smoking Gun which has a short, uninspired guitar solo and closes with 2 minutes of wind-down/applause and therefore isn't really almost 7 minutes long as the Amazon sound sample implies.
All-in-all a good effort but not a five-star recording though it does offer 70 minutes to love or hate.
The Cray Live CD to buy This is a MUCH better CD than Across the Pond. Both CDs capture Cray's sound very accurately, but his sound in the late 80s was richer and much more energetic than in 2006. While both CDs might be nice to have, this one is the "must have."
Excellent Robert Cray has always been a blues player that is not mentioned often. In my opinion he is one of the best blues/jazz guitar players going today. Having seen Robert Cray in concert 3 times now and twice opening for Eric Clapton, this is how I remember hearing him in 1987, when he had just released Strong Persuader. That particular night I actually enjoyed Cray more than Clapton himself. This is how I remember him sounding, except for there was no brass backing him up. It is the only time I have EVER seen an opening act for a superstar get a standing ovation and an encore. Most of the time opening acts get booed offstage. Crays' guitar sound has always been clean and he does not use "Woman Tone" like Clapton, Buddy Guy and others. The music on this CD is the finest of his career, so you get to hear him play his best songs live. Highlights include: Foul Play, The Forecast calls for Pain, Right next door because of Me and Smoking Gun. This in my mind is a much better live recording than his recent live CD, Across the Pond. If you like Robert Cray or if you just like blues, you need to give this a listen..................
Great CD! I purchased Cray's 2 cd "Live From Across The Pond" and while I liked it, I didn't like the pacing of the music. Just when he works the crowd up he does a few slow ones in a row. I've seen him 2 times in the past 18 months and felt his live set suffered the same problem. This "Live At The BBC" really kicks butt! I also remember seeing these tours and loving them. Pacing and song selection is great and The Memphis Horns add a great punch to the songs. Cray and the band are simply on fire. I've always been a big fan of Cray's and finally there is a good, live CD out of him. Well worth checking out.
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