April 3, 2012:
PAT COOLEY: Talking To You (L & L) Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.
Fans of Pat Cooley and her classic single, "Older Woman, Younger Man" (from Bigg Robb's Blues, Soul & Old School LP) may be surprised to discover she has left her talented former composer/producer Frank McKinney to strike out into new musical territory. McKinney wrote "Be A Man" and "Get Out" (among others) from Cooley's most recent (and first-rate) album, Cougar.
Then fans will put on the first track of Pat's newest disc, Talking To You, and possibly do another double-take as Cooley lathers up a new version of B. B. King's "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss." It turns out that Pat Cooley's in a bluesy mood, and she's found another collaborator, Rob Harris, to enable her new direction.
Not only does "Paying The Cost" give notice that the eclectic Ms. Cooley won't take any "guff" from a man who's not paying the bills. It sets the tone for an entire set in which Cooley's bound and determined to give her fans a taste of something different: a hard-edged R&B descended not only from the Boss but the Queen.
Queen Ann Peeble's "I Didn't Take Your Man" hovers over this album like a patron saint, and writer/producer Harris furnishes Cooley with material that is both faithful to the Hi Records sound and freshly-minted.
Talking To You, the title cut, is arguably one of the weakest cuts, simply because it appears to be diluted for radio single air play under the rationale of "trying to please everybody," which more often than not ends up "pleasing no one especially." Which is not to say it isn't a radio-worthy track--just that it doesn't pack a visceral punch.
Most of the other tracks on the CD do. They are uncompromisingly potent, bluesy rockers that grab your attention like a river whose current and depth are powerful and dangerous enough to carry away the fragile and faint of heart.
Your Daddy B. Nice's favorite cut is "Dirt Road Double Wide." Harris and Cooley seem to like it, too, because they remix it for a second outing on the album's finale. Cooley is in great form, comfortable, tough and businesslike (the business of the blues, that is), and Harris provides a "Clean Up Lady"-like guitar riff and foot-stomping, horn-driven arrangement that hits the nail on the head with a sledgehammer....Daddy B. Nice
3 comments:
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Nice one, KC. You recall that I posted the Bigg Robb album here before that has the hilarious "Older Woman, Younger Man," as well as a number of other great tracks on it.
Thanks KC. Some really good songs on here!
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