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In spiffing up R.L. Burnside's latest studio creation A Bothered Mind, the folks at Fat Possum Records seem to have forgotten one thing: R.L. Burnside is one of the last of the authentic North Mississippi bluesmen! There's no reason to spiff this guy up--fans of R.L. love him because he's the real deal. He's practically a living legend, a raw, emotional, rough-sounding dude, and that aspect has all but disappeared on this album. Unfortunately, R.L. has ditched his gritty, back-country feel for slick studio production. Whether it was his idea or the producer's is yet to be determined.
I must say that after receiving no advance press or info about this album, I was a bit bothered with its content. I would consider myself an R.L. fan, when and if he ever comes around Boston, I would pay plenty to see him perform and would love every minute of it. I've listened to his masterpiece of a live album, Burnside on Burnside, over and over again, and I own some of his previous studio work. But nothing could have prepared me for the surprise my ears were in for when I popped in his newest studio recording.
Guest artists on this album include Kid Rock on the track "My Name is Robert Too," and hip-hop artist Lyrics Born on two tracks, a horrible rendition of the classic "Goin' Down South" and another weak version of "Someday Baby." Thankfully a solo recording from 1968, "Bird Without a Feather," was also included, as if to let people know that the real R.L. is still around, but we just wanted to sell some albums. On a track like this we are shown R.L.'s true identity and the genius of his playing and singing as it was intended to sound--just R.L. and his guitar. It's also a real pleasure to hear R.L. when he was still a young man, as most of his current records really weren't recorded too long ago. R.L. was a recent discovery, and he does owe, in part, some of his success to younger bands like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the North Mississippi Allstars. Hopefully his next project will be to unearth that entire recording session from 1968.
This album plays like an introduction of R.L. to the mainstream. As the folks at Fat Possum are always saying, "We're trying our best." They sure were trying hard with this one, but I'm just not sure what they were trying for. A Bothered Mind has been massively overproduced to retain a sort of slick commercial appeal, but I'm not sure if R.L. will ever have the mass appeal to make this album go anywhere. Fat Possum and R.L. should stick to what they know best: making raucous, kick-ass blues albums. Maybe that's what R.L. was so "bothered" about.
Sam Katz
JamBase | Boston
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