Boz Scaggs: A Fool To Care

Modern Blues / Retro-Soul
premiera polska: 2022-11-18
opakowanie: Digipackowe etui
opis: Osiemnasty studyjny album amerykańskiego songwritera Boza Scaggsa. Wydany w marcu 2015 r. nakładem 429 Records. Album był drugim z trylogii, którą Scaggs składa hołd mistrzom amerykańskiej tradycji songwriterskiej. W 2008 roku nagrał album "Memphis" z piosenkami Jimmy'ego Reeda, Donalda Fagena, Ala Greena, Tony'ego Joe White'a, Bo Cartera wydany nakładem 429 Records w 2013 r. Trzeci z kolei "Out of the Blues" z piosenkami Bobby'ego "Blue" Blanda, Jimmy'ego Reeds, Magic Sams i Neila Younga został wydany w barwach Concord Records w 2018 r.

Rolling Stone napisał "Te 12 piosenek przedstawia zwięzłą opowieść o amerykańskiej duszy, z dużą dawką nowoorleańskiej ulicy. Całość wspierana jest przez znakomitą grupę studyjnych asów – gitarzystę Raya Parkera Jr., basistę Williego Weeksa i perkusistę Steve’a Jordana, który jest także producentem album — chropowaty, mocny głos Scaggsa zręcznie porusza się po tym stylistycznym przekładańcu.

Blues Rock Review napisał "W każdej piosence Scaggs wykorzystuje swoje dekady muzycznych podróży po Stanach i emocjonalną więź z amerykańskim folkiem, tworząc jedną z najlepszych tegorocznych bluesowych płyt"

Thom Jurek z All Music tak kończy recenzję "Głos Scaggsa nie jest naznaczony czasem. Niezależnie od tego, czy śpiewa nowe, czy stare piosenki, przedstawia je w danej chwili jako żywe, oddychające istoty. Pozostaje interpretatorem piosenek, który ma niewielu – jeśli w ogóle – rówieśników.

Rolling Stone writes, "These 12 songs map out a concise history of American soul, with a heavy dose of New Orleans strut... Backed throughout by a stellar group of studio aces — guitarist Ray Parker Jr., bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Steve Jordan, who also produced the album — Scaggs’ well-worn, textured voice deftly navigates this range of styles."

Blues Rock Review writes, "On each song, Scaggs puts his decades of experience and emotional connections to American roots music to work, producing a collection that stands as one of this year’s best blues records to date."

allmusic.com
Ultimately, A Fool to Care is not only a companion to Memphis, but also to 1997's Come on Home and his earliest (pre-Silk Degrees) sides. Scaggs' voice is unmarked by time. Whether singing new or old songs, he presents them in the moment as living, breathing entities. He remains a song interpreter who has few -- if any -- peers.

Rolling Stone
The singer pays loving tribute to Fats Domino, Al Green and many more.
A FOOL TO Care may not have a concept as linear as some of Boz Scaggs‘ other recent albums (2013’s Southern-fried Memphis, the jazz standards on 2003’s But Beautiful and 2008’s Speak Low), but it sure does tell a story. These 12 songs map out a concise history of American soul, with a heavy dose of New Orleans strut — including the title track (a hit for Fats Domino) and Huey “Piano” Smith’s “High Blood Pressure” — and a dollop of Chicago sweetness (the Impressions’ gorgeous “I’m So Proud”).
Backed throughout by a stellar group of studio aces — guitarist Ray Parker Jr., bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Steve Jordan, who also produced the album — Scaggs’ well-worn, textured voice deftly navigates this range of styles. His lone composition on A Fool to Care, the sly blues “Hell to Pay” (“Between the bank boys and the lawyers/I don’t know where it ends”), is a sparkling duet with Bonnie Raitt, featuring her signature slide-guitar mastery. Versions of Al Green’s “Full of Fire” and the Spinners’ “Love Don’t Love Nobody” even recall the slinky, disco-fied grit of Scaggs’ 1976 smash, Silk Degrees. The wild card, though, is the album’s final track, an aching duet with Lucinda Williams on the Band’s “Whispering Pines.” So what if it’s not an R&B song? The emotion conveyed proves that, in the end, soul is where you find it.
by Alan Light

muzycy:
Accordion – Jim Hoke (tracks: 4, 6)
Acoustic Guitar – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 4), Ray Parker Jr. (tracks: 4)
Alto Flute – Jim Hoke (tracks: 8)
Alto Saxophone – Douglas Rowan (tracks: 2), Eric Crystal (tracks: 1, 2, 8)
Bandoneon – Seth Asarnow (tracks: 4, 5, 8)
Baritone Saxophone – Douglas Rowan (tracks: 1), Jim Hoke (tracks: 1, 2), Jim Horn (tracks: 10)
Bass – Willie Weeks (tracks: All)
Bass Clarinet – Jim Hoke (tracks: 2, 8)
Cello – Anthony La Merchina* (tracks: 10, 11), Sari Reist* (tracks: 10, 11)
Conductor [Horns] – Steve Jordan (tracks: 10)
Conductor [Strings] – Lester Snell (tracks: 10, 11)
Drums – Steve Jordan (tracks: All)
Electric Guitar – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 4), Ray Parker Jr. (tracks: 12)
Guitar – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 2, 5, 8, 9), Ray Parker Jr. (tracks: 2, 5 to 11), Reggie Young (tracks: 10, 11)
Guitar [Chunk Guitar] – Al Anderson (2) (tracks: 3)
Guitar [Fills] – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 10)
Guitar [Guitar Figure] – Al Anderson (2) (tracks: 1)
Lead Guitar – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 1, 3)
Lead Vocals – Boz Scaggs
Organ [B-3] – Jim Cox (tracks: 1, 4, 6 to 8, 10 to 12)
Organ [Pump] – Jim Cox (tracks: 6), Seth Asarnow (tracks: 11)
Percussion – Steve Jordan (tracks: 4, 5, 8)
Piano – Eric Crystal (tracks: 8), Jim Cox (tracks: 2 to 6, 9, 11)
Piano [Wurlitzer] – Jim Cox (tracks: 7)
Rhythm Guitar – Boz Scaggs (tracks: 1, 3), Ray Parker Jr. (tracks: 3)
Steel Guitar – Paul Franklin (tracks: 6, 12)
Strings – The Love Sponge Strings (tracks: 10, 11)
Synthesizer [Atmospherics] – Clifford Carter (tracks: 6)
Tenor Saxophone – Douglas Rowan (tracks: 1, 8), Eric Crystal (tracks: 1, 2, 8), Jim Hoke (tracks: 1, 8), Lannie McMillan (tracks: 10)
Trombone – Jack Hale (tracks: 10)
Trumpet – Ben Cauley (tracks: 10), Quentin L. Ware, Jr. (tracks: 10)
Vibraphone – Jim Hoke (tracks: 5, 7, 11)
Viola – Kristin Wilkinson (tracks: 10, 11), Monisa Angell (tracks: 10, 11)
Violin – Alicia Enstrom (tracks: 10, 11), David Angell (tracks: 10, 11), David Davidson (tracks: 10, 11), Weitsun Chang (tracks: 10, 11)
Woodwind [Miscellaneous] – Jim Hoke (tracks: 5)
Backing Vocals – Conesha "Ms. Monet" Owens (tracks: 7, 9, 11), Fred Ross (tracks: 7, 9, 11), Steve Jordan (tracks: 7, 8), Tony Lindsay (tracks: 7, 9, 11)


utwory:
1. Rich Woman (Dorothy La Bostrie, McKinley Millet) 2:59
2. I'm A Fool To Care (Ted Daffan) 2:06
3. Hell To Pay w/Bonnie Raitt (Boz Scaggs) 6:16
4. Small Town Talk (Rick Danko, Robert Guidry) 3:42
5. Last Tango On 16th Street (Jack Walroth) 6:26
6. There's A Storm A' Comin' (Richard Hawley) 4:14
7. I'm So Proud (Curtis Mayfield) 3:38
8. I Want To See You (Jack Walroth) 5:42
9. High Blood Pressure (Huey "Piano" Smith) 3:36
10. Full Of Fire (Al Green, Mabon Lewis Hodges, Willie Mitchell) 4:18
11. Love Don't Love Nobody (Charles Simmons, Joseph Jefferson) 5:10
12. Whispering Pines w/Lucinda Williams (Richard Manuel, Jaime Robertson) 4:23
13. Gypsy Woman (Curtis Mayfield) 2:57
14. Talk To Me, Talk To Me (Joe Seneca) 3:43
15. M.P.B. (Cecil Womack, Linda Womack) 3:33

total time - 52:25
wydano: Nov 18, 2022
nagrano: Recorded at Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN