Sunday, March 08, 2009

Song of the Week 3/6/09

The Robert Cray Band - "Right Next Door (Because of Me)"



I'll send out props to my friend Eric Holland for inspiring this week's song of the week. Eric was filling in on WFUV Tuesday during the midday shift and he unearthed this gem just before noon. I had totally forgotten this track about being the third member of a love triangle. My favorite part of the song (as well as Eric's, which he said backsold the tune) is during the last chorus where Cray breaks into the third person to sing "it was because of me, young Bob!"

I ended up loading the whole Strong Persuader album into my iTunes on Wednesday and was surprised to hear how dated it sounds. The drums on some songs are marred by that tinny linn drum sound (it's especially brutal on a couple of fills) which was so popular in 1986. The keyboards sound very out of place now, especially for an album that was heralded for bringing back the blues to mainstream America. At least Cray's solos (especially on "Smoking Gun") still sound crisp and biting.

Alas, I can't find an embeddable version of the "Right Next Door" video, but you can click here to check it out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite albums still. All the songs are about women and loving women. Once I see the album cover I immediately get the guitar intro to Fantasized stuck in my head.

A in the Carskills