Pidgeman - I Told Ya Baby

Hear The Track Here

I wouldn't have said, given Pidgeman's rock song back catalog that he would be into classic forms of rock but this is a musician who I have underestimated more than once since we first met back in 2007 so the fact that he is into 'da blooz' should come as no surprise. You may remember me reviewing his tribute to the late, great Gary Moore - Still Got Moore To Give (Tribute to Gary Moore) (March 2011) - and although it was more rock than blues, it certainly got the message across. As I said at the time, the hardest thing about playing the blues is getting the sound, the authenticity right - without that it's just another semi-rock blues thing. You will have heard the like a million times without blinking an eye. Takes a real bluesie to make you NOTICE the blues is being played.

Although the guitar carries the blues standard exceptionally well on I Told Ya Baby, the rest of the track just doesn't come up to that mark. In fact, it's again more rock than blues. I mentioned Chicago blues and The Butterfield Blues Band in my review of the Gary Moore tribute and I see no reason not to restate that here with this track, the brass section work being particularly evocative of the big blues bands period circa 1965-68. The more I listened to the track though, the more I realised that it wasn't influenced so much by Chicago blues as by Chicago (the band). If you listen closely to the arrangement of this track it is pure Chicago...

If I'd have written that a few years ago I would have felt compelled to shoot myself in the head. At the time of their greatest fame, I really didn't like Chicago or what they represented but I have got a deeper appreciation of them as time goes by. That's why I think I started to like this track more and more because it gave me that big band, breezy feeling without any of the claptrap that surrounded Chicago for the longest while. Now Craig (aka Pidgeman) is probably fuming at the mouth now that I've compared him to that band, but hey, that's what I think. I also think that this is a cracking track and one you should take a listen to, even if blues is not really your thing. My only quibble with it was technical, I thought the mix should have been a bit clearer but hey, small change.

Highly Recommended big band blues.