Joe Bonamassa
Seesaw
Release Date: May 21, 2013
Genre(s): Blues, Pop/Rock, Blues-Rock, Modern Electric Blues, American Trad Rock
Record label: Provogue
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Album Review: Seesaw by Joe Bonamassa
Very Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Comebacks don’t get much sweeter than Beth Hart’s. This is her second powerful covers album in as many years featuring blues guitar slinger Joe Bonamassa. Add a recent solo release and viral vocal work with Jeff Beck for a well-deserved career reboot most would covet. Hart’s name is before Bonamassa’s on both of their pairings, which is where it belongs.
Based on rating 7/10
Singer/songwriter Beth Hart continues to explore her blues and soul roots via 11 cover versions of her favorite tracks on Seesaw, her second album with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa. Following the same path as their first collaboration, the 2011 all-covers release Don't Explain, the pair hooked up again with producer Kevin Shirley, who has previously worked with Led Zeppelin, Journey, Black Crowes, Joe Bonamassa, and numerous others. The 11 tunes kick off with a jump blues rendition of "Them There Eyes," a rock blues take on Ike & Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits"; punchy horns accentuate the Buddy Miles penned "Miss Lady," and they give a straightforward soul treatment to the Don Covay/Steve Cropper tune "See Saw" recorded by Aretha Franklin in 1968.
Based on rating 3/5
Joe Bonamassa is a guitar hero and blues-rocker with impressively eclectic taste. A one-time child prodigy who opened for his admirer BB King when he was just 12, he has developed an interest in blues-related music of every kind, and this second collaboration with the versatile Californian singer Beth Hart is remarkable for its bravery. There are covers of songs made famous by anyone from Billie Holiday to Tina Turner, Buddy Miles or Slackwax.
'Seesaw'
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