While it might have taken a while for Boz Scaggs' gears to catch (a couple of ill-fated albums with the Steve Miller Band as well as a few largely ignored solo albums came before the guitarist's career began to move with the release of Slow Dancer in 1974) there's no way to deny the guitarist's popularity in the late Seventies and most of the Eighties. The sound of a Fender Telecaster was the thing which really got Scaggs over but, after Other Roads proved to be a reasonably well-received dead end in 1988, the downward spiral really began to spin in earnest with Some Change (which proved to produce anything but) and finally landed the guitarist at rock bottom in 2001 with Dig. Since then, Scaggs has tried to get anything at all under him without any luck (But Beautiful didn't live up to its name and Speak Low was at least received – but little else), but something about Memphis – Boz Scaggs' seventeenth studio album – feels like it might turn the guitarist's luck around. For the first time since Middle Man came out in 1980, Boz Scaggs really sounds like he's singing with heart and playing with some soul instead of just phoning his performance in while wondering about his bottom line.
Scaggs' voice shows the wear of years as he limbers up with vintage rock strains in “Gone Baby Gone” to get Memphis off to a rough start. There, the guitarist apes an easy-to-recognize Eric Clapton pose as he carefully picks out a sweet and gentle guitar part which is light on heroics and really tries to focus on vibe while hoping no one notices how reedy his voice sounds. The song ends up coming up a bit short because no one aspect of it covers the shortcomings of the rest; the voice is too noticeably warbly, and the lyrics aren't that good, and the guitar is solid but not remarkable. Granted, “Gone Baby Gone” would probably play a little better with a bit more seasoning, but it still sounds pretty green here. That green streak in the grain doesn't fade out as Scaggs launches into “So Good To Be Here,” but somehow the going gets better spontaneously from the moment the first single, “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl” lays in with the help of some deep and growling backup vocals.
When it starts, “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl” plays like it's just going to be another of the “just okay” style of contempo-classic rock that Memphis lead with but, when that big, deep voice (which goes improperly credited) comes in to back the guitarist up, the result is as bright as the first glimmer of daylight after a long, hard night; suddenly things feel (and sound) like they might just be alright.
After that first breakthrough in “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl,” Boz Scaggs' fortunes just keep improving as the record continues to develop. While it's far from perfect (“Pearl Of The Quarter” – with its canned strings and Scaggs' frustrating tenor is the longest loser, but “Corrina, Corrina” and “Sunny Gone” are both too pale for their own good too), the highlights here far outshine the lows which bleed through. Songs like “Rainy Night In Georgia,” “Cadillac Walk” and “Dry Spell” all see Scaggs ripping into some of the finest electric blues of his entire career as his guitar snaps and bites at the singer's vocal offerings, forcing him to step lively rather than just lazing through the songs. Those aforementioned moments are the best on Memphis, and they're good enough to redeem the series of imminently forgettable albums which just sort of dribbled absently from the guitarist over the last decade or two; Memphis isn't perfect but it is at least worth the price of admission.
Artist:
www.bozscaggs.com/
www.myspace.com/bozscaggs
www.facebook.com/BozScaggsMusic
www.twitter.com/bozscaggs
Album:
Memphis is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
