Electric Blues
Rick Derringer - Blues Deluxe
Blues Bureau 1998
 
Review Published Sept 15, 1998
Artist Spotlite on Rick Derringer



Sound Clips, Discography
Track Listing
1 - Let The
Good Times Roll
2 - Runnin' Blue
3 - Blues Power
4 - Key to the Highway
5 - Blues Deluxe
6 - Hide Away 1962
7 - Killing Floor
8 - Funky Music
9 - Something Inside of Me
10 - Still Alive and Well
11 - Bright Lights, Big City
12 - Checking Up
On My Baby

EB Rating - 4.5

Rick Derringer follows up his excellent 1996 release, Tend the Fire with another blues-rock CD. While Blues Deluxe doesn't have quite the scope and variety of Tend the Fire, it is nonetheless an excellent CD, as Rick takes a couple more steps farther from rock and closer to the blues.
This is not to say that Blues Deluxe approaches being a traditional blues CD. Rick has been playing Rock n' Roll and Hard Rock for nearly all of his 30+ year career. During live performances, Rick displays amazing proficiency playing that style of music. He is certainly one of the most talented guitartists performing today. But his head-on, full bore guitar attack, fully present on his first two blues releases for Blues Bureau, is too heavy for all but the most guitar-hungry of blues fans.
But Rick has changed things up a bit with his last couple of releases, including Blues Deluxe, in which he features covers of 10 blues classics. There are also two of his own songs, Funky Music, and a slightly toned down (and excellent) version of Still Alive And Well. Both of these songs are rockers, and Funky Music in particular is out of character with the rest of the CD.
Blues Deluxe is Rick's most focused blues CD so far, and he continues with a relative subtlety he began with Tend the Fire. However, a subtle Rick Derringer is still a pretty intense experience, so it'd be best to strap in before spinning this one.