Robert Lucas

Robert Lucas - Luke & The Locomotives - 1991 - Audioquest (CD release 2002 Audioquest)

Ths great album, highly recommended by A.O.O.F.C contains originals and some classic blues cover versions. The hugely underrated Robert Lucas demonstrates here what the blues is all about. "Luke & The Locomotives" was so impressive both sonically and musically, JVC decided to press their own high end XRCD version. Try and find his albums, "Built For Comfort", & "Completely Blue"

TRACKS

Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (Sonny Boy Williamson) 4:28
Big Man Mambo (Robert Lucas) 3:58
Slide On Outta Here (Robert Lucas) 3:20
Worried About It Baby (Chester Burnette) 2:50
Shed A Tear (Robert Lucas) 3:42
Feel Like Going Home (McKinley Morganfield) 6:09
Don't Your Peaches Look Mellow (Robert Lucas) 2:59
Meet Me In The Bottom (John Lee Hooker) 3:47
Stranger (Elmore James) 3:58
I'm So Tired (Robert Lucas) 4:33
Good-bye Baby (Robert Lucas) 3:52

BAND

Robert Lucas - vocals, slide guitar, harmonica
Paul "Pops" Bryant - guitar
Al "Bedrock" Bedrosian - bass
Bob "Max" Ebersole - drums

ALBUM CREDITS

Paul Bryant (Guitar), Luke & the Locomotives (Performer), Robert Lucas (Harmonica), Robert Lucas (Vocals), Robert Lucas (Slide Guitar), Robert Lucas (Main Performer), Robert Lockwood, Jr. (Liner Notes), Robert Lockwood, Jr. (Author), Al Bedrosian (Bass), Dixon (Liner Notes), Bob "Max" Ebersole (Drums), Steve F'dor (Piano), Peter Grant (Design), Bernie Grundman (Engineer), Joe Harley (Producer), Joe Harley (Author), Allen Sides (Engineer), Akira Taguchi (Producer), Alan Yoshida (Mastering), Wayne Thomas (Art Direction), Wayne Thomas (Design), Willie Dixon Band (Author), Sam Gay (Director), Sam Gay (Creative Director), Michael C. Ross (Engineer), Steve McCormack (Liner Notes), Steve McCormack (Photography), Al "Broderick" Dedrosin (Bass), André Felix (Photography), André Felix (Cover Photo), Paul "Pops" Brant (Guitar), Chris Niswander (Assistant Engineer)

REVIEWS

Crying out the pains and joys of the blues is not just an act for this band -- it genuinely bleeds through. Don't believe it? Look at the back liner note endorsements by Willie Dixon and Robert Jr. Lockwood. Even more brilliant is Lucas' songwriting, poking fun at himself in "Big Man's Mambo," and offering the advantages of having a large frame to the ladies. His moaning harmonica effectively plays into the subject of growing old with its aches and pains in "Shed a Tear," and is equally as effective in "I'm So Tired." © Char Ham, All Music Guide

"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Willie Dixon and I would like to tell you about this blues recording. The blues is music about the facts of life and all the different experiences in life, are what make all the different sounds in the blues. This young man and his band play so many styles of blues that brought back so many good memories to me. From the Mississippi delta to the south side of Chicago, they do it all. The guitar, the harp and the rhythm from the bass and the drums is just beautiful and the wisdom of the words in Lucas' songs are those of a true bluesman. Why this band hasn't made it a long time ago I don't know I but I guess they never got the chance. I don't go out on a limb too often and I'm telling you true, if you love the blues then you'll love this band and you'll have to have this record. Thank you very much." © Willie Dixon July 17, 1991 © http://valley-entertainment.com/index.html

BIO

West Coast vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Robert Lucas has been forging a path for himself in the blues world since his much-hailed 1990 self-produced debut cassette, Across the River. Lucas, based in Long Beach, California, records for the Audioquest label out of San Clemente.

Lucas was born into a middle-class family in Long Beach and was 14 or 15 when he started getting seriously into blues-rock. He had started to play guitar then, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, but gave up on it, concluding his hands were too small. He started playing harmonica instead, listening to recordings by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers before going back to source material, including the recordings of Little Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson, George "Harmonica" Smith, Snooky Pryor and James Cotton.

Lucas began playing the National steel guitar at 17 when a co-worker at the Long Beach Arena sold him the instrument. Lucas hooked up with guitarist Bernie Pearl and began taking lessons from him. After joining Pearl's band as a harmonica player, he got to play behind the likes of Big Joe Turner, George Smith, Pee Wee Creighton, Lowell Fulson, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Percy Mayfield and other West Coast bluesmen. He carefully honed his singing and playing, with Pearl's band and on his own, for several years before forming Luke and the Locomotives in 1986.

Lucas' career as a national touring act was launched when his Across the River tape got a rave review in a Los Angeles newspaper. As a result, one of the Audioquest warehouse workers came to see him at a Los Angeles sushi bar. The employee called the company president, who came to hear Lucas that same night.

Lucas is a multi-talented harmonica player, guitarist, singer and songwriter who can do it all: on one recording for Audioquest, Usin' Man Blues, he plays solo, and on another, Luke and the Locomotives, he performs with his band. The sound on all of his albums is raw and gritty, with just a few originals on each album. Classic blues fare like Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and John Lee Hooker's "Meet Me In the Bottom" are given new life with Lucas' talented hands and vocal chops.

Lucas pays homage to traditional blues but has carefully crafted his own singing and slide guitar style. These talents are on ample display on his albums for Audioquest. His albums include Luke and the Locomotives, Usin' Man Blues, Built for Comfort, Layaway and Completely Blue, all recorded since 1990. © Richard Skelly, All Music Guide