Marc Benno - Sugar Blues

Bitrate:320K/s
Year:2003
Time:44:58 
Size:104,3 MB 
Label:Texasize Records 
Styles:Blues/Electric Blues 
Art:Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Little Miss Rock N Roll - 3:36
 2. Black Cadillac - 3:29
 3. Mamas Cookin - 2:43
 4. Sugar Blues - 4:09
 5. Mary Played the Pool Hall - 5:17
 6. Easy Travelin Gal - 3:36
 7. Every Night Is Saturday Night - 3:26
 8. Snake Charmer - 3:42
 9. Love Junkie - 5:29
10. Barbecutie - 3:29
11. Jimmy Reeds Mama - 2:43
12. Shuffle Girl - 3:14

Okay, so I finally gave Marc Benno's Sugar Blues a real listen. Not the kinda album that smacks you in the face. More like... it sidles up, all dusty boots and cigarette smoke, and starts tellin' stories. Recorded back in '69 but feels way older, like it crawled outta a juke joint basement. First thing? The voice. Man, Benno sounds tired. Like he's been driving all night, radio crackling, sun barely up. It ain't pretty. It's raw. Gritty. Sometimes cracks at the edges. But that's why it works. You believe him when he sings about pool halls and rock n' roll girls and black Cadillacs. He ain't fakin' it. "Love Junkie" kicks it off slow. Piano drips, guitar moans. Feels heavy. Like heartache you can't shake. "Shuffle Girl" picks up a tiny bit, but still drags its feet. That's the vibe-laid-back to the point of almost collapsing. "Sugar Blues" (the title track) is probably the catchiest? If you can call a blues shuffle catchy. Harmonica wails, Benno mutters lyrics like secrets. Kinda hypnotic after a few listens. Some tracks are short as hell. "Jimmy Reeds Mama" - 2:43 of acoustic ramblin'. Feels unfinished. Like a demo. "Snake Charmer" has this weird, slinky groove. Cool, but sticks out like a sore thumb. Album jumps around style-wise. Blues mostly, yeah, but bits of folk, pop, even psych-tinged moments. Doesn't always gel. What I love? The honesty. No polish. No big studio tricks. Just Benno, his guitar, piano, and a band that knows how to lay back. Songs like "Black Cadillac" and "Easy Travelin' Gal" got this lonely highway feel. Perfect for late nights. You feel the weariness. The small-town dreams. The cheap thrills. What bugs me? Besides the duplicate mess? Production's thin. Sounds like it was recorded in a garage with one mic. Which, fine, if that's the goal. But sometimes the vocals get buried. And the pacing... drags in the middle. Needs tighter editing. Still... it grows on you. Like a weird stain on your favorite shirt you kinda don't wanna wash out. It's flawed. Uneven. Probably shouldn't work as well as it does. But there's soul here. Real, unvarnished soul. Not the kind you buy. The kind you earn after too many cigarettes and bad decisions. Funny thing? I kept thinking how unknown Benno is. Dude played with Morrison, had talent dripping off him... and this record just kinda vanished. Makes you wonder how many other gems are rotting in crates, waiting for someone dumb enough to care. This one's worth the dust.

Sugar Blues