Vagabonds

Nu-Blu

2017 - Voxhall Records.  Why?  There are some songs that one should not record a cover on.  Many of these songs are so iconic that when you hear the cover version, you just cringe and have to turn it off.  The members of Nu-Blu are quite talented, but seriously?  Why would you record a cover of one of the most iconic songs in the music industry? Why? This album includes eleven songs and among those songs you will find covers of four songs including two iconic songs.  These iconic songs include Bob Dylan’s 1973 hit song “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson’s iconic 1971 hit song “Good Hearted Woman.”  It was Producer Owen Bradley who often told the entertainers he worked with “If you can’t recorded it better than the original, then don’t record it at all!”  Sure, Mr. Bradley passed away in 1998, but someone should have told Nu-Blu not to record these two songs, as their versions do no justice.  Other covers on this album include Carl Jackson’s “The Bridges That You’ve Burned” and Sawyer Brown’s 1986 hit song written by Mark Miller with “Gypsies On Parade.”  The group also includes Jimmy Fortune’s self penned song “Still Small Voice,” however he had never recorded the song.  From this collection of songs, I could only find one worth listening to again.  “640 Battlefield Drive” is certainly going to hit our list of Songs for Soldiers as it tells the story of a mother who’s boys go off to war; one comes back and one never returns.  This song may or may not hit our list of Top Songs of 2017 as we are still dissecting it. Nu-Blu is quite talented, but when you record covers—that is not talent.  That is just a money making scheme and laziness.  I have to score this low, as I know that this group has more potential than what is contained on this album. $

(This review was printed in the November / December 2017 issue of Strictly Country Magazine.)

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