trageser.com
Music Review

Home
Computers
Book Reviews and Reading Diary
CD Buying Guide and Music Links
Best-of lists
CD Reviews
CDs, sorted by Style
CDs, sorted by year issued
CDs, sorted by publication review ran in
CDs by San Diego bands
All CDs, sorted by band name
All CDs, sorted by album title
Interviews
Favorite quotations
Contact Me



Hitting his stride

Shame + A Sin
Shame + A Sin
By Robert Cray

Mercury Records: 1993

Buy it on CD now from Amazon.com
Buy it now


This review first appeared in the September 10, 1993 issue of the North County Blade-Citizen (now North County Times).

Robert Cray's new album, "Shame + A Sin," is much closer to his early recordings on the independent HighTone Records than the hit-machine formula he adopted for awhile after moving to Mercury. The music here is bluesier, less rock-oriented; the songs slower, more introspective.

Cray's musicianship remains top-notch, with his guitar work just as biting; his singing is as impassioned as ever. And for the first time in several albulms, Cray seems to be enjoying himself.

Maybe it's only now, after a string of hits, that Cray is able to relax and start achieving the artistic promise hinted at on his early sides.