Five Hundred Pounds

Five Hundred Pounds Artist: Big Sugar
Label: Jive
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 012414156020
EAN: 0012414156020
ASIN: B00000052K


Release Date: 1995-06-27

Five Hundred Pounds


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Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. Ride Like Hell
  2. I'm A Ram
  3. Wild Ox Moan
  4. All Over Now
  5. Standing Around Crying
  6. Dear Mr. Fantasy
  7. How Many Times
  8. Aaa Ardvark Motel
  9. Deliver Me
  10. Still Waiting
  11. Sugar In My Coffee

Similar Items:

  1. Heated
  2. Hemi-Vision
  3. Brothers & Sisters, Are You Ready?
  4. Big Sugar
  5. Hit & Run

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Blues Agressivo.......2007-04-13

As a Brazilian lad studying in Boston back in 1998, I was more than addicted on rock radios and tried to get to know as many new bands as possible. MTV was as waste of time so I used to watch MUCH MUSIC, sort of a Canadian version of that ill fated American "music channel". That's where I first saw BIG SUGAR and they totally blew me away.

Next day I was going through the dozens of used cd stores in town looking for their material. "Five Hundred Pounds" was the only album I found and it's probably their best. It's blues, but it's not. It's classic rock, but it's not. It's alternative, but it's not. It just sounds irresistibly GOOD! The riffs are craunchy and the band carries a groove that 90% of the hyped bands nowadays would give their left arm to be able to create and keep.

How come they never got big? Bad management, perhaps. Quality they sure got.

5 out of 5 stars good, loud and swampy .......2005-06-28

Big Sugar were still a loose knit bunch of blues and jazz players from Toronto around the time this swampy rockpile was laid down. Gordie Johnson and gang took one last big ass kick at eclecticism before rock radio came calling and the band went for the hits. Dropping the jazz leanings from their first disc, they instead go for an all out sonic assault on the blues. Picture Gene Vincent in a Hugo Boss suit fronting a cross between a Jon Spencer/Ry Cooder/Los Straitjackets combo and you're just about there. Get the Canadian version for even more wacko fun and less Traffic covers.

3 out of 5 stars nice background noise.......2002-10-14

I was given 500 Pounds as a gift because it was a "blues" cd.Well that it is not.Sure 500 Pounds has some old blues songs covered on it , but that does not make it a blues cd.Its an ok cd though.I actually like the originals over the covers.Gordie Johnson has a rustoleum guitar, squeaky and rusty , he emits some very cool and unique sounds.The bass and drums provide solid rhythm, too bad there is not more harp playing. Big Sugar has a John Spencer Blues Explosion sound to them but Jon Spencer is a wild man and Gordie Johnson is more laid back.They kinda sound like an alt/grunge band minus the angst and yelling but with a pinch of the blues. here is a track by track breakdown
Ride Like Hell is a cross between JSBE & a woodstock era song.I'm a Ram could be BTO then it breaks into a slight reggae beat then returns to the Big Sugar/BTO sound.Wild Ox Moan is a dirge that sounds like a .....wild ox moaning.All Over Now has some nice guitar work but sounds just like that other song of the same name so why not a cover of that song?Standing Around Crying is as close to Chicago as Big Sugar will get and why not its a Muddy Waters song.Great harp work.Dear Mr Fantasy is a cheesy but decent enough cover. Why bother doing How Many Times , Zep owns it.AAA Ardvark Motel is a sock hop song, why not its fun and short.Deliver Me is about 4:16 tooo long.Still Waiting is a cowboy ballad with some good harmonica the song itself is corny.And lastly , Sugar in my Coffee is Led Zep on a bad day. Which is pretty good for Big Sugar or any other band for that matter.
500 Lbs. is a decent enough CD, I can listen to it straight thru. This may not be a ringing endorsement but I find the music makes for good background noise. It doesn't demand your attention nor does it annoy. I play this CD when I'm doing busy kinda stuff and want some tunes in the background.

5 out of 5 stars I'm a Fan.......2001-06-28

I was working late one night when "All Over Now" came on over the radio. I immediately sat up and cried "What the (heck) was that?" It was a startling discovery. The entire CD, with the exception of the appalling "AAA Aardvark Hotel," brings a sonic grit to the blues that would make Jimi Hendrix and the Eric Clapton of Cream proud. The CD announces this intent with the defiantly loud "Ride Like Hell" to begin, but even more quiet pieces such as "Sugar in My Coffee" cry for volume. In "Sugar in My Coffee" the two notes following the line "And when he barks it rolls just like thunder" are perfectly juxtaposed by the falsetto of Gordie Johnson's next line. The harp and sax of Kelly Hoppe is incredible, and has only been matched by Hoppe's own harp on "Hemi-Vision," Big Sugar's following CD. Johnson's guitar virtuoso is also apparent throughout the album, with the execption of the aforementioned unfortunate "AAA Aardvark Hotel." One of my favourite examples is the bagpipe drone of "Wild Ox Moan," the likes of which I will guarantee you have never heard before. For tradionalists Johnson does calm it down beautifully with "Still Waitin'," a traditional blues tune that shows that, back then at least, Big Sugar may have been colossally loud, but Johnson's heart remained still in the right place.

5 out of 5 stars A truly great album.......1999-04-18

This album is LOUD. From the sound of Gordie's Gibson wailing through big Marshall amps, to Al Cross' thunderous drums, '500 Pounds' is the closest thing you'll find to hearing Big Sugar live. (On a side note, Big Sugar is, without a doubt, the best live act I have seen to date).

'Ride like Hell' and 'I'm a Ram' evoke comparisons to classic Cream. Gordie can alternately croon or wail, and his slide guitar playing is masterful.

Music Album:

  1. Slave to Love: Best of the Ballads ~ Bryan Ferry
  2. Passion ~ Robin Trower
  3. The Last Temptation of Reid ~ Lard
  4. Odds and Sods: Mis-Takes and Out-Takes ~ Manfred Mann's Earth Band
  5. Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats ~ Peter Gabriel
  6. Gato Negro ~ 7 Year Bitch
  7. Shimmering, Warm & Bright ~ Bel Canto
  8. Cream of the Crap!, Vol. 2 ~ The Hellacopters
  9. On and On ~ Jack Johnson
  10. Strictly Inc. ~ Strictly Inc , and Tony Banks

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

How High the Moon: Definitive Collection ~ Les Paul & Mary Ford

Music CD 91

Ballad Album-Fall in Love With

Dominoe Principle ~ Thilo Rex

The Motive Series ~ Mark Sherman

Paraphernalia

Tu Desayuno Alegre Romantico ~ Various Artists

China: Art of the Pipa ~ Various Artists

Pop Chumbado ~ Marcio Mello

Irai Zettyo ~ Nobody Knows