Dancing Down the Stony Road

Artist: Chris Rea
Label: Import [Generic]
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2
EAN: 5050491001920
ASIN: B00006IQI2

Release Date: 2002-11-12

Dancing Down the Stony Road

Related Categories:

Singer-Songwriters

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Rock

| Imports | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Easy Rider
Stony Road
Dancing The Blues Away
Catfish Girl
Burning Feet
Slow Dance
Segway
Mississippi
So Lonely
Heading For The City
Ride On
When The Good Lord Talked To Jesus
Qualified
Sun Is Rising
Someday My Peace Will Come
Got To Be Moving On
Aint Going Down This Way
Changing Times
The Hustler
Give That Girl A Diamond

Similar Items:

Blue Jukebox
Blue Guitars
Blue Street (Five Guitars)
Hofner Blue Notes
King of the Beach

Album Description

Standard edition of 2002 album combines tracks from both discs of the limited edition set. First album from Rea since 2000 following serious illness. Dancing Down The Stony Road is a blues album released on his own Jazzy Blue label. Includes colorful booklet with paintings, photographs and lyrics. 20 tracks.

Album Details

The Beloved Singer/Songwriter Has Miraculously Recovered from a Dibilitating Illness and this Album is the First Fruit of his Regenerated Vigor. Based in the Blues, it is the Style of Music He Originally Meant to Record Through his Career Until Pop Producers Took Him in an Opposite Direction. The Tracks Clearly Show He was Meant to Sing the Blues and Age and Experience Has Only Enhanced Singing Voice. Critics have Hailed this Album as the Best of his Career. A Documentary of the Recording of this Album was by Director Rob Payton. This Edition Includes a Limited Bonus Disc and Includes Seven Tracks Not on the Standard Edition and in a Different Running Order.

Customer Reviews:

There's A Big Difference Between Good And Great.......2004-07-08

First off I want to say i'm a fan of Chris Rea, but let's be honest here. This is not a great CD or a great blues CD. I recently took a short trip and listened to this CD 5 times straight. I can say it is a good Chris Rea and a quite decent blues CD. I listen to a lot of music and blues is one of my passions. When I read some of the reviews that are posted here, it's clear these are not music connoisseurs. Chris Rea's voice is suited for the blues and his guitar playing is very tasty, but great slide playing? Maybe some of you should listen to Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth and bluesman Roy Rogers, those are great blues slide players. I would put Rea's slide playing in the George Harrison camp - tasty playing that's just right for the song and that's not a bad thing. When I see words like great and awesome in a review I know I should be on my toes. Chris Rea has a good catalog of music and "Stony Road" will not disappoint if you've liked his earlier stuff. It is a mystery why he's not caught on in the States. Bruce Cockburn is another artist who has not caught on either, who in my opinion who is so vastly underrated it should be a crime. When reviewing CD's please be honest, there's a big difference between good and great.

Great Release.......2003-09-06

I picked this up last week through the used CD means offered here at Amazon. I'm very glad I did. This is Chris' best release since the original Road to Hell. If you like the blues then this is a must! Well produced, great audio quality and stellar playing. The version I picked up came with extra video material of Chris playing live. Too bad he doesn't get the air time in the USA like he deserves. He has a great voice and can play the blues on that guitar of his. Pick this one up-you will be glad you did.

He only gets better as he gets older! Highly Recommended.......2003-05-04

This is one of the best Rea albums across his entire career. I was beginning to think that he had faded away after producing nothing new in years. The first time I heard this, I was not too sure. But five days later, I think this guy's getting better just when you thought he couldn't be any better. It's the kind of reaction i had when I first hear Pink Floyd...it grows on you. This album is like Mark Knofpler's move over the years...only in the reverse direction. Highly recommended even though this is a darn expensive set! You won't regret it.

Brilliant album by CR!!!.......2003-03-20

I sometimes wonder why Chris Rea doesn't tour the US!! His music is so Bluesy and soulful that it captures the soul of the delta. yet he is more popular in Europe than here. This is a much awaited album from him. CR certainly doesn't disappoint you. I bought the import version..so what if I had to fork out some extra cash there. But every song is worth more than that. The testimony to his music is that couple of my colleague's who have never heard his name before loved his music. This tells me that there is certainly a market in the US for his music. This is blues at best and CR does it in his own style. His guitaring, voice, the lyrics they all just seem to fall in place. I would say strong buy.

File Under Blues.......2002-11-16

Chris Rea is a big star in Europe but practically unknown in the U.S., which is perhaps why his appearance on Elton John's "Duets" album surprised no one over 'there' but everyone over 'here.' Most of his albums are suave 'n' roots, like a Bryan Ferry version of Dire Straits, except that Rea has a gravelly voice (not unlike Waylon Jennings) and plays lots of bottleneck slide guitar (a la Muddy Waters and Blind Willie Johnson). There's been a progression in his songwriting and performing, in my opinion, from his most contemporary-radio material (1979-1984) to his mature, memorable material (1985 on). The watershed album is "Shamrock Diaries" (1985), in which he connected with (maybe even established) his roots in rock, blues, and soul.

"Dancing Down the Stony Road" is a remarkable record by most standards, perhaps even those of classic blues. These are songs of pain, performed with a great deal of expression -- true blue blues. He voices the agony and the love of life and music he experienced while recovering from a potentially terminal illness. It's his first blues album (and deserves W.C. Handy Awards for every "crossover" category), but it sounds like he's been playing blues all his life.

Rea dedicates this album to Charley Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Rea's always had a knack for interesting, strong rhythms, so Patton might not come as a surprise, and his slide playing has obvious ties to Johnson's death meditations, but it's great to hear the songs influenced by Tharpe's fierce gospel drive. I'd like to think these artists would be proud to see their names associated with this album.

Rea has written songs suggesting bewilderment and sorrow before (cf. 'Nothing to Fear' or 'Gone Fishing'), but nothing so direct as these songs, in my opinion. I cried when I first heard 'Easy Rider'--the pain in the lyrics, the voice, and especially the slide guitar solo. I wasn't prepared for it, and I'm still startled by every song on the album. Perhaps the lyrics sometimes try a little too hard, making leaps I can't quite follow (i.e., looking for sugar to take away the gray). But they do convey an intensely personal experience, much like Van Morrison's lyrics do.

It's also a great album with which to consider his other albums, just like "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance" for Van's recordings. If all Rea's roads lead to "Dancing," they're not one-way streets, and I can go back and check them out. I realize that I love "King of the Beach" (one of the great summer albums of all time) and "God's Great Banana Skin" because their hearts beat to the blues you hear in "Dancing Down the Stony Road." Other albums don't, however, like "The Road to Hell, Part 2," which seems like a cynical statement about techno-rock.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Jellyfish & Chips ~ Koji Kikkawa

Ant Farm ~ 8 Bold Souls

Blues for Lady Day ~ Mal Waldron

From Hollywood to New York ~ Jon Eardley

Stiff Upper Lip ~ Rick Stepton

Jazz Horizons ~ Candoli Brothers Sextet

Field Recordings: Music for the Balinese Shadow Play ~ Various Artists

Our Roots Are Showing ~ Various Artists

V.3 ~ Breno Rossi, Marco Viola

El Hombre que yo amo