Stones In My Passway

Wonderfully fantastic! Carmen Gomes at her inimitable best performing highly personal interpretations of the songs of legendary blues singer Robert Johnson. Gomes is a master communicator... This album deserves recognition as one of the best vocal albums released in 2023.

The recording quality is among the best recordings I've heard from Sound Liaison recording engineer Frans de Rond. And he's made quite a few of my favorite recordings. But, when recording Carmen Gomes, Frans seems to rise to yet another level of masterful work capturing the sound of this band.

If you're a blues fan, get this album. If you love female vocals, get this album. If you simply enjoy great music making, get this album. Did I say this enough? Get this album. You'll love it.

The new album by Carmen Gomes Inc. appeals to the Audiophile heart and the Blues and Jazz lover. It is another pearl.

Once again the ensemble returns to the work and life of Robert Leroy Johnson from Mississippi. This artist died very young and left only about twenty songs, but his work was and still is a major influence on many blues guitarists and singers. In addition, Johnson has been retroactively included as one of the very first 'members' of the famous 27 Club, the well-known group of artists who died at the age of 27. In any case, it appeals to the imagination.

Together they (including engineer Frans de Rond) explore six tracks by Robert Johnson himself on Stones In My Passway, and supplements this with nine of their own works, the lion's share of which also comes from the entire band.

When you press 'play', it immediately becomes clear that Carmen Gomes Inc. has done everything it can to create a story, rather than just a tribute to Johnson. From the intro, in which the slowly swelling musical sounds are accompanied by a soundscape of a steam train that could easily come from the southern American state of the blues artist. Atmosphere and entourage are immediately apparent.

To start with a wonderful jazzy performance of Johnson's Little Queen Of Spades . The short slide guitar of yesteryear is given ample space in the whole in a renewed, drawn-out form, while Tettero and his instrument occupy an almost equal place in the whole as singer Carmen. Placed slightly to the right behind the voice, the bass defined underneath and a very large stage for the drums.

The intimacy of the vocals, the expression of the guitar and the refined sounds of the double bass as well as the dynamics of the percussion make the album a radio play. In fact, almost the entire album, the four have a vivid imagination and know how to convert it into narrative music. Supplemented with some cleverly placed soundscapes. Intense.

In addition, the music is greatly enhanced by the beautiful recording and production. Engineer Frans de Rond has once again managed to deliver beautiful work, by playing with the placement of microphones, among other things. The choice to include the drums in particular so prominently and with extreme dynamics gives a lot of extra subcutaneous tension to Robert Johnson's blues heritage and is phenomenal to experience on a refined hi-fi set. This is music to wallow in, especially during these gray winter days.

Recommended!

This is the best sounding recording Frans de Rond has done to date. And the best performance by the band.

Stones In My Passway is Part Two of the Discovering The Music of Robert Johnson series in which Carmen Gomes Inc. breathes new life into the musical legacy of Robert Johnson.

The short atmospheric pieces between the tracks, where you are taken to the scene of the events like in a radio play, are a real treasure. Thus, the album opens with a beautiful intro where a passing train, wind noise, and a single guitar chord transports you to the deep south of the United States.

Carmen sings the blues straight from the heart, profoundly, with authenticity and heartfelt sincerity, eschewing any unnecessary embellishments. Her band has mastered this repertoire completely.

The slow tempos are beautifully exploited, with each musician contributing sparingly but with authority. In their renditions of Johnson's pieces, you feel the clammy, sweaty air in the ominous dark shady clubs, where the blues was interspersed with drinking parties and fights.

Engineer Frans de Rond has captured the entire setting in a way that allows you to experience the superb interplay of these seasoned musicians. This is so well recorded that turning up the volume knob significantly only seems to make the music even more intense not louder.

With this release, an impressively good album has been added to Carmen's discography. My suggestion is to buy both Part One (Up Jumped The Devil) and Part Two (Stones in My Passway) as they don't fall short of each other and only become more precious with time.