Posted on: April 30, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

So, a brief story about this release. We had a reviewer at NeuFutur that requested this title. They flaked out. I took over and finally found a copy of the album, and have been spinning it nonstop since then. Piano Red is nothing less than Atlanta blues royalty, and The Lost Atlanta Tapes represents recordings that were previously deemed lost.

Piano Red brings so much raw emotion and honesty to each of the album’s eighteen tracks, many of which are focused on lost love. These tracks blend in perfectly with the heady sentiment of a track like “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone”, which links together mortality with much more mundane feelings. “Cottonfields” has a similarly-lengthy chronology to it. Speaking both to the cotton fields of slavery along with the crops that are still present in Georgia, there is just a very wise sound that issues forth at all points during “The Lost Atlanta Tapes”.

“Rockin’ With Red” is a little more gritty of a track, and for me really showcases the extend of Piano Red’s skills. With nary a weak track to be heard on “The Lost Atlanta Tapes”, it really is mindboggling to me that these recordings did not make it to disc until 2010.
For an additional insight into historical Atlanta musicians, make it a point to check out Landslide Records’ website. They have been around for twenty years and have linked some of the earliest recorded artists from the area with still-performing purveyors of Southern music.

Top Tracks: My Baby’s Gone, Baby, Please Don’t Go

Rating: 8.5/10

Piano Red – The Lost Atlanta Tapes (CD) / 2010 Landslide / 18 Tracks / http://www.landsliderecords.com

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