Chris Bergson lays it on the line with his latest release, Chris Bergson Band - Imitate the Sun,
which is pure blues genius. Chris Bergson is by joined the talented
Jay
Collins, Bruce Katz, Matt Clohesy, and Tony
Leone, with special guests Kenny Rampton, and Chris
Karlic on this memorable album.
Chris Bergson
Band - Imitate the Sun
Chris Bergson Band - Imitate the Sun: Goin' Home,
Imitate the Sun, Shattered Avenue, Hello Bertha, Down in the Bottom, Laying it
Down in White, You've Been a Good Old Wagon, Mr. Jackson, Dust My Broom,
Standing in the Doorway
Personnel: Chris
Bergson - vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Jay Collins - tenor sax,
backing vocals, baritone sax on Down in
the Bottom and Tambourine on Goin'
Home, horn arrangement, Bruce
Katz - organ, piano, Wurlitzer organ, Matt Clohesy - bass, Tony Leone - drums
and percussion, Kenny Rampton - trumpet on Hello
Bertha and Mr. Jackson, Chris
Karlic - baritone sax on Hello Bertha
and Mr. Jackson
Chris Bergson Band - Imitate the Sun was produced by Chris Bergson for the 2 Shirts Records label.
The album opens with the
catchy track, Goin' Home, which Chris
wrote with his wife, Kate Ross, and features Chris' exceptional guitar work, captivating
lyrics, Chris' intoxicating honeyed whiskey voice, and backing vocals by Jay
Collins.
The title cut, Imitate the Sun, also written by Bergson/Ross,
is gorgeous, with Jay Collin's wailing horn to complement Chris' vocals. The lyrics
draw you in like a moth to flame with, "Water level risin', But no one to throw
me a line, Hard to keep from drownin', When you're down to your last dime, Stuck
in a mess of storm and stress, Hilarity and boredom, Feel like hell so I might
as well, Go on down the corner. But soon I'm gonna imitate the sun, after days
of having his rays, Obscured by smog and storms, Breaks through the clouds, shines
on down, Blinding all below ..."
Hello Bertha,
also written by Bergson/Ross, captures the essence of the quintessential
bartender with a ready smile, a non-judgmental listener, divulging nothing, and
is as much a fixture of the bar as the stools themselves, with the lyrics, "I
tried in vain to imagine, the seconds of her life away from this place, She
spoke of smoking in her garden, But I couldn't picture daylight on her face, I
poured my heart by the pint, And she revealed nothing ... Hello Bertha, It's good
to see you again."
Other tracks include the
Bergson/Ross songs, Shattered Avenue,
Laying it Down in White, and Mr. Jackson; You've Been a Good Old Wagon written by John Henry, and the
rollicking Rhythm and Blues song, Dust My
Broom written by Elmore James and Robert Johnson with smokin' and pounding
piano exceptionally worked by Bruce Katz.
Chris and the band makes Down in the Bottom, a hard-driving blues
song written by Willie Dixon, their own with Bruce Katz doing some dazzling solo
work on the piano, and Jay Collins, Kenny Rampton, and Chris Karlic on horns.
The Chris Bergson Band - Imitate the Sun album is out-of-the-box
wonderful and finishes strongly with the slower paced Bob Dylan song, Standing in the Doorway, that gently
brings us back to earth after going full circle of the ups and downs of every
day life.
Websites where you can
procure Chris Bergson Band - Imitate the
Sun are Amazon, CD Baby, eMusic, iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody.
© June 2011. Luxury
Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com. All
rights reserved.
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