MO BluesI Sing For Everyone2000Independent

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MO Blues - I Sing For Everyone - 2000 - Independent

Written by Warren Dallin

You'll like the blues on this CD the moment you push play.

I Sing For Everyone contains 10 originally-written tracks, all which have some strong, mature substance to them. Several blues styles are featured - mostly blues-rock based, but there is also a slow soul number, a party-swing song and a jazzy instrumental. Ouellette really does sing for everyone, but his focus is directed toward his supporters and blues fans alike. His strong, deep, raspy voice comes across with little hint of a French accent. All songs, except one, are sung in English.

Michel (Mo) Ouellette is a left-handed, upside-down guitar player from Quebec. His musical career stretches back before his current affair with the blues, but his "Mo Blues" moniker has been around since 1990. This is his second album and it features Guy Flamand on bass and Ken Gelly on drums. Guests include the talented Peter Shonk on harmonica, Jean-Yves Allaire on several tracks playing keyboards, and some jazzy sax and trumpet by Pierre Brassard and François Boutin on the final instrumental track, Smoky Room Blues.

The opening song is titled Today is a Good Day and is a standard 12-bar blues piece, with acoustic and electric guitar rhythms and some fine harp playing by Peter Shonk. It starts the disc out with the right feel. Ouellette's electric guitar jumps out front and his notes almost stay suspended in the air. His smooth popping guitar licks are mellow, yet express such feeling. The good thing is he adds plenty of substance to every solo. Shonk's harp is full and slightly grainy and he teases the listener by just holding back on a full-out amplified assault.

The next track, entitled The Witching Game, is a great electric blues-rock track that initially catches your attention because of the aggressive-sounding rhythms and hard rock guitar runs and nuances. You would swear that your CD player is on random and a Gary Moore disc has just been loaded.

Party Tonight is a fun and fast-paced boogie shuffle that will have you doing the twist along with the rollicking piano. I Left My Woman is a slow-paced soul/blues number. Ouellette's voice sings with such conviction, you feel sorry for the woman he left behind in the blues.

While Ouellette is French-Canadian, the only track sung in French is called Je m'emblues. It is a light, funky blues track with a forceful tone to the language. It is modern and his lyrics have so much soul, I wish more of the songs were performed in French. Surprisingly, I could translate the lyrics in the liner notes thanks to my recalling most of the words from high-school French. Ouellette does embody the blues in all he does. Popping and plucking guitar playing fades out this song.

I Sing for Everyone is the subdued title track and has a nice Peter Shonk harp intro, solo, and general thread throughout the song sounding like a tin trumpet achieving the right amount of crisp distortion and expression. The bass pattern is at the forefront and the keyboards fill out the sound. In keeping with the irony of blues music, he sings the blues for everyone who cares for him and brings him happiness. He pays them back with great blues songs.

That's Life is a positive, upbeat song with plenty of distorted "wah-wah" peddle-guitar licks to savour. You can tell that Ouellette enjoys communicating his blues through a healthy dose of blue notes.

My Baby's All Alone has a song structure reminiscent of Mary Anne by Ray Charles. It hits its stride mid-song with some chord work under some very tasty licks that really walk the dog.

However, if the CD only had the song My Old Friend Georgie, it would still be worth getting. I had this song locked on repeat, whether the CD was in the car, on the stereo or in the CD drive of my computer. It is a standard blues marathon loaded with meaningful, extended harp solos and bursts of hard guitar screams. It is a story about the end of his friendship with his best friend Georgie, due to Ouellette's love for his daughter. The simplicity of the song's backbone is its strength, but its feeling comes from some rustified harp fills and firm rhythm guitar playing. His deep vocal vibrato at the end of certain phrases adds such authenticity to his blues.

Even though French-Canadian blues artists never seem to get broad exposure outside of "La Belle Province", Ouellette is leading the way to show what Quebeçois blues can offer.

Copyright 2003. Review by Warren Dallin.

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