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This is an eagerly anticipated album from the once UK resident Eugene Bridges and it is well worth the wait.  Eugene has written all of the songs and the album is stripped down compared to previous albums. Eugene sings all of the exquisite vocals, including harmonies, and plays guitar, adds foot stomps and plays bass on one track. “Never Alone” is a cappella with Eugene accompanying himself by signing the bass parts and the close harmony backing vocals and providing hand claps. Awesome!

Several tracks are distinctly Sam Cooke in flavour, Eugene having inherited Sam’s vocal cords. Having wonderful voice means that Eugene can really handle the slow and soulful numbers.  The melancholy and beautiful “Look At Me Now” starts off somewhat like Buddy Johnson’s “Since I Fell For You”.

Eugene has assistance from bass player and long time band member Robin Clayton on “Piece of the Mountain”. Lucky Oceans contributes pedal steel on the laid back “Life Has No Meaning”, “Baby Your Love” and “In Your Arms Tonight”. Clayton Doley plays Hammond organ on “Love’s got the Best of Me” and “Man And His Guitar”. Ian Moss adds a guitar solo to “Special Friend” and Ray Wylie Hubbard plays slide on “I Can’t Wait”. Co-producer Pat Manske provides some percussion on “Look At Me Now” and Declan Kelly hand claps on “Big Legged Woman”.

The tracks were recorded in London, Australia, Texas and Singapore, by plethora of engineers. They were then mixed by Pat Manske at The Zone, in Dripping Springs Texas and the album was mastered by Dallas Simpson at Dallas Masters in Nottingham. A good job was done by all.

Eugene spends much of his time in Australia and Europe and his career is taking off in America now. ‘Bout time! Make sure you see him should the opportunity arise.
Stand out tracks? There are twelve of them. This is a joy to listen to! Buy it!

Rating 10/10

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It must have been sweet to hear young Eugene Bridges sing hymns with his brothers in a rural Louisiana church.  Bridges’ honeyed, crystal-clear voice dazzles from the first moments of 'Piece of the Mountain,' the joyful tune that kicks off his self-titled fifth album.  Bridges wrote every song here, and each is deeply felt by both artist and audience.  Fortitude and happiness abound; the gospel music he sang as a child is still an integral part of Bridges’ style. And if beautifully articulated soul isn’t enough, the man also plays a mean guitar. His exquisite picking and crisp tones are riveting, and his guitar work conveys the same contentment that shines in his voice.
 
Bridges’ dad, blues guitarist Hideaway Slim, gave his son these gifts, and the bloodline that runs from bridges’ mother to Tina Turner surely helped, too.  A Texan since moving to the Lone Star State to join the Air Force at age 16, this strikingly approachable bluesman is now mid-40’s and is clearly hitting his stride.  His new album is a stripped-down affair compared to his previous discs, and he sparkles throughout, whether playing solo or dueting with Asleep at the Wheel’s pedal-steel guitarist Lucky Oceans or Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard.  A few gritty numbers do appear – the boot-to-the-wood Delta blues 'Ain’t Got Time' is one – but Bridges’ sublime, Wes Montgomery-styled guitar drives the disc to its highest ground on 'Love’s Got the Best of Me.'  Those who enjoy the new-blood blues of Fruteland Jackson and Eric Bibb, as well as fans of elder statesmen such as Taj Mahal, will find it impossible to pass on this album.

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Recorded partly in Singapore, London and Texas, Eugene Hideaway Bridges does a superb job of capturing where this singer, guitarist and writer is at the moment.  There're some interesting choices of instrumentation and personnel that marks a change from Bridges using his road band in the recording studio.  Lucky Oceans, who leads Western Swing band, Asleep At The Wheel, plays pedal steel on three tracks whilst, more conventionally, Ray Wylie Hubbard lays down some slide guitar on 'I Can't wait'.

The whole thing works perfectly.  There's plenty of hand-clapping, in keeping with his background as a church singer, but what shines throughout is the quality of Bridges' superb voice.  It's a voice made in heaven, soaking these songs in large drips of soulful richness.  'In Your Arms Tonight' has a real Sam Cooke feel and, as we move on to the following track 'Look At Me Now', country merges with soul and gospel on a heart felt ballad recalling Otis Redding.

This consummate young artist simply gets better and better.  'Special Friend' is a cracking rocker sung quite beautifully, with sizzling guitar adding emphasis.  'Never Alone' is sung minus the instrumental backing and demonstrates, once again, that here we have one of the finest voices around - and one that deserves wider recognition.  The decision to concentrate on getting the production right has paid off on this excellent release - a candidate for original blues album of the year.

Rating: 5/5

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De muziek van Eugene Bridges vormt de ontbrekende schakel tussen soul en country. Vroeger had je de zwarte countryzanger Charlie Pride, maar Bridges maakt geen echte country, maar ook geen echte soul. Hij fuseert de twee muziekstijlen gewoon, en wel op zo'n natuurlijke manier dat je je afvraagt waarom niemand het ooit eerder deed.

Bridges doet in zijn soulvolle zang denken aan mannen als Sam Cooke en Don Covay (luister maar eens naar het fantastische Special Friend), terwijl de arrangementen helemaal rond zijn gitaarspel zijn opgebouwd, met heel af en toe een beetje percussie, regelmatig een pedal steel, een hammondorgel en een enkele gastgitarist (met onder meer een pracht van een slidegitaarsolo van Ray Wylie Hubbard). Een drummer heeft Bridges niet nodig - met voetgestomp en handgeklap weet hij een uitstekende, uitermate swingende basis te leggen. De twaalf ijzersterke nummers op zijn album Hideaway heeft Bridges zelf geschreven, en hij laat horen dat hij behoorlijk veelzijdig is, en dat hij vooral ook prachtige ballads kan schrijven. En dat hij ze zelf dan ook nog eens zo bevlogen en overtuigend kan zingen is mooi meegenomen. En had ik al gezegd dat hij ook een zeer begenadigd gitarist is?

De muziek van Bridges wordt vaak aangeduid als blues, en daar zit ook veel in, maar zijn muziek is toch net iets te gelaagd en te veelzijdig om hem onder dat etiket weg te bergen. Een absolute aanrader.

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That is certainly the case here, as Texas out of Louisiana singer/ guitarist Eugene goes for a minimalist approach. He sets out his stall on the first number, Gospel inflected in arrangement and words, sounding a lot like Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers until the bridge when a BB King styled guitar adds to the instrumentation and the effect – wonderful. This is followed by an achingly beautiful love song – though again this could easily be a gospel lyric – which could be classed as country-soul, out and out country, or a singer/ songwriter number. Eugene’s guitar is supplemented by the pedal steel playing of Lucky Oceans, who appears on a further two titles, to maximum effect.

… And so the album continues, with Eugene’s wistful vocals frequently recalling that fragile beauty of Sam Cooke’s voice/ There is a hint of ‘People Get Ready’ in ‘Special Friend’, excellent early sixties Rhythm & Blues on ‘In Your Arms Tonight’… then from track 8, ‘Ain’t Got Time’ the blues content suddenly increases – try particularly the vintage BB King sound of ‘Love Got The Best Of Me’, just Eugene with Clayton Doley on Hammond.

This is a marvellous set for anyone who appreciates the sound of sixties rhythm & blues and soul served up with a side dish of top-notch blues. Thanks Eugene, thanks Armadllo.

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Ever since I've received Eugene’s first CD released by Armadillo he has a fan in me. In the world full of guitar pyrotechnics a’ la Stevie Ray Vaughan he is not only a guitarist with exemplary taste playing with grace and dignity of BB King but he is also one of the best soul singers around, with his voice being tender and emotional without falling in cliché. There is only one Eugene and blues fans should be very happy to have him working so hard. The “blue” CD spotlights his vocals more than all of his previous albums and I like that idea so much. The setting is intimate and songs are beautiful. Bridges has released another superb album, no doubt about that. close

Ritorna Eugene Bridges con un album essenziale, dai toni intimistici e crepuscolari; dopo quattro lavori licenziati in compagnia dei timbri e decibel elevati della band elettrica, Bridges in questa uscita sceglie ensemble minimali, ospiti incisivi (Lucky Oceans alla pedal steel guitar, Ian Moss alla chiatarra elettrica, Ray Wylie Hubbard alla slide e Clayton Doley all'organo Hammond), scelta del tutto centrata, dato che la semplificazione operata mette in pieno risalto le sue enormi potenzialità espressive e vocali; registrato in diverse occasioni, Singapore, Australia, Inghilterra, mixato negli USA, questo lavoro riflette compiutamente il lato nomadico di Bridges, musicista costantemente 'on the road', (atteggiamento ereditato dal padre 'Hideway Slim', altro nomade del blues) anche nella naturale capacità di assorbire le varie sfumature, ora bianche ora nere, della musica afro-americana. L'album offre 12 tracce elettroacustiche, tutte composizioni originali di Bridges, con sfumature gospel l'iniziale 'Piece of Mountain', soul 'Never alone', country-swing 'In your arms tonight', soul-ballad 'Look at me now', blues 'Ain't got time', 'Love's got the best of me', e swing nella traccia finale 'Man and his guitar'. Forse nato per caso, questo lavoro rivela un nuovo lato espressivo di Eugene Bridges, più vicino all'estetica di musicisti come Keb' Mo, che a noi soddisfa ancora di piu' di quello potente e 'muscolare' precedente.
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