Regressive Music Review

Artist: Keb' Mo'
Title: "Just Like You"
Original Release: June 1996

Being a bit of a promo freak, I really love a lot of things about Keb’ Mo’ that have nothing to do with music. Although the Mo’ mixes on this album are the usual modern type blues, he overcomes this flaw with his slide guitar playing and simple untarnished vocals. Mo’ played with Papa John Creach in the 1970s, a noted blues violinist.

"Just Like You," was released in 1996. As did many CDs of the time, it includes a brief promo movie on the CD for your computer. The artwork makes it impossible to miss the Robert Johnson reverences.

As one of the Amazon reviewers below writes "Momma, Where’s My Daddy," is pretty sickening. Jackson Browne and Bonnie Rait are borderline on the title "Just Like You." That’s No Love, More Than One Way Home, and The Action, can all stand-in for one another as Blues or Easy Listening.

Into every Blues album a little Gospel must fall and this CD is no exception. This kind of thing usually turns my stomach, but "Hand It Over," always has me clapping and singing along, although prayer is not likely. The final track, "Lullaby Baby Blue," is one of my favorites. For anyone who has never experience Keb’ Mo’ I highly recommend this CD.

Amazon.com
Keb' Mo's 1995 Grammy-winning eponymous debutfirmly lodged the Los Angeles-born singer-guitarist in the contemporary blues pantheon. His sophomore effort, "Just Like You," is slick in comparison to the virtuosic, bare-bones Keb' Mo', but it's nevertheless an irresistible and accomplished album. While songs such as "Perpetual Blues Machine" and "You Can Love Yourself" are classic Mo', with their canny lyrics and facile slide and acoustic guitar licks, the sapfest "Just Like You" (with guests Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne) and the cliched "The Action" are hard to stomach. Toward the end of the disc, however, the gospel-laced "Hand It Over" and folksy "Momma, Where's My Daddy" restore the faith, displaying once again Mo's marvelous talent for wrenching the heartstrings with simply his voice and soulful steel-guitar manipulations. --Rebecca Wright