James Blood Ulmer: Blue Blood

Third Rail's South Delta Space Age, engineered (in a broad sense) by Bill Laswell, brought together complementary elements of Southern funk, blues, and raw-edged improvisation. Tunes like "Funk All Night" revealed a quirky humor and soulful blaze. Blue Blood has the same shuffle and dip, but this disc only rarely reaches an exciting level of energy. Overproduction? Hard to tell. The same bumpy rhythms percolate throughout this record, and when Ulmer sings, his ragged voice projects a welcome earthiness. The supporting band does little but play-act in the background, so any adventurism on Ulmer's part brings the action up a notch.

Interestingly, his enigmatic, twisting guitar lines on "As It Is" and "Home Alone" quote themes from his first record, Tales of Captain Black. It's as if Ulmer is circling home and perhaps got a bit lost on the way. For Blood Ulmer fans, this is an interesting record to pile on the heap, worth a listen as a document of a talent in progress. For the uninitiated, it's a poor place to start: try either of the two other records mentioned above, and you'll get a sense of the undiluted pure genius that lurks within Ulmer's mind and fingertips.