my-server
← Wiki

Who's Been Talkin'

Who's Been Talkin is the first album by the Robert Cray Band, released in 1980. It received little initial notice due to Tomato Records' bankruptcy. It has been rereleased a couple of times, including under the title Too Many Cooks.

Production

Produced by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the album was recorded in two sessions. Cray wrote four of its songs. "Too Many Cooks" is a cover of the Willie Dixon song.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau wrote: "Cray can recite his catechism without kowtowing to orthodoxy--guitar like Albert Collins only chillier and more staccato, voice like B.B. King only cleaner and, well, thinner." The New York Times, in a review praising the artistic growth of Cray's Strong Persuader, from 1986, thought that his first three albums "variously recalled the Stax/Volt and Atlantic soul sounds, big-city funk, and bar band rock-and-roll."

The Globe and Mail commended "the winning confidence, the cool reserve, the sense of pure style and the respectful curiosity about the blues tradition." The Toronto Star thought that "even as a young and impressionable guitarist, Cray had amazing strength and versatility, and no appreciation of his work would be complete without this excellent album."

The Rough Guide to Rock called the album "raw and teeming with promise."

Track listing

Personnel

  • Robert Cray – guitar, vocals
  • Richard Cousins – bass
  • Dave Olson – drums
  • Buster B. Jones – drums
  • Tom Murphy – drums
  • Nathaniel Dove – keyboards
  • Curtis Salgado – harmonica, vocals
  • Nolan Andrew Smith – trumpet
  • David Li – tenor saxophone
  • Bruce Bromberg – producer
  • Dennis Walker – producer, bass
  • Dave Crawford – engineer
  • Bill Dashiell – engineer

References