April 2005

Bluesman Tommy Castro’s name is usually accompanied by the word "underrated," and it’s true. The San Francisco guitarist and singer is well-respected among his peers; he’s sat on stages between B.B. King and Buddy Guy. His current album, "Soul Shaker," contains plenty of the soulful blues and forays into rockin’ blues that keep Castro in such high esteem. But there’s one ingredient missing early on cohesiveness. There’s a marked improvement in the second half, when Castro lets his B.B.-influenced guitar do some talking and his blues voice do the singing, as on the fine "No One Left to Lie To." He lays into the too-long-withheld ax solo on the danceable "Wake Up Call" and puts some soul into the lyrical bull’s-eye "The Holdin’ On." "Big Love" is another big groove, but the disc’s coolest, funkiest cut could be its only instrumental, "The Crossanova." The title comes from Castro’s sax/flute player, Keith Crossan, but it might also be so named because this Herbie Mann disciple goes crossin’ ova into bossa nova. Castro’s last album, "Gratitude," was an homage to his musical influences. This one isn’t labeled as such, but it definitely displays a few. On the pretty ballad "Anytime Soon," there are vocal traces of Sam Cooke; "Take Me Off the Road" is a ZZ Top foray; "What You Gonna Do Now" invokes McClinton, who co-wrote it with Castro and frequent collaborator Gary Nicholson. Castro does quite fine on the album’s rockers, but he’s so much better when he leans toward this kind of blues and funk.

Lynne Margolis, Austin American-Statesman