Read My Lips | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1989 | |||
Genre | Blues, rock and roll | |||
Label | Antone's Records and Tapes [1] | |||
Producer | Paul Ray | |||
Lou Ann Barton chronology | ||||
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Read My Lips is an album by the American singer Lou Ann Barton, released in 1989. [2] [3] The Plain Dealer called the album a throwback to a time when "regional styles flourished, were celebrated and enriched popular music." [4]
Barton's two earlier 1980s albums were already out of print by the time of Read My Lips' release. [5] The album's title is a reference to George H. W. Bush's 1988 campaign promise. [6]
A covers album, Read My Lips was recorded with several guest musicians, including saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman and members of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. [7] [8] The main players included guitarist Derek O' Brien, bassist Jon Blondell, and drummer George Rains. [9] The album was produced by Paul Ray. [10]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [11] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [12] |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [13] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
Spin thought that the album "captures the sound and spirit of a 50s Excello or Duke recording without sacrificing 80s technology." [14] The Austin American-Statesman wrote that "'Shake Your Hips', in particular, is a masterful use of rock 'n' roll, gutter guitar licks bolstering a mean, low-down and dirty blues song about a dance undoubtably outlawed except in the darkest of clubs." [9] The Daily Breeze opined that Read My Lips "sounds like just the kind of thing you'd want to hear blasting away in a Texas roadhouse—lowdown, sweat-drenched rhythm-and-blues." [15]
The Toronto Star wrote: "The good thing about Barton, unlike so many blues-by-number advocates, is that it is hard to know which way she'll turn next. She takes a playful novelty piece like Slim Harpo's 'Te Ni Nee Ni Nu' and invests it with almost inappropriate urgency, while her cover of 'You'll Lose A Good Thing' is casually ironic instead of emotionally heated." [16] The Chicago Tribune deemed the album "down and dirty Texas blues and boogie." [17] The Tulsa World determined that Barton's "version of Wanda Jackson's 'Mean, Mean Man' is hard-driving, pouty rock 'n' roll, sounding like what might have happened if Betty Boop had sung lead with the Flamin' Groovies." [18]
AllMusic wrote: "Wisely free of attempts to update or modernize her timeless Texas-style blues-rock, Read My Lips is a rockin' good time." [11] The Rolling Stone Album Guide called the album "a set of scorching performances that remind us not of what she might have been, but what she is—a natural-born singer who's learned hard lessons by living them." [5] The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings argued that Barton's "métier is rock rather than blues." [13]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Sugar Coated Love" | |
2. | "You'll Lose a Good Thing" | |
3. | "Sexy Ways" | |
4. | "Shake a Hand" | |
5. | "Good Lover" | |
6. | "Mean Mean Man" | |
7. | "Shake Your Hips" | |
8. | "Te Ni Nee Ni Nu" | |
9. | "Can't Believe You Want to Leave" | |
10. | "You Can Have My Husband" | |
11. | "It's Raining" | |
12. | "Rocket in My Pocket" | |
13. | "I Wonder Why" | |
14. | "Let's Have a Party" | |
15. | "High Time We Went" |
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