| Sugar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Recorded | 1990 | |||
| Studio | Manhattan Recording Company, Soundtrack Studios New York | |||
| Genre | Jazz, blues | |||
| Length | 34:59 | |||
| Label | Private Music [1] | |||
| Producer | Beryl Handler, Leon Redbone | |||
| Leon Redbone chronology | ||||
| ||||
Sugar is an album by the musician Leon Redbone, released in 1990. [2] [3] Redbone supported the album with a North American tour. [4] A video was shot for "So, Relax". [5]
Redbone used ribbon microphones during the recording sessions. [6] Ken Peplowski played saxophone and clarinet. [7] Cindy Cashdollar contributed on dobro; Dan Barrett on trombone. [8] [9] "Right or Wrong" and "Ghost of the St. Louis Blues" are versions of songs made famous by Emmett Miller; Redbone considered Miller to be a chief influence on the album, and thought about writing a book on the musician. [10] [11] [12] Redbone's guitar playing was influenced by Blind Blake. [13] "Pretty Baby" is a version of the Tony Jackson song. [14]
Redbone wrote three of the album's songs. [15] He included "The Whistling Colonel" after a movie studio instead chose to use one of his older songs on a soundtrack. [16]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Calgary Herald | C [17] |
| Chicago Tribune | [18] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [19] |
| MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide | [1] |
The Chicago Tribune deemed the album "another quaint and charming set shaped by the minstrel tunes, blues and jazz of the early 1900s." [6] The Calgary Herald recommended the album "for those who like their aural history lessons arch." [17] The Edmonton Journal stated that "shades of Django Reinhardt, New Orleans, gutbucket blues, dixie, Broadway and bluegrass sounds are somehow stitched together with loving care." [7]
The Gazette concluded that "if a Bugs Bunny cartoon could sing, Leon Redbone's voice would bubble out of its technicolor throat." [20] The Washington Post noted the absence of "the kind of nimble fingerstyle guitar arrangements Redbone previously devised to revive songs." [10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ghost of the St. Louis Blues" | Billy Curtis, John Robinson | 2:55 |
| 2. | "Roll Along Kentucky Moon" | Bill Halley | 3:08 |
| 3. | "Right or Wrong" | Haven Gillespie, Arthur Sizemore | 2:28 |
| 4. | "Laughin' Blues" | Terry Waldo | 2:26 |
| 5. | "Breeze" | Joe Goodwin, James F. Hanley, Ballard MacDonald | 3:32 |
| 6. | "The Whistling Colonel" | Leon Redbone | 2:46 |
| 7. | "Sugar" | Edna Alexander, Sidney Mitchell, Maceo Pinkard | 2:09 |
| 8. | "Pretty Baby" | Tony Jackson, Gus Kahn, Egbert Van Alstyne | 3:05 |
| 9. | "When I Take My Sugar to Tea" | Pierre Norman Connor, Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal | 2:19 |
| 10. | "What You Want Me to Do" | Dave Nelson, Joseph (King) Oliver | 2:50 |
| 11. | "Messin' Around" | Traditional | 2:27 |
| 12. | "So, Relax" | Beryl Handler, Redbone | 2:28 |
| 13. | "14th Street Blues" | Handler, Redbone | 2:55 |
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