| Who's Been Talkin' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Label | Tomato [1] | |||
| Producer | Bruce Bromberg, Dennis Walker | |||
| The Robert Cray Band chronology | ||||
| ||||
Who's Been Talkin' is the first album by the Robert Cray Band, released in 1980. [2] [3] It received little initial notice due to Tomato Records' bankruptcy. [3] It has been rereleased a couple of times, including under the title Too Many Cooks. [2]
Produced by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the album was recorded in two sessions. [4] [5] [6] Cray wrote four of its songs. [7] "Too Many Cooks" is a cover of the Willie Dixon song. [8]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| Robert Christgau | B [10] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [1] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [11] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [12] |
| Q | [13] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [14] |
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." [10] 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." [15]
The Globe and Mail commended "the winning confidence, the cool reserve, the sense of pure style and the respectful curiosity about the blues tradition." [16] 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." [17]
The Rough Guide to Rock called the album "raw and teeming with promise." [6]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Too Many Cooks (by Willie Dixon)" | 2:49 |
| 2. | "The Score" | 4:06 |
| 3. | "The Welfare (Turns Its Back on You) (by Lucious Weaver, Sonny Thompson)" | 3:19 |
| 4. | "That's What I'll Do" | 2:37 |
| 5. | "I'd Rather Be a Wino" | 4:49 |
| 6. | "Who's Been Talkin' (by Chester Burnett)" | 3:45 |
| 7. | "Sleeping in the Ground (by Sam Myers)" | 3:19 |
| 8. | "I'm Gonna Forget About You (by O.V. Wright)" | 3:10 |
| 9. | "Nice as a Fool Can Be" | 3:14 |
| 10. | "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'" | 4:26 |
