SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES - Seeing Is Believing (CD)

With the power of a gale force wind, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones new album Seeing is Believing blows out of our speakers, blowing with a groove so transcendent that it propels us higher and higher out of ourselves. The band-Monster Mike Welch on guitars, Anthony Geraci on pianos and Hammond organ, Michael Mudcat Ward on bass, and Neil Gouvin on drums, Norcia on vocals and harmonica-never wastes any notes, from the opening Mississippi blues of "Sweet Baby," that features Norcia's down-and-dirty harmonica and his signature blues growl, and the wink-and-a-nod jazz blues of "Misses Blues" to the smoky lounge tune "Not Me" and the downright moving guitar instrumental tribute to B.B. King "You Know I Love You." Sugar Ray and the Bluetones wring every emotion out of us even as they show us just how blues ought to be played; we don't have to see the band to believe them, though; one listen to this new album is plenty enough to convince us that Sugar Ray and the Bluetones deliver the best blues and jazz on the planet.