Black Snake Moan -- Music review

When I was cleaning my desk the other day, I found a gift certificate to Music Millenium that was two years old. They were kind enough to let me redeem it even though it was technically expired. I had seen some trailers for Black Snake Moan, and I just couldn't get the visuals of Christina Ricci out of my head. Maybe a little hair of the dog would work, so I went and got the CD.

When I first got the soundtrack, I listened once or twice, found it entertaining that Samuel L. Jackson was actually singing on it, and put it aside. I was going to mail it to my father who would would definitely freak out over the thing. But it stayed in my car CD player and I kept listening to it, and kept listening to it, and now it's grown on me.

I started first to dig the new bands that I hadn't yet known, such as The Black Keys. Their soulful little ditty, with it's fuzzy guitar and heavy-handed drumming really rocks. Outrageous Cherry has a spot-on retro sound straight out of the late 60's/early 70's. I had to double check them to make sure it wasn't some band from back when.

I appreciated also that they had a nice mix of lesser known bluespeople -- I say people because the ladies are well represented here. It surprised me to see John Doe, formerly of the most excellent punk band X, doing a great jangley track on the album that sounded so much like The Doors it gave me flashbacks (to high-school -- don't read too much into that, weenies).

Overall, it's a solid CD with some good variety within it's genre of deep-south blues. If you are either a blues fan, or a Samuel L. Jackson fan, it's probably worth your time.