I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most of It Left (Die Cut Limited Edition)

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-10-29 rating:
Pretty good, but a big step backwards!
Seasick Steve is a fantastic bluesman, I'm a huge fan, and I listen to Doghouse Music constantly, but I'm really sorry to say that this album just doesn't quite do it for me.

Doghouse Music is a superb album - simple, straightforward, totally un-produced and packed with real feeling and passion. Thats what Seasick Steve means to me - his views and experiences of a different world, (one I hope I'll never know) are powerful and honest, and he can really play that guitar too.

It was obvious that this album would be more commercial, more produced, because Steve is now a massive worldwide phenomenon (rightly so) and so there is alot more at stake. There are some great tracks on this record, and Steve does his best to shine through, but the band are wrong for him, the arrangements are wrong for him, and the mix is wrong for him too! If you listen really carefully, you can hear the fantastic rolling rhythms of doghouse music in the guitar riffs, but almost every song is drenched in bass and drums, and it is they who set the rhythm, NOT Steve! At times you have to strain to hear his guitar at all, due to the terrible mix, and even the vocals are too quiet on several numbers.

For me the problem is that this is just a blues record with Seasick Steve in the band. If you took him away, all you would have is a bunch of session players jamming the blues, and since he's drowning in the mix half the time, thats all you have got on some of the tracks. No band can ever accompany Steve as well as he can accompany himself, and with such a polished, managed sound it ends up sounding rather clinical. A waste of a unique talent!

On the other hand, Steve seems happy with it, so good luck to him...but it just isn't anything like what I was hoping for.

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review by: date: 2008-10-23 rating:
' Bonus Disc ' ...missing the point !
This 'Bonus' disc is meant to show Steve on his travels..i.e. bumming around, eating, catching a train, telling a story, getting a feel of his life on the road. You still get two full songs as the 'bonus', what more do you want?. "Warners could have done better"..have you thought that this is the way Steve wanted it?...as for live tracks, just wait as no doubt a live album will follow in good time. No pleasing some people. And let's not forget, the main album is superb. Well done Steve!.

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review by: www.come2whereimfrom.co.uk date: 2008-10-13 rating:
Steve's back with three strings on his guitar and KT Tunstall & Nick Cave for company.
Recently a reviewer in NME gave Seasick Steve's new album two stars out of ten, why such a low score? Well the reviewer claimed that because Steve is no longer a homeless blues hobo but a Norfolk cottage dweller he isn't entitled to write these songs anymore. This as well as being lazy journalism offended me slightly and should offend any songwriter working today because he is basically saying we cant write about our experiences, just because I am in a healthy relationship I cant write about heartbreak anymore, is that it? If everyone just wrote about the now the boring musical climate would consist of loads of bands that sounded like Belle & Sebastian meets the Kaiser Chiefs (feel free to shudder here) I think you'll agree no one wants that. So to `I started out with nothing..' the third album from Steve and the first produced properly and since his Jools Holland appearances that started his meteoric rise to fame. Opening with the title track we are in familiar territory except for his voice, what's happened to the wizened old growl, he sounds like a man half his age, he can actually sing and has dare I say a beautiful voice. You may, like me find this the most startling revelation here but also like me, I hope, you will warm to it. So from the fast blues stomp to the ballad `Walkin' Man' a song that contains not only the line `my name is Steve and I'm a walkin' man' but with maybe a nod to his now more settled lifestyle `my name is Steve and I'm your staying man'. From songs with little intros giving the listener an insight into what's behind the stories or explain a slang term he may use in the lyrics to the albums central piece which needs no introduction (but gets one anyway) `Thunderbird' is Steve's homage to drinking whether to forget, enjoy or just stay warm its builds and builds into a cascade of belting drums and feedback slide without losing any of its charm. `Fly by night' again changes pace but really only serves to make way for `Just like a king' the brilliant collaboration with Nick Cave and Grinderman, the two distinctive but eerily similar voices playing off each other over layers of Grinderman swirl. Also making an appearance on two tracks is KT Tunstall although the better of the two only comes on the special edition (which I advise you to get as it has a much better track list, even three extra songs on disc 1) and is an amazing cover of `The Letter' in which they both breath new life into the classic tune. Elsewhere in the special you get a bonus disc of songs and spoken word, Steve coming across like Hunter S. Thopmson best gonzo rambles. Polished but retaining what first drew us to this beardy old blues bod `I started out..' will not only please older fans but may even see Steve in the hit parade, for someone who used to jump trains and still plays a three string guitar he has come along way and as the title suggests he has no idea how long it will last but he will enjoy it while it does. Add six stars to the NME review and you are closer to what this album and this man deserves. For once you can believe the hype because its right.

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review by: date: 2008-10-08 rating:
Great main CD but poor bonus content
This is my first forray into blues but I must say I'm liking the cutaway sound of Seasick Steve. The problem I have with this album stems purely from the bonus disc, which is a complete waste - how Warner could warrant such an extortionate price is beyond me. The bonus disc consists of 3 completely pointless filler tracks containing mostly non-descript background noise with some spoken audio. There are only 2 songs on the CD which I don't think come close to matching those of the main CD. The packaging has a foldout section of a train travelling along a cityscape, which cleverly forms a picture when folded down or out. This is a novelty but again not worth the extra money - and where is the booklet???? There are also 3 extra tacks on the main CD not found on the standard version, of which I particularly like Levy Camp Blues. But again, not worth such a hike in price. Perhaps the minimalist packaging and bonus content fit with the style of music on offer here but I can't but help to feel short changed. If I'd known all this before purchasing I would have been persuaded to get the standard version of the album instead.... isn't hindsight such a bittersweet thing. Very good main CD though, just loving Walkin Man in particular. But I can't hide my discontent at the bonus content and extortionate rise in price.


review by: pete date: 2008-10-06 rating:
GREAT ALBUM,but the bonus disc is a waste almost !
Seasick Steve is a one off,a throw back to the great Mississippi hillblues.This album his third and the first on a big label,I expected a commercial overload,but no.Sure he's got Grinderman,Nick Cave and a track with K.T.Tunstall(which is an absolute treat),but its still SSS doing his thing and doing it his way,so this is an album of pure delight,from a very Eric Bibb type song in Walkin' Man to the cracking track with Grinderman(Just like a king) to some classic blues as well as his chat and stories for good measure.All in all another slice of musical magic from the man.The bonus disc has a couple of pretty good songs and a whole lot of filler,Train is recorded on a train but SSS voice is almost impossible to hear,the track recorded in a diner well is a waste of time,as is the one called Lunch.Surely Warner could have done better than this as a bonus disc ,some live material would have been great,but this is so disappointing for the extra cost,or was the extra for the pull out packaging,very nice but again not worth the effort.So in all a fabulous main album but a wasted bonus disc.

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