Friday, April 28, 2006

Billy Squier – Happy Blue


Rock

Billy Squier – Happy Blue


In 1998 Billy Squier released Happy Blue, a collection of eleven solo acoustic songs. While acoustic albums are not new, they rarely display a change in artistic direction as drastic as the one here. Happy Blue is heavily influenced by Billy Squier’s affection for the Blues. His presentation of the songs included on Happy Blue seems to have been done as a tribute to the art form as opposed to an attempt to co-opt the Blues into his own musical style. The only exception to that appears to be a slightly misguided attempt at an acoustic blues rendition of his 80’s hit The Stoke aptly titled, Stroke Me Blues.

Overall, the album itself is a very laidback affair with a lot of heart and, in my opinion, a respectable way to pass the time. Happy Blue also includes a cover of the Joni Mitchell classic, River and is capped off by a very interesting recording of his song Two. Give it a listen.

1 comment:

Jessica said...

I'll have to check it out! Sounds cool.