First Class Blues Band Proudly Presents: Mr. Biner

Size: 324 mb
Time: 48:22
File: Flac
Released: 1994
Styles: Blues-Electric
Art: front

1. You're A Tease, Baby (4:06)
2. Pack My Suitcase (5:05)
3. Don't Let Me See You Cry (3:22)
4. (I'm Your) Teddy Bear (3:35)
5. Groove Me (3:00)
6. Seven Years (4:29)
7. I Know She Didn't Want Me (3:06)
8. Ooh Wee (3:22)
9. Frankie's Shuffle (3:35)
10. I'm Blue (3:34)
11. Personal Manager (4:00)
12. You Don't Know Me That Well (2:45)
13. (Gonna Have A) Funky Good Time (4:18)

The 1980's found Frank pursuing a solo career as a soul singer. Besides numerous club gigs, one of his singles even found its way into Billboard's "Top Singles Picks" - in the category "Black Music"! But Frank Biner's love for the blues never faltered, and within the last couple of years he has again been able to earn a living by playing his favorite music. And Frank's blues are not soft or souly, as one might expect from his past career. No, he sings'em dynamic, down and dirty. He shouts his mostly self-written lyrics out with the fervor of a TV preacher, and when the lights turn low, his voice still has the raspiness of years of tears …

The First Class Blues Band Proudly Presents: Mr. Biner FLAC

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First Class Blues Band - First Class Blues

Size: 150,8 MB
Time: 64:25
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1993
Styles: Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. First Class Shuffle (3:16)
02. Little Bluebird (6:05)
03. Crazy 'bout You (3:03)
04. Saturday Morning Jump (2:48)
05. Early In The Morning (3:35)
06. Vicksburg Blues (5:03)
07. Vintage Shuffle (1:56)
08. Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You (4:34)
09. Honey Boy (2:29)
10. Standing On Shakey Ground (3:58)
11. M.C. Blues (5:35)
12. Confessin' The Blues (4:08)
13. Spend It While You Can (3:26)
14. Kevin's Groove (4:28)
15. Evening News (3:53)
16. Georgia (6:01)

Personnel:
Christian Rannenberg: piano, vocals
Thomas Feldmann: sax, harmonica
Jan Hirte: guitar, back-up vocals
Kevon DuVernay-Shipman: bass, vocals
Tommie Harris: drums
Karen Carroll: vocals
Big Jay McNeely: sax

The First Class Bluesband starring Big Jay McNeely and Karen Carroll presents First Class Blues, an extraordinary blues album. The founder of the group is Christian Rannenberg, who is probably the blackest among the white blues pianists, who lived for years in the USA with blacks in their environment and learned the blues there. For a long time he has been playing with all single members of the First Class Bluesband in different instrumentations. His collaboration with Big Jay McNeely brought the preliminary high point with the album "Blues At Daybreak" (quarterly list in the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik). For First Class Bluesband musicians have teamed up, which you just listen, because? they have known each other for a long time. And the heavyweight Blueslady Karen Carroll sets with her powerful voice additional accents.

Anyone who calls themselves "First Class Blues Band" raises the bar. For the five thoroughbred musicians, this is not a problem: each one a fixed size of the German blues scene, they have shown with the first album in 1991, what's up. The critics were impressed, followed by the "Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik", as well as tours with Buddy Ace, Johnny Heartsman, Johnny Copeland, Big Jay McNeely, Angela Brown, Karen Carroll and others. For a blues band, the truth is on the stage, and so shows especially in the legendary Franz Club in Berlin live recorded CD the quality and joy of the band.

Not easy to get these five together, because everyone is now with their own projects and different bands on the road: Christian Rannenberg is a Blues & Boogie pianist worth every trip, Jan Hirte now has his own band "Blue Ribbon", Thomas Feldmann is a guest of bands like BB & The Blues Shacks u.a. on the sax and the harp and the rhythm section with Kevin DuVernay and Tommie Harris is a well-booked duo - it impresses with solid grooves and vocal accents. As the jury of the record price put it: Pradicatore "Especially valuable".

This year, the band celebrates its 20th anniversary and has decided to revive the old times. In February, the band played in front of an enthusiastic audience in Schwalbach, a new CD is planned and further festivals follow. Have fun with the First Class Blues Band! ~Online translation from Germany

First Class Blues MP3
First Class Blues FLAC

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First Class Blues Band - Brand New!

Size: 114,5 MB
Time: 48:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Art: Front

01. Gasoline Walk (3:41)
02. I Kicked The Habit (4:34)
03. Help Yourself (3:54)
04. Lady Luck (3:01)
05. Zydeco Boogaloo (3:27)
06. I Need You (4:24)
07. Slidin' The Boogie (4:22)
08. Me And The Blues (5:13)
09. You're Gonna Get The Blues (3:15)
10. Breakin' Up Somebody's Blues (4:07)
11. Lipstick Traces (4:18)
12. Tuff (4:28)

Personnel:
Christian Rannenberg: piano, hammond organ on 2, 10; voc. on 8, 11
Jan Hirte: guitar, voc. on 10
Thomas Feldman: tenor sax, baritone sax, harmonica, voc. on 3
Kevin DuVernay: bass, voc. on 4
Tommie Harris: drums, voc. on 2, 6, 9

In the 1990’s, the First Class Blues Band was already one of the top blues bands based in Germany, with two critically acclaimed CDs on Acoustic Music Records. But by the new millennium things got quieter for the band made up of US expats and German musicians, due to numerous other musical projects of its members. Although they still played together occasionally, it wasn’t until recently that new management and simply the fun and the quality of their concerts led to increased activities of the First Class Blues Band, which now culminate in their new studio CD at hand.

The five first-class musicians have recorded a well-rounded mixture of mostly lesser known covers as well as five original blues and R&B songs. Included are, for example, Tommie Harris’ masterful interpretation of the slow blues “I Kicked The Habit”, plus a catchy R&B-number of his own that sounds like it was recorded in 1962 in Detroit at Motown Records. Kevin DuVernay sings “Lady Luck” by Lloyd Price, in whose band Kevin’s grandfather played bass way back when. The New Orleans sound of “Lipstick Traces” and the swamp groove of “Zydeco Boogaloo” are also new facets of an already very versatile band.

Christian Rannenberg’s exquisite piano playing, the dynamic yet sensitive guitar mastery of Jan Hirte, Thomas Feldmann’s honking saxophone, the unfailing beat of the rhythm section Harris/DuVernay (who have been working together for over 30 years now), plus the convincing vocals by all band members – with its outstanding, exhilarating Blues and R&B, the First Class Blues Band still more than lives up to its name.

Brand New!

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