20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Robert Cray

1	Smoking Gun / Robert Cray Band 4:09
2	Right Next Door (Because of Me) / Robert Cray Band 4:21
3	Bouncin' Back / Robert Cray Band 4:09
4	Don't You Even Care / Robert Cray Band 3:59
5	Holdin' On / Robert Cray Band 6:34
6	These Things / Robert Cray Band 4:57
7	I Was Warned / Robert Cray Band 7:17
8	The One in the Middle / Robert Cray Band 5:19
9	Some Pain, Some Shame / Robert Cray Band 4:30
10	You're Gonna Need Me / Robert Cray Band 3:35

Barnes & Noble

The '80s were good rockin’ times for blues fans. Steve Ray Vaughan was selling out arena shows around the country, and Robert Cray came on the scene, straight out of the Pacific Northwest but sounding like he’d spent his childhood in Memphis or Muscle Shoals. While Vaughan’s career ended with a tragic helicopter accident in 1990, Cray’s soul rock and blues continue to flourish. For those who mainly know Cray through his radio hits of the late ‘80s, and for those hard-core completists, The Best of Robert Cray: The Millennium Collection is essential. The big ones, “Smokin’ Gun” and “Right Next Door (Because of Me),” start the CD on familiar ground. But then the album goes deeper, catching Cray covering Albert King’s “You’re Gonna Need Me,” playing stellar guitar on “I Was Warned,” and going for the innocent side of ‘50s R&B with “The One in the Middle.” Also interesting is the fact that all of the different bands that Cray led while he was with Mercury Records are represented here, illustrating that changes in lineup never seem to affect what has become the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s signature sound. Roberta Penn

All Music Guide

Although long departed from Mercury Records, Robert Cray served as a co-compiler on this discount-priced best-of, which reviews his career from 1986 to 1997 by way of ten tracks drawn from seven albums. Maybe it was his influence that led to the range of material, since a record company executive left to himself might have been tempted to focus more on the earlier part of that period. For four years, from the fall of 1986, when "Smoking Gun" emerged from Strong Persuader on its way to a Top 40 placing, to the fall of 1990, when the gold-selling Midnight Stroll was released, Cray managed to be both a wonderful soul singer, blues guitarist, songwriter, and hitmaker. Thereafter, his record sales fell off. The compilers argue in effect that there was no diminution of his talents, just his popularity, which may be fair enough. But the best-of/greatest-hits compilation is a relatively unforgiving form, and one can't help noting the absence of recordings such as "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," "Acting This Way," and "The Forecast (Calls for Pain)" that made the charts, earned significant radio play, and/or earned Grammy nominations or awards. Maybe the selected songs are the ten best recorded performances by Cray on Mercury, but if so that's primarily in the opinion of the compilers; other entities have thought otherwise. Nevertheless, the album does contain Cray's two signature songs, "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door (Because of Me)," and his work is consistent enough that any discussion of his best will find valid arguments on many sides. A neophyte on a limited budget who is curious about Cray can get a good idea of what his music sounds like by buying this collection. William Ruhlmann