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Sings The Blues Review

I saw Pigeon John at a show with the Living Legends the other night and he was really hype. I missed his set, but he came on and did a song with the Legends and woke the crowd up! So I decided to check out his recent cd here. Well, I sure didn't expect so much singing, but I guess it serves the title correct. Pigeon John's singing isn't perfect, isn't bad, it's simply unique. Oh yeah, the first track is called "Upside Down," not what is listed on Amazon.
Even with all the singing and limited amount of rapping, it didn't take much for me to find some good things in this album. Pigeon John is a unique artist who plays by his own rules. He raps a little, sings quite often, but can interchange the two effortlessly. I guess you can compare him to Canadian Hiphoppa K-Os, only John sings a little bit more. Two songs that immediately stand out are the collaborations: "Sleeping Giants" w/ Eligh and The Grouch(both from the Living Legends) and "Life Goes On remix" w/ Abstract Rude(of Abstract Tribe Unique and Haiku D'Etat). Those artists make some great contributions to a pair of memorable songs on this album. Other great songs are the second track (which is titled "Nothing Without You," not "Hello Everybody), "Matter 101"(which has a funny, out-of-left-field line that had me crackin' up for minutes), and the closer "Draw Me"(an introspective spiritual ode). I need to listen to all the other tracks to get a better feel for them, but I can only think of one or two that were uninteresting. "Perfect Formality," "You Can't Have It," and "The Grand Ol' Waltz" were all pretty decent as I remember.
Needless to say, there's not much else out there like this album. John may be playing by his own rules, but this album still feels very much Hiphop. I could definitely see this album blowing up and everybody singing his songs, but Pigeon John makes no concessions and I doubt he really cares if this album is promoted or not. As he says, "I don't mind being myself, even if it prevents me from possible material wealth." Gotta respect that! If you happened to stumble upon this page and...1: are looking to expand your Hiphop tastes and collection; 2: think that all Hiphop sucks but are willing to give something a chance; 3: just like experimental artists, period...then "Pigeon John Sings the Blues" is definitely recommended. Plus, the profanity is virtually nonexistent, but that doesn't mean this is a friggin' pop album! It's really something that a refined Hiphop listener, or even the whole family, should be able to enjoy and take something away from.

Review by: Duke Of Earl, Amazon.com