If you have bought a blues album in the past few years, you have probably noticed a change in the sound. The raw, original sound we know from days past has somehow been molded into a new, fresh flavor that is more appealing to the mass audience--a transformation not unlike country music (i.e. Shania Twain and Garth Brooks.) Now you can add Buddy Guy's name to that list.

With Heavy Love Guy has taken the old 12 bar blues format and beefed it up two notches. Instead of him playing his guitar to accompany his voice, it's now a heavy bass-percussion-keyboard combo. Most of the time this pow-pow trio sounds great but it overpowers Buddy's famous guitar work too often for my taste. He can still play with the best of them; however, you only notice that during his solos (which is about the only time you can actually hear him). All is not lost though, Steve the Colonel Cropper and Jonny Lang put in an appearance and help out by putting a charge into a few songs.

Buddy Guy appeared earlier this year in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as part of a blues band. His work in that movie, as well as the song he helped perform, are a lot better than anything on this album. But, don't let this review discourage you. This is a pretty good album to pick up, even if you are a blues traditionalist.