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Back and better than ever

Broadcasting
Broadcasting
By Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women

Alligator Records: 1992

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This review first appeared in the February 8, 1993 issue of the North County Blade-Citizen (now North County Times).

Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women, that popular sass-and-brass feminist blues outfit, is back – this time as a duo. After two well-received albums on Alligator Records, the trio went on hiatus for awhile when guitarist/singer Gaye Adebgalola became seriously ill. She's healthy now, and performing with pianist Ann Rabson. (Bassist Earlene Lewis didn't rejoin the band.)

Their new album, "Broadcasting," is their best yet, continuing their tongue-in-cheek look at life after 40 and the perpetual tribulations of being a woman. Mixing standards, covers and originals, Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women lay down some hot blues and R&B while getting in a few digs on men.

But the men can relax: This is no firebrand, man-hating feminism here. It's just the never-ending war of the sexes from the women's point of view. In fact, highlights of the album include rousing, feminized covers of Hank Williams' "Mind Your Own Business" and Louis Jordan's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?"