''I Was Warned'' is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

album by

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

. It was released in April 1992 through

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. Like Cray’s previous album, it features his regular backing band playing alongside

the Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns was an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. An "offshoot of the Mar-Keys", they continued to work to ...

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Daniel Gioffre wrote of the album:

..the tracks are devoid of any kind of dirt whatsoever, which prevents them from really kicking the listener the way that they should. Granted, Cray isn't
R. L. Burnside R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American Hill country blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played music for most of his life but received little recognition until 1995 when Burnside recorded and toured with ...
or even
Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...
, but a little more grit to the band performances, arrangements, tones, and recording would go a long way toward aiding the emotional kick of his admittedly great set of pipes. Cray is also not aided by the writing, which is hit or miss throughout. ..His playing is powerful and idiosyncratic, but his intensity and focus are unfortunately not matched by other aspects of this recording. ''I Was Warned'' is not a bad Cray album by any means; it just lacks the sort of fire that would make it really take off.

Track listing

# "Just a Loser" (Tim Kaihatsu) – 4:23 # "I'm a Good Man" (Cray, Dennis Walker) – 4:12 # "I Was Warned" (Cray, Dennis Walker) – 7:15 # "The Price I Pay" (Cray, Dennis Walker) – 5:06 # "Won the Battle" (Jim Pugh, Dennis Walker) – 3:53 # "On the Road Down" (Cray,

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He was the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as ...

) – 4:02 # "A Whole Lotta Pride" (Cray, Dennis Walker) – 4:34 # "A Picture of a Broken Heart" (

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 196 ...

, Dennis Walker) – 5:22 # "He Don't Live Here Anymore" (Jim Pugh, Dennis Walker) – 5:13 # "Our Last Time" (John Hanes, Jim Pugh) – 5:10

Personnel

*Robert Cray - vocals, guitar *Jim Pugh - keyboards *Karl Sevareid - bass *Kevin Hayes - drums *Tim Kaihatsu - rhythm guitar ;Memphis Horns * Andrew Love - tenor saxophone * Wayne Jackson - trumpet, trombone

References

External links

Review
by

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

for ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' Robert Cray albums 1992 albums Mercury Records albums {{Blues-album-stub