It's fitting that the name of the label that put out the 2006 double-disc live set by the Michael Landau, Live, is called Tone Center. Because tone is an enormous part of Landau's guitar playing throughout the release. Recorded over a two-year period in North Hollywood, the album's 12 tracks ooze with blooze -- especially evident by the crawling album opener, "Worried Life Blues" (which sees Landau alternate between spacious blues phrasing and wailing away at his instrument). The usual suspects serve as a main influence throughout -- Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, etc. -- but Landau is as skilled a player as any of the blues-rock revivalists of the early 21st century. ~ Greg Prato|

Rovi