Who's Been Talkin' is the first album by the Robert Cray Band, released in 1980.[2][3] It received little initial notice due to Tomato Records' bankruptcy.[3] It has been rereleased a couple of times, including under the title Too Many Cooks.[2]
Production
Produced by Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, the album was recorded in two sessions.[4][5][6] Cray wrote four of its songs.[7] "Too Many Cooks" is a cover of the Willie Dixon song.[8]
Robert Christgau wrote: "Cray can recite his catechism without kowtowing to orthodoxy--guitar like Albert Collins only chillier and more staccato, voice like B.B. King only cleaner and, well, thinner."[10]The New York Times, in a review praising the artistic growth of Cray's Strong Persuader, from 1986, thought that his first three albums "variously recalled the Stax/Volt and Atlantic soul sounds, big-city funk, and bar band rock-and-roll."[15]
The Globe and Mail commended "the winning confidence, the cool reserve, the sense of pure style and the respectful curiosity about the blues tradition."[16] The Toronto Star thought that "even as a young and impressionable guitarist, Cray had amazing strength and versatility, and no appreciation of his work would be complete without this excellent album."[17]
^ abHarrington, Richard (26 Aug 1988). "Robert Cray & the Rebirth Of the Blues". The Washington Post. p. B1.
^Fong-Torres, Ben (January 12, 1986). "He Breathes Hot, New Life Into the Blues - Robert Cray's future may be now". Sunday Datebook. San Francisco Chronicle. p. 37.
^Gwinn, Mary Ann (October 23, 1988). "Bluesman of His Own Persuasion". Pacific. The Seattle Times. p. 6.
