Talkin' Fishbowl Blues by Queen Esther

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Americana | Electric Blues

12 tracks | 45 minutes

Released Nov 2004
on EL Recordings

Click for a 30-second preview. All tracks are 192kbps high fidelity sound quality. Protected WMA $0.77 or unprotected MP3 $0.88.

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sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:43 Promise Me lyrics BUY MP3 03:43 Promise Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:43 Promise Me

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:19 Shine lyrics BUY MP3 03:19 Shine lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:19 Shine

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:34 Talkin' Fishbowl Blues lyrics BUY MP3 03:34 Talkin' Fishbowl Blues lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:34 Talkin' Fishbowl Blues

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:13 Taster's Choice lyrics BUY MP3 04:13 Taster's Choice lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:13 Taster's Choice

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:58 Love lyrics BUY MP3 03:58 Love lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:58 Love

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:27 So Real lyrics BUY MP3 04:27 So Real lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:27 So Real

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:27 New York City lyrics BUY MP3 03:27 New York City lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:27 New York City

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:12 Leave Me Alone lyrics BUY MP3 04:12 Leave Me Alone lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:12 Leave Me Alone

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:04 Get It Right This Time lyrics BUY MP3 04:04 Get It Right This Time lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:04 Get It Right This Time

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:01 The Way of the World lyrics BUY MP3 04:01 The Way of the World lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:01 The Way of the World

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:20 Help Me lyrics BUY MP3 03:20 Help Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:20 Help Me

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:01 Stand By Your Man lyrics BUY MP3 03:01 Stand By Your Man lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:01 Stand By Your Man

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If Keith fired Mick and decided to let Tina Turner front the band with Gram Parsons riding shotgun, they would sound a lot like Queen Esther.

Editorial review

Maybe you've heard Queen Esther singing the blues with James Blood Ulmer or Elliott Sharp. Maybe you saw her singing jazz in the theater production of {+Harlem Song}. Either way, her proper debut album Talkin' Fishbowl Blues will take you by surprise. This record ROCKS! In her bio, she described her sound as "If Keith fired Mick and decided to let Tina Turner front the band with Gram Parsons riding shotgun," and that's actually right on the mark. There's a decidedly Stonesy swagger to many of these tunes with just a touch of twang, and Queen Esther shows herself to be just as versatile a vocalist as Tina, covering not only the lead vocals but nearly all the background vocals as well. She's got a great voice (four octave range), and maybe it's her theater background, but all her vocals (even the backing vox) are filled with passion and brimming with personality. She even adopts something close to Mick's country honk for the title cut. Queen Esther writes about what she knows: mostly being a young woman transplanted to New York City and relationships, but she's a keen observer and turns some great phrases throughout. The band is rock & roll basics: guitars, bass and drums -- and more guitars, and they play with just the right mixture of being together but playing loose. Jack Sprat's production is crisp but not glossy, and there's a freshness to the performances that implies they didn't play these songs to death hoping for the "perfect" take. There are guitars all over the place, including some tasty lap steel on "Taster's Choice," nice wet sounding tremolo guitar on "Get It Right This Time" and patented Keith Richards' riffs on "Talkin' Fishbowl Blues." "New York City" is built on an irresistibly funky groove, with sassy backup vocals and twangy slide guitars all over the top while Queen Esther just belts it out. But just when you think you might have Queen Esther's "Black Americana" sound figured out, she offers up the a cappella, gospel-flavored "Help Me," where she sings at least four parts, harmonizing with herself. Then she turns around and gives a straight reading of "Stand By Your Man"(!), even supplying her own cornball country choir for the backing vocals to close out the album. You'll have to set your preconceptions aside for this one. Queen Esther is active in the theater and performance art worlds, sings the blues, sings jazz with the JC Hopkins Biggish Band, and now has offered up a great rock & roll album. Is there anything this woman can't do? ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide

Bio / Background

Queen Esther's unique sound -- Black Americana -- is a hybrid of the music that raised her: 70's country blues-rock, sanctified gospel and old timey twang.

Queen Esther stepped out of her Low Country childhood and took her classically trained four octave range from a performing arts high school in Atlanta, GA to Austin, TX quickly becoming a local/regional favorite as a vocalist and performer/entertainer on the alternative theater scene and as a member of RoTel and the Hot Tomatoes. After relocating to Harlem, her work as a vocalist, lyricist/writer, songwriter and actor/solo performer led to creative collaborations in neo-vaudeville, alternative theater, various alt-rock configurations, (neo) swing bands, trip hop DJs, spoken word performances, jazz combos, jam bands, various blues configurations, original Off Broadway plays and musicals, experimental music/art noise and performance art.