According To Jim

Album review

Let's be honest: the According to Jim soundtrack is just an excuse for Jim Belushi to record another solo album, and to put it out on a major label, at that. Belushi and his Chicago blues band -- essentially the same band, co-led by keyboardist Glen Clark, that backed him on his 2003 duet album with Dan Aykroyd, Have Love Will Travel -- perform all 14 songs in a manner that's virtually identical to both that 2003 album and his other album, 1998's 36-22-36. It's a clean, tight, professional Chicago blues and Stax soul revue, where even the originals (and there are more than you might think here; six, to be exact) sound like revivals of old R&B warhorses; they're just not as well-written or memorable. As much as at is a salute to Chicago blues and Southern soul, it's a tribute to Belushi's brother John's Blues Brothers and it's well-executed too: the band knows what they're doing. If the covers aren't as well-chosen as they were on Have Love Will Travel, that's likely just a concession to the larger audience the major label may bring -- gotta bring in the listeners with songs they know, after all. And anybody who enjoys the show and loves the Blues Brothers will likely find this entertaining -- while it by no means replaces the originals Belushi and the band so faithfully replicate, it delivers what it promises, no more, no less. Kind of like the sitcom itself, actually, only more enjoyable.

© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo