Review
Robert Cray is usually classified as a bluesman, but despite his tough, astringent guitar playing, the tag has never fit well — his 1986 breakthrough, Strong Persuader, was as much Memphis soul stew as Chicago house party. Moody, Stax-style R&B remains his greatest strength, but Time Will Tell strays uncomfortably far into adult-contemporary territory, perhaps in search of Bonnie Raitt/Eric Clapton–style riches. The openers meander all over in search of a hook, and neither the muddled antiwar sentiment of “Survivor” nor the gratuitous sitar playing on “Up in the Sky” save them. Cray eventually gets back in the groove (“Your Pal,” “What You Need”), but his lyrics are uniformly lame, as though 20-plus years as the savior of the blues has worn him down.
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