Soul stirring
Sari Schorr - Never Say Never
Sari Schorr - Never Say Never
It’s fitting that New York blues rock singer Sari Schorr’s album Never Say Never, the follow-up to widely acclaimed debut Force of Nature, opens with a song where a soul is at the heart of the lyrical matter.
'The King of Rock and Roll' is a tribute to legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who is said to have sold his soul to the devil for success.
Flash forward from the scene set on the powerful blue rock number (with suitably atmospheric opening and Sari Schorr on full vocal power and vibrato) to a soul not sold to ol’ Beelzebub, but one that is bared, lyrically and emotionally, across many of the songs that make up Never Say Never
(the life trials and relationship tribulations of Sari Schorr).
The lyrical themes of the album are shaped and woven around songs that are both impressive and weighty (the heavy, 70s rock vibe carried by the majority of the numbers also benefit from an analogue production and a live-in-the-studio recording approach).
Second number 'Thank You' is a feisty and fiery, sarcastically clothed thanks-for-nothin’ piece of blues rockin’ venom that, in tandem with 'King of Rock and Roll' introduces Sari Schorr’s new band in big, bold, firing on all five cylinders style.
Backing the powerhouse voice of Sari Schorr on Never Say Never are guitarist Ash Wilson (a true talent of the British blues rock scene who delivered an excellent debut of his own in 2017 with Broken Machine), Nimmo Brothers bassist Mat Beable, ex King King keyboardist Bob Fridzema and sought after session and touring drummer, Roy Martin.
'Valentina' (Sari Schorr’s alter ego), rocks like the proverbial (as does Schorr’s vocal) as it tells the tale of how obsession can lead to missing out on the important things in life while the slower, rock ‘n’ bluesy roll of band composition 'The New Revolution' is both a nod to Martin Luther King Jr. and a driven statement of how we need to be standing up and taking heed of his message, now more than ever.
Lighter blues shades appear in the shape of 'Turn the Radio On' and 'Back to LA.'
The former is a lovely AOR pop-blues with reflective what-if lyric (and a song Stevie Nicks will be raging she didn’t come up with first) while the latter is a melodic, country-rock blues of regret and moving on.
As strong as both songs are however they are eclipsed by the near seven minute blues ballad, 'Beautiful.'
The best song Sari Schorr has yet written (one of seven co-writes on the album with long-time writing partner, and producer of the album, Henning Gehrke), 'Beautiful' is a lyrically self-effacing number that features one of Sari Schorr’s strongest vocal performances to date, matched and complemented by Ash Wilson’s outstanding guitar work (Wilson nearly steals the whole Never Say Never show, so highly charged are his solos and so tasteful are his expressive, melodic remarks).
'Maybe I’m Fooling' is a big slab of blues grooving rock (Bob Fridzema giving it the full Hammond in the background), as is 'Freedom.'
The latter, written with Y Dream Studio’s composer-musician-producer Steve Wright, is a weighty musical plea with Sari Schorr in full vocal cry for gun laws to be given a full overhaul in Schorr’s US homeland.
Two covers complete the album’s eleven tracks.
The Mick Ralphs penned 'Ready For Love' became such a signature song for Bad Company and the soulful blues voice of the incomparable Paul Rodgers that there’s an argument for it being left well alone.
But by staying fairly close to the original (here featuring a delicate under-blanket of piano (and solo) from Bob Fridzema) and switching to the female perspective with a purposeful but never over-reaching vocal, it becomes the perfect song for Sari Schorr and Never Say Never.
The album closes with a cover of the late and great Ian McLagen’s soulful ballad, 'Never Say Never.'
Sari Schorr’s tasteful interpretation is offered as a song of comfort and healing to love lost.
That Never Say Never should be such a strong outing is all the more impressive given that Sari Schorr’s original band, The Engine Room, slowly but surely dispersed during early recording sessions for the album. There were also a couple of recording processes initiated before settling in at The Grange Studio in Norfolk where most of the album was recorded ('Beautiful,' 'Freedom' and 'Never Say Never' were recorded at Superfly Studios and feature Holland Bennett on Hammond and drummer Neal Wilkinson).
But by rising to the challenge of those very events while navigating through what seem to be constant, on the road travels across the UK and Europe, Never Say Never has shaped itself in to an outstanding contender for blues rock album of the year.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
'The King of Rock and Roll' is a tribute to legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who is said to have sold his soul to the devil for success.
Flash forward from the scene set on the powerful blue rock number (with suitably atmospheric opening and Sari Schorr on full vocal power and vibrato) to a soul not sold to ol’ Beelzebub, but one that is bared, lyrically and emotionally, across many of the songs that make up Never Say Never
(the life trials and relationship tribulations of Sari Schorr).
The lyrical themes of the album are shaped and woven around songs that are both impressive and weighty (the heavy, 70s rock vibe carried by the majority of the numbers also benefit from an analogue production and a live-in-the-studio recording approach).
Second number 'Thank You' is a feisty and fiery, sarcastically clothed thanks-for-nothin’ piece of blues rockin’ venom that, in tandem with 'King of Rock and Roll' introduces Sari Schorr’s new band in big, bold, firing on all five cylinders style.
Backing the powerhouse voice of Sari Schorr on Never Say Never are guitarist Ash Wilson (a true talent of the British blues rock scene who delivered an excellent debut of his own in 2017 with Broken Machine), Nimmo Brothers bassist Mat Beable, ex King King keyboardist Bob Fridzema and sought after session and touring drummer, Roy Martin.
'Valentina' (Sari Schorr’s alter ego), rocks like the proverbial (as does Schorr’s vocal) as it tells the tale of how obsession can lead to missing out on the important things in life while the slower, rock ‘n’ bluesy roll of band composition 'The New Revolution' is both a nod to Martin Luther King Jr. and a driven statement of how we need to be standing up and taking heed of his message, now more than ever.
Lighter blues shades appear in the shape of 'Turn the Radio On' and 'Back to LA.'
The former is a lovely AOR pop-blues with reflective what-if lyric (and a song Stevie Nicks will be raging she didn’t come up with first) while the latter is a melodic, country-rock blues of regret and moving on.
As strong as both songs are however they are eclipsed by the near seven minute blues ballad, 'Beautiful.'
The best song Sari Schorr has yet written (one of seven co-writes on the album with long-time writing partner, and producer of the album, Henning Gehrke), 'Beautiful' is a lyrically self-effacing number that features one of Sari Schorr’s strongest vocal performances to date, matched and complemented by Ash Wilson’s outstanding guitar work (Wilson nearly steals the whole Never Say Never show, so highly charged are his solos and so tasteful are his expressive, melodic remarks).
'Maybe I’m Fooling' is a big slab of blues grooving rock (Bob Fridzema giving it the full Hammond in the background), as is 'Freedom.'
The latter, written with Y Dream Studio’s composer-musician-producer Steve Wright, is a weighty musical plea with Sari Schorr in full vocal cry for gun laws to be given a full overhaul in Schorr’s US homeland.
Two covers complete the album’s eleven tracks.
The Mick Ralphs penned 'Ready For Love' became such a signature song for Bad Company and the soulful blues voice of the incomparable Paul Rodgers that there’s an argument for it being left well alone.
But by staying fairly close to the original (here featuring a delicate under-blanket of piano (and solo) from Bob Fridzema) and switching to the female perspective with a purposeful but never over-reaching vocal, it becomes the perfect song for Sari Schorr and Never Say Never.
The album closes with a cover of the late and great Ian McLagen’s soulful ballad, 'Never Say Never.'
Sari Schorr’s tasteful interpretation is offered as a song of comfort and healing to love lost.
That Never Say Never should be such a strong outing is all the more impressive given that Sari Schorr’s original band, The Engine Room, slowly but surely dispersed during early recording sessions for the album. There were also a couple of recording processes initiated before settling in at The Grange Studio in Norfolk where most of the album was recorded ('Beautiful,' 'Freedom' and 'Never Say Never' were recorded at Superfly Studios and feature Holland Bennett on Hammond and drummer Neal Wilkinson).
But by rising to the challenge of those very events while navigating through what seem to be constant, on the road travels across the UK and Europe, Never Say Never has shaped itself in to an outstanding contender for blues rock album of the year.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ