2019 Album Reviews
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The Allman Betts Band – Down to the River
Given the parentage, friendship and recent musical previous of Devon Allman (son of the late and great Greg Allman) and Duane Betts (son of original Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts) a collaborative project between the two guitarists and vocalists (forged when they played together on the 2018 Devon Allman Project World Tour; part of the show honoured The Allman Brothers music) could be seen as intertwined, inevitable fate as much as a get-together of like southern minds.
But that also leads to the obvious concern of setting themselves up for a shoes too big to fill, "sons of the Allman Brothers" fall (the band also includes Berry Duane Oakley, son of original Allman Brothers bassist, the late Berry Oakley).
However southern pride, and having that Allman Brothers musicality (and obvious kinship) ingrained in their DNA, has produced an album that puts paid to any such doubts and should have any naysayers having to rethink their thoughts or comments.
Right from opener 'All Night,' a mid-tempo rhythm 'n' southern bluesy offering that features subtle use of Hammond organ and song-ending piano to fill out the sound (Gregg Allman's Hammond B3 player Peter Levin and former Allman Brothers/ current Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell guest on the album) Down to the River makes a statement, and it’s statement of intent that declares this is very much a band in their own right while paying, and playing, past-times homage.
Reinforcing that latter remark is 'Shining,' a song that will have you looking to see if the band have uncovered a previously unknown Allman Brothers number; the little guitar licks (and some seriously tasty slide guitar interjections) are as much in homage as for accentuation (The Allman Betts Band also features guitarist/ slide player Johnny Stachela; the band is completed by drummer John Lum and percussionist R Scott Bryan).
And it’s not just the song quality, from short and airy do-your-best number 'Try' to the near nine minute 'Autumn Breeze' (a song that tricks you into thinking it’s heading for 'Jessica' territory before settling in to an outstanding, southern slow burn celebration of expressive guitar play) – there’s also a warm, old-school sound to the album, which works to its benefit.
Produced by Grammy Award winner Matt Ross-Spang, the album, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, was laid down using vintage gear and tracked to two inch analogue tape.
The results are a sound that enhances the southern soulfulness of songs such as the title track and adds to the reflective warmth and lyrical mood of semi-acoustic ballad 'Good Ol’ Days' and the weightier 'Melodies are Memories.'
If there’s any criticism it’s that even the most emotive of minor-key lines can become melancholic if overplayed.
Penultimate song, the six-and-a-half minute southern slow blues 'Long Gone' sits perilously close to that crossover point while closing number, 'Southern Accents' (a stripped back, piano based number that reinforces who Messrs Allman and Betts are and where they hail from) delivers a musically low key finish to what is still a highly enjoyable trip Down to the River.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But that also leads to the obvious concern of setting themselves up for a shoes too big to fill, "sons of the Allman Brothers" fall (the band also includes Berry Duane Oakley, son of original Allman Brothers bassist, the late Berry Oakley).
However southern pride, and having that Allman Brothers musicality (and obvious kinship) ingrained in their DNA, has produced an album that puts paid to any such doubts and should have any naysayers having to rethink their thoughts or comments.
Right from opener 'All Night,' a mid-tempo rhythm 'n' southern bluesy offering that features subtle use of Hammond organ and song-ending piano to fill out the sound (Gregg Allman's Hammond B3 player Peter Levin and former Allman Brothers/ current Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell guest on the album) Down to the River makes a statement, and it’s statement of intent that declares this is very much a band in their own right while paying, and playing, past-times homage.
Reinforcing that latter remark is 'Shining,' a song that will have you looking to see if the band have uncovered a previously unknown Allman Brothers number; the little guitar licks (and some seriously tasty slide guitar interjections) are as much in homage as for accentuation (The Allman Betts Band also features guitarist/ slide player Johnny Stachela; the band is completed by drummer John Lum and percussionist R Scott Bryan).
And it’s not just the song quality, from short and airy do-your-best number 'Try' to the near nine minute 'Autumn Breeze' (a song that tricks you into thinking it’s heading for 'Jessica' territory before settling in to an outstanding, southern slow burn celebration of expressive guitar play) – there’s also a warm, old-school sound to the album, which works to its benefit.
Produced by Grammy Award winner Matt Ross-Spang, the album, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, was laid down using vintage gear and tracked to two inch analogue tape.
The results are a sound that enhances the southern soulfulness of songs such as the title track and adds to the reflective warmth and lyrical mood of semi-acoustic ballad 'Good Ol’ Days' and the weightier 'Melodies are Memories.'
If there’s any criticism it’s that even the most emotive of minor-key lines can become melancholic if overplayed.
Penultimate song, the six-and-a-half minute southern slow blues 'Long Gone' sits perilously close to that crossover point while closing number, 'Southern Accents' (a stripped back, piano based number that reinforces who Messrs Allman and Betts are and where they hail from) delivers a musically low key finish to what is still a highly enjoyable trip Down to the River.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Gwyn Ashton – Sonic Blues Preachers
On the face of it Sonic Blues Preachers could be seen as a sequel to Gwyn Ashton’s Two-Man Blues Army, albeit three albums and ten years later.
But while the Welsh born, Aussie blues bred, British based musician has taken the same guitar and drums route (Two-Man Blues Army featured conscripts Ashton and Dave Small; the Sonic Blues Preachers are Ashton and John Freeman, whose own Oz-rock roots take him back to the pre AC/DC Bon Scott fronted Fraternity) this latest offering eschews the broader song styles of the former to deliver a more cohesive and concise (eight of the nine tracks are under four minutes long) set of blues rock songs.
Mixing contemporary grit with dirty blues and huge dollops of Mississippi slide, these sonic blues preach their guitar and drums gospel through the likes of blues rock rollin and drum tumblin’ opener, 'She’s What I Like,' a song that’s as raw as following number 'Candy Store' is groovin’ and funkadelic (Gwyn Ashton hitting some of his lowest vocal notes for added earthiness).
There’s also a little funk attached to 'Fool In Your Life,' a mid-tempo sleazer with a ridiculously simple but effective chorus and more sharp dressed slide work (Gwyn Ashton is a musician who knows what he’s doing with a blues guitar in his hand and a slide on his finger).
The semi-acoustic brace 'Soul For Sale' and 'The Old Fool' bring a change of sonic pace.
The former features a vocal drawl and drawn out song title that suggests the Old West and Old Nick in equal measure while the latter carries a little more rhythmic swagger.
'Take Yourself Away,' the longest song on the album at just over five minutes, has such a thick, syrupy sound (and some harmony vocal embellishment) that you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s a full band in that there studio, or at least a power-trio going about its groovy, mid-tempo blues rock business.
'If I Don't Feel It' is rhythmic groove, picking riff and delta slide in equal measure; the similarly framed 'She's Lost Her Power' drops the delta and raises the funk.
The acoustic slide blues and rhythmic, train track brush strokes of 'The Waiting Game' then bring the album to its nine song conclusion.
As Sonic Blues Preachers grittily showcases, Gwyn Ashton isn’t one for taking the oft-trod and much safer 12-bar, shuffle and slow blues route.
This is a truly independent blues artist with a singular blues sound.
More power to his sonically blues preachin’ elbow.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But while the Welsh born, Aussie blues bred, British based musician has taken the same guitar and drums route (Two-Man Blues Army featured conscripts Ashton and Dave Small; the Sonic Blues Preachers are Ashton and John Freeman, whose own Oz-rock roots take him back to the pre AC/DC Bon Scott fronted Fraternity) this latest offering eschews the broader song styles of the former to deliver a more cohesive and concise (eight of the nine tracks are under four minutes long) set of blues rock songs.
Mixing contemporary grit with dirty blues and huge dollops of Mississippi slide, these sonic blues preach their guitar and drums gospel through the likes of blues rock rollin and drum tumblin’ opener, 'She’s What I Like,' a song that’s as raw as following number 'Candy Store' is groovin’ and funkadelic (Gwyn Ashton hitting some of his lowest vocal notes for added earthiness).
There’s also a little funk attached to 'Fool In Your Life,' a mid-tempo sleazer with a ridiculously simple but effective chorus and more sharp dressed slide work (Gwyn Ashton is a musician who knows what he’s doing with a blues guitar in his hand and a slide on his finger).
The semi-acoustic brace 'Soul For Sale' and 'The Old Fool' bring a change of sonic pace.
The former features a vocal drawl and drawn out song title that suggests the Old West and Old Nick in equal measure while the latter carries a little more rhythmic swagger.
'Take Yourself Away,' the longest song on the album at just over five minutes, has such a thick, syrupy sound (and some harmony vocal embellishment) that you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s a full band in that there studio, or at least a power-trio going about its groovy, mid-tempo blues rock business.
'If I Don't Feel It' is rhythmic groove, picking riff and delta slide in equal measure; the similarly framed 'She's Lost Her Power' drops the delta and raises the funk.
The acoustic slide blues and rhythmic, train track brush strokes of 'The Waiting Game' then bring the album to its nine song conclusion.
As Sonic Blues Preachers grittily showcases, Gwyn Ashton isn’t one for taking the oft-trod and much safer 12-bar, shuffle and slow blues route.
This is a truly independent blues artist with a singular blues sound.
More power to his sonically blues preachin’ elbow.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Elles Bailey - Road I Call Home
The fairly understated intro to 'Hell or High Water,' Elles Bailey adding just enough vocal drawl to her naturally husky tones to match the southern styled musicality of the number, sets up what develops over the ensuing three minutes – a big, bold, southern and gospel tinged, guitar sliding slice of Elles Bailey blues.
It’s also the perfect introduction to what is another quality release from the Bristol based singer-songwriter.
Debut album Wildfire was an acclaimed offering that caught the attention of roots, blues and rock fans but Road I Call Home (a collection of songs written and honed over a year of touring – hence the title) is a step above in terms of songwriting (with co-write contributions from the likes of Memphis and Nashville songwriter Bobby Wood and Ivor Novello award winner Roger Cook), musical maturity and personal lyricism (dealing with "loss, love, anger, determination and life on the road," to quote Miss Bailey).
Road I Call Home has a big Nashville sound (like Wildfire, most of the album was recorded in Nashville) but carries influences of soul and horn swingin' blues ('Help Somebody'), country (the reflective-regretful 'Foolish Hearts,' the Memphis stamped 'Miss Me When I’m Gone') and gritty, way out west musicality as heard on 'Wild Wild West' and 'Medicine Man.'
The latter, in its role as lead-off single, garnered #1 status on the iTunes Blues Charts and support from BBC Radio 2’s Cerys Matthews Blues Show.
Not that Elles Bailey is any sort of one trick pony tied to the post outside the western country and blues bar.
Soul-blues number 'Deeper' has a relatively simple but highly effective arrangement bolstered by horns, tasty organ work and that Elles Bailey vocal; similarly the slow blues 'What’s the Matter With You,' which succeeds through its understated arrangement and less is more strength (both songs prove you don’t have to vocally howl or six-string cry the blues to make an impact; or at least Elles Bailey certainly doesn’t).
Elsewhere the big-beat title track rocks the rolling road Elles Bailey calls home while The Byrds meets country-blues pop jangle and charm of 'Little Piece of Heaven' (co-written with Bobby Wood and Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach) puts itself forward as contender for song of the week placement on any mainstream radio station or programme you care to mention.
'Light in the Distance' is a beautiful piano & vocal album closing remark that reinforces Elles Bailey, much like Jo Harman, is a singer who need very little accompaniment to make a statement vocally, emotively or lyrically. It also showcases why Elles Bailey was once again nominated in the Female Vocalist category of the European Blues Awards.
Road I Call Home is a lifestyle statement from Elles Bailey as much as it is an album title.
Road I Call Home, from FabricationsHQ’s point of (re)view, is an exceptional roots-based release from one of the up and coming talents in British blues.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
It’s also the perfect introduction to what is another quality release from the Bristol based singer-songwriter.
Debut album Wildfire was an acclaimed offering that caught the attention of roots, blues and rock fans but Road I Call Home (a collection of songs written and honed over a year of touring – hence the title) is a step above in terms of songwriting (with co-write contributions from the likes of Memphis and Nashville songwriter Bobby Wood and Ivor Novello award winner Roger Cook), musical maturity and personal lyricism (dealing with "loss, love, anger, determination and life on the road," to quote Miss Bailey).
Road I Call Home has a big Nashville sound (like Wildfire, most of the album was recorded in Nashville) but carries influences of soul and horn swingin' blues ('Help Somebody'), country (the reflective-regretful 'Foolish Hearts,' the Memphis stamped 'Miss Me When I’m Gone') and gritty, way out west musicality as heard on 'Wild Wild West' and 'Medicine Man.'
The latter, in its role as lead-off single, garnered #1 status on the iTunes Blues Charts and support from BBC Radio 2’s Cerys Matthews Blues Show.
Not that Elles Bailey is any sort of one trick pony tied to the post outside the western country and blues bar.
Soul-blues number 'Deeper' has a relatively simple but highly effective arrangement bolstered by horns, tasty organ work and that Elles Bailey vocal; similarly the slow blues 'What’s the Matter With You,' which succeeds through its understated arrangement and less is more strength (both songs prove you don’t have to vocally howl or six-string cry the blues to make an impact; or at least Elles Bailey certainly doesn’t).
Elsewhere the big-beat title track rocks the rolling road Elles Bailey calls home while The Byrds meets country-blues pop jangle and charm of 'Little Piece of Heaven' (co-written with Bobby Wood and Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach) puts itself forward as contender for song of the week placement on any mainstream radio station or programme you care to mention.
'Light in the Distance' is a beautiful piano & vocal album closing remark that reinforces Elles Bailey, much like Jo Harman, is a singer who need very little accompaniment to make a statement vocally, emotively or lyrically. It also showcases why Elles Bailey was once again nominated in the Female Vocalist category of the European Blues Awards.
Road I Call Home is a lifestyle statement from Elles Bailey as much as it is an album title.
Road I Call Home, from FabricationsHQ’s point of (re)view, is an exceptional roots-based release from one of the up and coming talents in British blues.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Be-Bop Deluxe – Futurama (Expanded & Remastered 3CD/1DVD Deluxe Boxset Edition)
Futurama was Be-Bop Deluxe’s second album but the 1975 art-rock classic is seen by many as the first fully fledged release by the ground-breaking group; it's a musical statement of prog, rock and jazz-pop artistry from singer-guitarist-songwriter Bill Nelson that had its seeds sown on his 1971 solo album Northern Dream with further creative growth cultivated on the band's noteworthy first offering, Axe Victim (recorded by an embryonic and short-lived Be-Bop line-up).
That the album also featured the core of what became the definitive and classic Be-Bop Deluxe line-up (Bill Nelson, drummer & percussionist Simon Fox, bassist & vocalist Charlie Tumahai – keyboardist Andy Clark joined shortly after the album’s recording) gives further claim to Futurama being the album that launched the further successes of Be-Bop Deluxe in the 1970s.
Superbly packaged (including 68 page illustrated booklet, replica poster and four postcards) and re-mastered from the original master tapes, Esoteric Recording's Limited Boxset Edition of Futurama is no less impacting now than it was then.
From the beautifully manic 'Stage Whispers' ("This guitar does not lie!" sings Bill Nelson; who’s arguing…) and its uber-funky instrumental section through to the commercially framed brace 'Maid in Heaven' and 'Sister Seagull' (the latter complete with now classic seagull crying guitars) and on to the dreamier jazz guitars of 'Jean Cocteau' (the French poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker was one of Bill Nelson’s greatest artistic and creative influences) and album closing tour de force, art-rock ballad 'Swan Song,' Futurama is an early meisterwerk from the creative musical mind of Bill Nelson.
Sprinkled in between those Be-Bop classics are the equally impressive 'Love With The Madman' (with background lead guitar that hardly ever stops crying across the entire song), widescreen sound number 'Soundtrack' (sonically intense yet melodically fluid) and the theatrically set pop-rock of 'Music in Dreamland' featuring The Grimethorpe Colliery Band (a nod to the music Bill Nelson heard as a child in West Yorkshire).
There’s also the Phonogram Studios instrumental run-through of 'Music in Dreamland' as a bonus track.
Penultimate album track 'Between the Worlds,' a frantic rocker with piano playing foil to the guitars, is also featured as a bonus track, in the shape of its original single version as recorded with a proto-Futurama
line-up that included ex Cockney Rebel’ers Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys (who would, along with his wife, tragically lose his life in the Lockerbie terrorist air disaster).
Strong as the original album still sounds (produced by Roy Thomas Baker; instrumental tracks recorded and engineered by Pat Moran) it’s surpassed by the New Stereo Mix disc.
The differences in sound balance are fairly subtle (primarily lifting the lead guitars, snare drum and percussion a shade) but it’s the sonic crispness and separation of instrumentation that makes this new mix the version of choice (particularly for songs such as original B-side and now bonus track 'Lights;' the bluesy and funky, percussive pop number has a new lease of sound mix life).
Add to that a third CD of live material (a four song BBC Radio One John Peel Show session and a once thought lost, seven song BBC Radio One In Concert performance, both from 1975 and featuring Andy Clark) plus a DVD that includes a new 5.1 surround mix, footage of the band’s 1975 Old Grey Whistle Test appearance and the 'Maid In Heaven' promotional video, and you have a work that stands tall in the Be-Bop past, Deluxe present and Futurama of music.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That the album also featured the core of what became the definitive and classic Be-Bop Deluxe line-up (Bill Nelson, drummer & percussionist Simon Fox, bassist & vocalist Charlie Tumahai – keyboardist Andy Clark joined shortly after the album’s recording) gives further claim to Futurama being the album that launched the further successes of Be-Bop Deluxe in the 1970s.
Superbly packaged (including 68 page illustrated booklet, replica poster and four postcards) and re-mastered from the original master tapes, Esoteric Recording's Limited Boxset Edition of Futurama is no less impacting now than it was then.
From the beautifully manic 'Stage Whispers' ("This guitar does not lie!" sings Bill Nelson; who’s arguing…) and its uber-funky instrumental section through to the commercially framed brace 'Maid in Heaven' and 'Sister Seagull' (the latter complete with now classic seagull crying guitars) and on to the dreamier jazz guitars of 'Jean Cocteau' (the French poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker was one of Bill Nelson’s greatest artistic and creative influences) and album closing tour de force, art-rock ballad 'Swan Song,' Futurama is an early meisterwerk from the creative musical mind of Bill Nelson.
Sprinkled in between those Be-Bop classics are the equally impressive 'Love With The Madman' (with background lead guitar that hardly ever stops crying across the entire song), widescreen sound number 'Soundtrack' (sonically intense yet melodically fluid) and the theatrically set pop-rock of 'Music in Dreamland' featuring The Grimethorpe Colliery Band (a nod to the music Bill Nelson heard as a child in West Yorkshire).
There’s also the Phonogram Studios instrumental run-through of 'Music in Dreamland' as a bonus track.
Penultimate album track 'Between the Worlds,' a frantic rocker with piano playing foil to the guitars, is also featured as a bonus track, in the shape of its original single version as recorded with a proto-Futurama
line-up that included ex Cockney Rebel’ers Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys (who would, along with his wife, tragically lose his life in the Lockerbie terrorist air disaster).
Strong as the original album still sounds (produced by Roy Thomas Baker; instrumental tracks recorded and engineered by Pat Moran) it’s surpassed by the New Stereo Mix disc.
The differences in sound balance are fairly subtle (primarily lifting the lead guitars, snare drum and percussion a shade) but it’s the sonic crispness and separation of instrumentation that makes this new mix the version of choice (particularly for songs such as original B-side and now bonus track 'Lights;' the bluesy and funky, percussive pop number has a new lease of sound mix life).
Add to that a third CD of live material (a four song BBC Radio One John Peel Show session and a once thought lost, seven song BBC Radio One In Concert performance, both from 1975 and featuring Andy Clark) plus a DVD that includes a new 5.1 surround mix, footage of the band’s 1975 Old Grey Whistle Test appearance and the 'Maid In Heaven' promotional video, and you have a work that stands tall in the Be-Bop past, Deluxe present and Futurama of music.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Be Bop Deluxe – Modern Music (Expanded & Remastered 4CD/1DVD Deluxe Boxset Edition)
Modern Music was the fourth Be Bop Deluxe album and third (in a row) of what is taken to be the band’s definitive trio of exceptional art-rock offerings, released within a productive, fourteen month period.
The second album to feature the sadly short-lived but classic line-up of Bill Nelson (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Charlie Tumahai (bass, vocals), Andy Clark (keyboards) and Simon Fox (drums), the bulk of the Modern Music material was conceived by Bill Nelson during the band’s first tour of the US, in March 1976.
Rather than being an uplifting experience for Bill Nelson, the across-the-pond trip and travels quickly became one of disillusionment with a superficial US music business, road-life tiredness and a longing for home.
Much of that disillusionment made itself very clear on Modern Music, most notably the six-scene title track, which ranged from the melodically sumptuous to a jagged, jazz-rock styled instrumental section.
That the 'Modern Music' suite was built around Bill Nelson’s none-too-positive take on his first US trip is evident through titles such as 'Lost in The Neon World' (and its "I feel I’m half a universe away..." lyricism) and 'Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids,' the latter carrying Andy Clark’s Americanised and sycophantic voiceover "Step this way, Bill; I’d like you to meet Bruce, our new Artist Relations man…"
But Modern Music is about far more than its beautifully constructed and wonderfully woven title suite.
Leading off with the stylish melodic rock of 'Orphans of Babylon,' through a fine slice of 70s airplay art-rock in 'Kiss Of Light' and on to the closing brace of ethereal and ghostly 'Down On Terminal Street' and charming sign-off remark, 'Make the Music Magic,' Modern Music stands strong as one of the rock albums of the 70s.
More importantly, it still sounds as fresh and relevant today.
Modern Music also follows the form of previous Be Bop 'Deluxe' Editions from Esoteric Recordings by having additional CDs and a DVD as part of the expanded package.
Accompanying the newly remastered original album is a new stereo mix, two live shows and a couple of studio rarities (First Version recordings of 'Forbidden Lovers' and piano & vocal number, 'The Bird Charmer’s Destiny').
The BBC Radio One In Concert recording from the Hammersmith Odeon in October of 1976, although previously available, is a worthwhile addition and perfect companion piece but the real gem is the previously unavailable Official Bootleg from the Riviera Theater in Chicago.
Recorded during the band’s US tour in March of 1976, the Riviera show features the not-often performed and semi-improvised 'Bill’s Blues.'
The New Stereo Mix of Modern Music (by award winning sound engineer Stephen W. Tayler) is so much brighter than the original, particularly on the higher frequencies (piano has also been lifted in the mix to great effect).
There is also a tangible, sonic vibrancy to this new mix that was, now a retrospective comparison can be made, posted missing first time around (but then audio technology now, as opposed to then, etc.)
A particular winner in this regard is funky sci-fi number 'Shine;' the B-side of the 'Kiss Of Light' single comes to extra-terrestrial life on the new mix.
For the real audiophiles, there’s the opportunity to Surround themselves with Stephen W. Tayler’s new 5.1 mix on the accompanying DVD.
The DVD disc also includes two visual treats – 'Forbidden Lovers' and 'Down on Terminal Street,' from The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1976.
Add in a 68 page booklet (that includes a new essay from Bill Nelson and a plethora of promotional and rare images), postcards and a replica poster and you have Modern Music that is, some 43 years on, still just that.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Modern Music: Expanded & Remastered Boxset Edition will be released on December 6th.
A 2CD version, including the remastered original album and the new stereo mix version, will also be available.
The second album to feature the sadly short-lived but classic line-up of Bill Nelson (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Charlie Tumahai (bass, vocals), Andy Clark (keyboards) and Simon Fox (drums), the bulk of the Modern Music material was conceived by Bill Nelson during the band’s first tour of the US, in March 1976.
Rather than being an uplifting experience for Bill Nelson, the across-the-pond trip and travels quickly became one of disillusionment with a superficial US music business, road-life tiredness and a longing for home.
Much of that disillusionment made itself very clear on Modern Music, most notably the six-scene title track, which ranged from the melodically sumptuous to a jagged, jazz-rock styled instrumental section.
That the 'Modern Music' suite was built around Bill Nelson’s none-too-positive take on his first US trip is evident through titles such as 'Lost in The Neon World' (and its "I feel I’m half a universe away..." lyricism) and 'Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids,' the latter carrying Andy Clark’s Americanised and sycophantic voiceover "Step this way, Bill; I’d like you to meet Bruce, our new Artist Relations man…"
But Modern Music is about far more than its beautifully constructed and wonderfully woven title suite.
Leading off with the stylish melodic rock of 'Orphans of Babylon,' through a fine slice of 70s airplay art-rock in 'Kiss Of Light' and on to the closing brace of ethereal and ghostly 'Down On Terminal Street' and charming sign-off remark, 'Make the Music Magic,' Modern Music stands strong as one of the rock albums of the 70s.
More importantly, it still sounds as fresh and relevant today.
Modern Music also follows the form of previous Be Bop 'Deluxe' Editions from Esoteric Recordings by having additional CDs and a DVD as part of the expanded package.
Accompanying the newly remastered original album is a new stereo mix, two live shows and a couple of studio rarities (First Version recordings of 'Forbidden Lovers' and piano & vocal number, 'The Bird Charmer’s Destiny').
The BBC Radio One In Concert recording from the Hammersmith Odeon in October of 1976, although previously available, is a worthwhile addition and perfect companion piece but the real gem is the previously unavailable Official Bootleg from the Riviera Theater in Chicago.
Recorded during the band’s US tour in March of 1976, the Riviera show features the not-often performed and semi-improvised 'Bill’s Blues.'
The New Stereo Mix of Modern Music (by award winning sound engineer Stephen W. Tayler) is so much brighter than the original, particularly on the higher frequencies (piano has also been lifted in the mix to great effect).
There is also a tangible, sonic vibrancy to this new mix that was, now a retrospective comparison can be made, posted missing first time around (but then audio technology now, as opposed to then, etc.)
A particular winner in this regard is funky sci-fi number 'Shine;' the B-side of the 'Kiss Of Light' single comes to extra-terrestrial life on the new mix.
For the real audiophiles, there’s the opportunity to Surround themselves with Stephen W. Tayler’s new 5.1 mix on the accompanying DVD.
The DVD disc also includes two visual treats – 'Forbidden Lovers' and 'Down on Terminal Street,' from The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1976.
Add in a 68 page booklet (that includes a new essay from Bill Nelson and a plethora of promotional and rare images), postcards and a replica poster and you have Modern Music that is, some 43 years on, still just that.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Modern Music: Expanded & Remastered Boxset Edition will be released on December 6th.
A 2CD version, including the remastered original album and the new stereo mix version, will also be available.
Big Gold Dreams - A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977-1989 (5CD Anthology)
In terms of recognition, exports and impact beyond its own borders Scotland has done all right for itself thank you very much, not least in connection with its rich musical heritage.
From the Gaelic and Scots music traditions of centuries past to a host of latter and present day music notables and on to superstar icons such as the late and still lamented Gerry Rafferty, Frankie Miller, Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart (London born but as Scottish as the highland hills), auld Alba can proudly fly it’s Music Made in Scotland flag next to the famous Saltire (although I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the Bay City Rollers).
Further, and as comprehensively documented in Cherry Red’s 5CD, 115 track box-set Big Gold Dreams, there was a very specific, important and pivotal time when Scotland was the post-punk production centre for independent labels and artists; when Glasgow and Edinburgh were the places to be seen and heard and not London (or anywhere else for that matter).
Named after the Fire Engines’ 1981 single and Grant McPhee’s 2015 documentary on Scotland’s late 70s to late 80s Indie music scene, Big Gold Dreams covers, in chronological glam-punk to indie-pop order, every new wave note, jangly guitar chord, angular pop hook and dance-floor friendly electro-beat.
The Simple Minds, here featured with early single 'Chelsea Girl,' were the biggest but far from only success to emerge from Scotland's indie movement.
Dozens of others made a local, national or international mark including Scotland’s first (pop) punks The Rezillos ('I Can’t Stand My Baby'), Altered Images ('Dead Pop Stars'), Skids ('Reasons'), The Bluebells ('Cath'), The Waterboys ('A Girl Called Johnny'), Cocteau Twins ('Feathers Oar-Blades'), Aztec Camera ('All I need is Everything'), The Jesus And Mary Chain ('Upside Down'), Primal Scream ('All Fall Down'), The Associates ('Tell Me Easter’s On Friday'), ex Orange Juice front man Edwyn Collins ('Don’t Shilly Shally'), Del Amitri ('Hammering Heart') and Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie ('The Rattler').
And should you be looking for nuggets from the ever-popular "before they were famous" archives, how about the punky pairing of 'Dead Vandals' by Johnny & The Self Abusers (later Simple Minds) and 'Put You in the Picture' by P.V.C.2 (featuring a post-Slik Midge Ure), or the spikey and sax wailing 'All the Boys Love Carrie' by Another Pretty Face (fronted by a pre-Waterboys Mike Scott).
But for every band or act who went on to swim in bigger waters there were two that struggled to stay afloat in the smaller musical lakes, long before the seemingly endless digital streams started to flow.
Every such band gets their place on Big Gold Dreams, one of the most notable being indie alt-rockers The Vaselines, represented here by 'Teenage Superstars.'
The Vaselines, believing they had no sustainable future, split up shortly after the release of their 1989 debut album, Dum-Dum.
Initially unbeknownst to the band however was the fact that Kurt Cobain was a huge fan (Nirvana would go on to cover three Vaselines songs); the band briefly reformed in 1990 to support Nirvana when the grunge giants performed in Edinburgh.
But Big Gold Dreams isn’t all about the acts and artists.
As covered in recollected detail and associated memorabilia imagery within the 70 page booklet (with essays from Grant McPhee, Neil Cooper and Tim Barr) there’s the crucial role played by the independent record labels including Zoom (who released the Simple Minds debut album Life in a Day), Fast, Postcard, 53rd & 3rd and Creation.
As documented in the aforementioned booklet, in 1984 Postcard rebranded itself as Swamplands, the short-lived subsidiary of major record label, London.
As an added bonus and icing on the Big Gold Dreams cake this definitive collection of a vibrant and highly influential Indie music scene includes a number of Swamplands singles never before released on CD, including the post-punk funk of 'Unamerican Broadcasting' by Win, the band formed by ex Fire Engines members Davy Henderson and Russell Burn.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
From the Gaelic and Scots music traditions of centuries past to a host of latter and present day music notables and on to superstar icons such as the late and still lamented Gerry Rafferty, Frankie Miller, Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart (London born but as Scottish as the highland hills), auld Alba can proudly fly it’s Music Made in Scotland flag next to the famous Saltire (although I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the Bay City Rollers).
Further, and as comprehensively documented in Cherry Red’s 5CD, 115 track box-set Big Gold Dreams, there was a very specific, important and pivotal time when Scotland was the post-punk production centre for independent labels and artists; when Glasgow and Edinburgh were the places to be seen and heard and not London (or anywhere else for that matter).
Named after the Fire Engines’ 1981 single and Grant McPhee’s 2015 documentary on Scotland’s late 70s to late 80s Indie music scene, Big Gold Dreams covers, in chronological glam-punk to indie-pop order, every new wave note, jangly guitar chord, angular pop hook and dance-floor friendly electro-beat.
The Simple Minds, here featured with early single 'Chelsea Girl,' were the biggest but far from only success to emerge from Scotland's indie movement.
Dozens of others made a local, national or international mark including Scotland’s first (pop) punks The Rezillos ('I Can’t Stand My Baby'), Altered Images ('Dead Pop Stars'), Skids ('Reasons'), The Bluebells ('Cath'), The Waterboys ('A Girl Called Johnny'), Cocteau Twins ('Feathers Oar-Blades'), Aztec Camera ('All I need is Everything'), The Jesus And Mary Chain ('Upside Down'), Primal Scream ('All Fall Down'), The Associates ('Tell Me Easter’s On Friday'), ex Orange Juice front man Edwyn Collins ('Don’t Shilly Shally'), Del Amitri ('Hammering Heart') and Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie ('The Rattler').
And should you be looking for nuggets from the ever-popular "before they were famous" archives, how about the punky pairing of 'Dead Vandals' by Johnny & The Self Abusers (later Simple Minds) and 'Put You in the Picture' by P.V.C.2 (featuring a post-Slik Midge Ure), or the spikey and sax wailing 'All the Boys Love Carrie' by Another Pretty Face (fronted by a pre-Waterboys Mike Scott).
But for every band or act who went on to swim in bigger waters there were two that struggled to stay afloat in the smaller musical lakes, long before the seemingly endless digital streams started to flow.
Every such band gets their place on Big Gold Dreams, one of the most notable being indie alt-rockers The Vaselines, represented here by 'Teenage Superstars.'
The Vaselines, believing they had no sustainable future, split up shortly after the release of their 1989 debut album, Dum-Dum.
Initially unbeknownst to the band however was the fact that Kurt Cobain was a huge fan (Nirvana would go on to cover three Vaselines songs); the band briefly reformed in 1990 to support Nirvana when the grunge giants performed in Edinburgh.
But Big Gold Dreams isn’t all about the acts and artists.
As covered in recollected detail and associated memorabilia imagery within the 70 page booklet (with essays from Grant McPhee, Neil Cooper and Tim Barr) there’s the crucial role played by the independent record labels including Zoom (who released the Simple Minds debut album Life in a Day), Fast, Postcard, 53rd & 3rd and Creation.
As documented in the aforementioned booklet, in 1984 Postcard rebranded itself as Swamplands, the short-lived subsidiary of major record label, London.
As an added bonus and icing on the Big Gold Dreams cake this definitive collection of a vibrant and highly influential Indie music scene includes a number of Swamplands singles never before released on CD, including the post-punk funk of 'Unamerican Broadcasting' by Win, the band formed by ex Fire Engines members Davy Henderson and Russell Burn.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Big Wolf Band (featuring Zoe Green) – Be Free
British blues outfit Big Wolf Band have just added some Green to their cool shades of guitar-and-keyboard blues.
While the Birmingham based outfit’s acclaimed 2017 debut album A Rebel’s Story featured the smooth guitar licks and voice of Jonathan Earp, the band – Earp, Mick Jeynes (bass), Paul Brambani (keys) and Tim Jones (drums) – have now joined forces with Zoe Green, one of the more soulful and sassy vocalists on the blues rock circuit and a singer making a name for herself gigging with The Zoe Green Band and through their 2018 self-titled debut album.
Zoe Green was originally invited to the studio to record two songs with the Big Wolf Band but such was the immediate impact and voice-to-song simpatico on the B.B. King styled slow blues 'Looking In Your Eyes' (recorded in only three takes, which tells its own blues-in-harmony story) and the title track (a beefy mid-tempo number with plenty of vocal muscle and Jon Earp giving it the full Kossoff) it was a blues and soul rocking fait accompli.
Every track (all thirteen songs were written by Jon Earp) has something to offer, from soul-blues ‘n’ sass opener 'Walk in My Shoes' through to six-and-a-half minute album closer 'Just Can’t Find You,' a song that started life as something else entirely before growing to become a fully-formed, slow-build song of love lost. The latter is also the perfect vehicle for Zoe Green to deliver some serious (Beth) Hart and Soul vocals.
Between those solid but very different blues shaped bookends are a host of highlights including the vocally feisty and musically pacey 'Nobody’s Home,' the slow soul-blues of 'Loving Like a Fool' and the fittingly weighty 'Heavy Load,' featuring Jon Earp in vocal duet with Zoe Green and a highly effective tempo change.
Worthy of special mention is 'Never That Easy,' a delicate verses and rockier choruses number that lyrically expresses the difficulties of depression and reaching out for help (given the personal nature of the song and Jon Earp’s lyric, it’s fitting the guitarist once again contributes vocally, here in chorus accompaniment).
The Big Wolf Band have a myriad of influences, from Paul Kossoff and Eric Clapton to Freddie King and another Green (Peter), all of which manifested themselves, to one degree or other, on A Rebel’s Story (No.1 bestselling album in the Amazon Blues charts and airplay on the Paul Jones Show on BBC Radio 2 no less).
Yet there’s an argument that the Big Wolf brand of blues rock ‘n’ roll was missing that soulful ingredient.
Similarly, while that soulfulness was heard to great effect on The Zoe Green Band album (the soul-blues gal also delivered a little funkiness and some vocally gritty rhythm and blues), on Be Free Miss Green seems to be fully energised in the company of a band of Wolves.
The results are a lupine blues cry of howlingly good.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
While the Birmingham based outfit’s acclaimed 2017 debut album A Rebel’s Story featured the smooth guitar licks and voice of Jonathan Earp, the band – Earp, Mick Jeynes (bass), Paul Brambani (keys) and Tim Jones (drums) – have now joined forces with Zoe Green, one of the more soulful and sassy vocalists on the blues rock circuit and a singer making a name for herself gigging with The Zoe Green Band and through their 2018 self-titled debut album.
Zoe Green was originally invited to the studio to record two songs with the Big Wolf Band but such was the immediate impact and voice-to-song simpatico on the B.B. King styled slow blues 'Looking In Your Eyes' (recorded in only three takes, which tells its own blues-in-harmony story) and the title track (a beefy mid-tempo number with plenty of vocal muscle and Jon Earp giving it the full Kossoff) it was a blues and soul rocking fait accompli.
Every track (all thirteen songs were written by Jon Earp) has something to offer, from soul-blues ‘n’ sass opener 'Walk in My Shoes' through to six-and-a-half minute album closer 'Just Can’t Find You,' a song that started life as something else entirely before growing to become a fully-formed, slow-build song of love lost. The latter is also the perfect vehicle for Zoe Green to deliver some serious (Beth) Hart and Soul vocals.
Between those solid but very different blues shaped bookends are a host of highlights including the vocally feisty and musically pacey 'Nobody’s Home,' the slow soul-blues of 'Loving Like a Fool' and the fittingly weighty 'Heavy Load,' featuring Jon Earp in vocal duet with Zoe Green and a highly effective tempo change.
Worthy of special mention is 'Never That Easy,' a delicate verses and rockier choruses number that lyrically expresses the difficulties of depression and reaching out for help (given the personal nature of the song and Jon Earp’s lyric, it’s fitting the guitarist once again contributes vocally, here in chorus accompaniment).
The Big Wolf Band have a myriad of influences, from Paul Kossoff and Eric Clapton to Freddie King and another Green (Peter), all of which manifested themselves, to one degree or other, on A Rebel’s Story (No.1 bestselling album in the Amazon Blues charts and airplay on the Paul Jones Show on BBC Radio 2 no less).
Yet there’s an argument that the Big Wolf brand of blues rock ‘n’ roll was missing that soulful ingredient.
Similarly, while that soulfulness was heard to great effect on The Zoe Green Band album (the soul-blues gal also delivered a little funkiness and some vocally gritty rhythm and blues), on Be Free Miss Green seems to be fully energised in the company of a band of Wolves.
The results are a lupine blues cry of howlingly good.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Blackheart Orchestra – Mesmeranto
Given the conceptual theme of The Blackheart Orchestra’s second album, Mesmeranto (built around the personal experiences of Chrissy Mostyn while her mother was approaching the end of her life) the opening lines of lead-off number 'Ennikur' (an ethereal ode to a life slipping away) becomes particularly pertinent to the power of music in its role as a catharsis.
"Over the horizon out of view, a melody is waiting to recue you." sings Mostyn in the most fragile and delicate of voices.
'Ennikur' is the first of not so much fourteen tracks as fourteen mini-scenes in a one hour musical journey through fear, anger, loss, grief, joy and triumph.
And while that means musical and lyrical melancholy plays a major role the multi-instrumentalist duo of Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkington balance such melancholy with moments of bright or uplifting melody, tempo changes and textures created through the use of individual and layered vocals, various keyboards, guitars and electronic percussion – 'Drown Me Out' for example is an edgier, pulsating piece while 'Wolves' returns to the delicate side of the Blackheart Orchestra, but with a chiming, haunting resonance that gives it its own sonic shape.
The darker and atmospheric 'All Of Me' leads to the electro-synth realisation of who 'I Am,' a joyous song that, when taken out of its Mesmeranto home, could be an electro percussive radio hit (similarly its realisation song partner 'Back to Earth' and the up-tempo electro-pop charm of 'Try').
Each song or scene adds to the whole, each tells its own part of the story, but as mentioned above with 'I Am' some numbers also stand proud in isolation – 'Left to Right' for example, built on a simple piano refrain and Chrissy Mostyn’s beautifully pleaful voice (with cleverly crafted lyric and double meaning title – "there’s so much left to right") is a song Kate Bush may be kicking herself for not writing first.
Miss Bush might also be launching a public inquiry as to why she didn’t come up with atmospheric electro percussive ballad 'More' while, by way of influential return compliment, Chrissy Mostyn sounds more like Kate Bush than Kate Bush does on the deeply melancholic, but beautifully phrased, 'Violet.'
The six-minute 'Another Lifetime' closes out Mesmeranto, and life in this world, in genuinely heartfelt fashion; it builds from vocally soft and delicate beginnings to a fuller, keyboard-orchestrated finale.
Up until a few years ago The Blackheart Orchestra were simply Blackheart, an alt-country & folk-pop duo that produced the albums Indigo and Invisible before starting to musically transform on Songs From a Satellite.
As Blackheart the duo showed promise and delivered appeal, but there is no question Chrissy Mostyn and
Rick Pilkington (a minor gripe is Pilkington’s wonderfully complementary harmony and backing vocals are not more prominent on this album) have truly found their voices in their two-piece Blackheart Orchestra clothing.
And never more so on the life, love and loss of Mesmeranto.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
"Over the horizon out of view, a melody is waiting to recue you." sings Mostyn in the most fragile and delicate of voices.
'Ennikur' is the first of not so much fourteen tracks as fourteen mini-scenes in a one hour musical journey through fear, anger, loss, grief, joy and triumph.
And while that means musical and lyrical melancholy plays a major role the multi-instrumentalist duo of Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkington balance such melancholy with moments of bright or uplifting melody, tempo changes and textures created through the use of individual and layered vocals, various keyboards, guitars and electronic percussion – 'Drown Me Out' for example is an edgier, pulsating piece while 'Wolves' returns to the delicate side of the Blackheart Orchestra, but with a chiming, haunting resonance that gives it its own sonic shape.
The darker and atmospheric 'All Of Me' leads to the electro-synth realisation of who 'I Am,' a joyous song that, when taken out of its Mesmeranto home, could be an electro percussive radio hit (similarly its realisation song partner 'Back to Earth' and the up-tempo electro-pop charm of 'Try').
Each song or scene adds to the whole, each tells its own part of the story, but as mentioned above with 'I Am' some numbers also stand proud in isolation – 'Left to Right' for example, built on a simple piano refrain and Chrissy Mostyn’s beautifully pleaful voice (with cleverly crafted lyric and double meaning title – "there’s so much left to right") is a song Kate Bush may be kicking herself for not writing first.
Miss Bush might also be launching a public inquiry as to why she didn’t come up with atmospheric electro percussive ballad 'More' while, by way of influential return compliment, Chrissy Mostyn sounds more like Kate Bush than Kate Bush does on the deeply melancholic, but beautifully phrased, 'Violet.'
The six-minute 'Another Lifetime' closes out Mesmeranto, and life in this world, in genuinely heartfelt fashion; it builds from vocally soft and delicate beginnings to a fuller, keyboard-orchestrated finale.
Up until a few years ago The Blackheart Orchestra were simply Blackheart, an alt-country & folk-pop duo that produced the albums Indigo and Invisible before starting to musically transform on Songs From a Satellite.
As Blackheart the duo showed promise and delivered appeal, but there is no question Chrissy Mostyn and
Rick Pilkington (a minor gripe is Pilkington’s wonderfully complementary harmony and backing vocals are not more prominent on this album) have truly found their voices in their two-piece Blackheart Orchestra clothing.
And never more so on the life, love and loss of Mesmeranto.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Graham Bonnet Band – Live in Tokyo 2017
Another review day, another Joe Bonamassa sorry, Graham Bonnet, live release (apologies, force of reporting the press release habit).
Cynicism aside (and let’s be honest if you’re a blues rock fan there aren’t many Bonamassa live CDs or DVDs that aren’t worthy of your attention) we’ve reached the (concert) stage where the still vocally sprightly septuagenarian Graham Bonnet is giving the younger JoBo a run for his recorded or filmed performance money.
In Graham Bonnet’s case however it’s more to do with showcasing and proving how much demand there is for classic rock of the 70s and 80s, performed by those now classic rockers via a label that knows there’s a market for it or, with a warm welcome back for cynicism, how to milk it.
Live in Tokyo 2017 is as much about commemorative celebration as it is about commercial sales however, being the audio document of Graham Bonnet and his band’s short tour of Japan in 2017, where the singer has been revered by the Land of the Rising Sun’s rock fans since back in his days with Rainbow, MSG and particularly Alcatrazz (Bonnet performed an Alcatrazz set on that same tour with ex Alcatrazzers, keyboardist Jimmy Waldo and bassist Gary Shea).
It also has to be said the band – Waldo, Conrado Pesinato (guitars), Beth-Ami Heavenstone (bass) and Mark Benquchea (drums) – are on top form as is Bonnet who, truth be told, has been (greatest) hit and miss live in the past; but since his re-birth with the Graham Bonnet Band, formed in 2015, the singer has been on vocal point more times than not.
The set, as with every GBB live performance, covers all the bases from Rainbow’s Down to Earth power quintet of 'Eyes of the World,' 'Love’s No Friend,' 'Since You’ve Been Gone,' 'All Night Long' and 'Lost in Hollywood' to the MSG quartet of 'Dancer,' 'Desert song,' 'Samurai' and 'Assault Attack' and across a smattering of 80s solo hits, Impellitteri and newer material ('California Rain,' 'Rider' and pacey power-down rocker 'Into the Night,' all from GBB debut album The Book).
There’s also a bonus studio track in the "alternate lyric version" shape of 'The Crying Chair' from second GBB album Meanwhile, Back in the Garage.
But, therein lies the very problem, one that returns us to the aforementioned issue of the fan and audience demand for classic rock artists to feature old over new.
This is the fifth live issue (in CD or DVD) since the Graham Bonnet Band formed (one EP length release and four full-set shows including the previously mentioned, partially reformed Alcatrazz show in Japan, Parole Denied) and sixth greatest hits set if you include the CD of studio re-records that accompanied The Book.
More tellingly, only four songs across those four full-length live releases are exclusive to their respective set/s.
But at the end of the show day you pays yer money and takes yer choice – probably all of them for the biggest Bonnet aficionados and, for the more discerning rock fan, perhaps the one that’s most suited to your set-list taste (albeit there’s limited variation).
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to nip off and see if Joe Bonamassa has announced the release of a new live album in the time it’s taken me to write this review…
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Cynicism aside (and let’s be honest if you’re a blues rock fan there aren’t many Bonamassa live CDs or DVDs that aren’t worthy of your attention) we’ve reached the (concert) stage where the still vocally sprightly septuagenarian Graham Bonnet is giving the younger JoBo a run for his recorded or filmed performance money.
In Graham Bonnet’s case however it’s more to do with showcasing and proving how much demand there is for classic rock of the 70s and 80s, performed by those now classic rockers via a label that knows there’s a market for it or, with a warm welcome back for cynicism, how to milk it.
Live in Tokyo 2017 is as much about commemorative celebration as it is about commercial sales however, being the audio document of Graham Bonnet and his band’s short tour of Japan in 2017, where the singer has been revered by the Land of the Rising Sun’s rock fans since back in his days with Rainbow, MSG and particularly Alcatrazz (Bonnet performed an Alcatrazz set on that same tour with ex Alcatrazzers, keyboardist Jimmy Waldo and bassist Gary Shea).
It also has to be said the band – Waldo, Conrado Pesinato (guitars), Beth-Ami Heavenstone (bass) and Mark Benquchea (drums) – are on top form as is Bonnet who, truth be told, has been (greatest) hit and miss live in the past; but since his re-birth with the Graham Bonnet Band, formed in 2015, the singer has been on vocal point more times than not.
The set, as with every GBB live performance, covers all the bases from Rainbow’s Down to Earth power quintet of 'Eyes of the World,' 'Love’s No Friend,' 'Since You’ve Been Gone,' 'All Night Long' and 'Lost in Hollywood' to the MSG quartet of 'Dancer,' 'Desert song,' 'Samurai' and 'Assault Attack' and across a smattering of 80s solo hits, Impellitteri and newer material ('California Rain,' 'Rider' and pacey power-down rocker 'Into the Night,' all from GBB debut album The Book).
There’s also a bonus studio track in the "alternate lyric version" shape of 'The Crying Chair' from second GBB album Meanwhile, Back in the Garage.
But, therein lies the very problem, one that returns us to the aforementioned issue of the fan and audience demand for classic rock artists to feature old over new.
This is the fifth live issue (in CD or DVD) since the Graham Bonnet Band formed (one EP length release and four full-set shows including the previously mentioned, partially reformed Alcatrazz show in Japan, Parole Denied) and sixth greatest hits set if you include the CD of studio re-records that accompanied The Book.
More tellingly, only four songs across those four full-length live releases are exclusive to their respective set/s.
But at the end of the show day you pays yer money and takes yer choice – probably all of them for the biggest Bonnet aficionados and, for the more discerning rock fan, perhaps the one that’s most suited to your set-list taste (albeit there’s limited variation).
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to nip off and see if Joe Bonamassa has announced the release of a new live album in the time it’s taken me to write this review…
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Danny Bryant – Means of Escape
British blues stalwart Danny Bryant’s previous studio outing, 2018’s Revelation, was an album that had the singer-guitarist going deep inside himself to confront memories and emotions he didn't really want to face (Revelation was a personal and emotional journey, Bryant having lost one of his closest friends and his father six months prior to recording).
Means Of Escape is the one year on, heavy blues extension and cathartic release from Revelation; it’s also an album that Bryant is more proud of than anything else he has delivered across his twenty year career or, as the musician himself states "music is my release in the world, it's my way of surviving, it’s my means of escape."
There’s certainly plenty of expressive release to be heard on opener 'Tired of Trying,' a monster slice of modern, slow blues that’s both dedicated to, and influenced by, Walter Trout.
That influence is more in Trout’s "be yourself" mentoring than musically, although when Danny Bryant raises his own bar (after bar) of crying then searing blues notes there’s certainly a nod to Trout in the guitar play and lose-yourself soloing intensity.
Bryant extends that blues expressiveness even further on following number, the six-minute 'Too Far Gone,' featuring Danny Bryant’s Big Band.
Tinkling piano ivories and subtle horn backing support Bryant’s heartfelt soloing, which continues to build even as the song fades.
Danny Bryant’s autobiographical lyric and Joe Cocker at breaking point vocal style take lead on the melodic heavy blues of the title track before some dirty, big Texas Blues come calling in the shape of 'Nine Lives,' with keyboardist Stevie Watts giving it the full Hammond.
But it’s not just the songs that, for the most part (there are a couple of dialled down changes of pace), carry serous weight – the album as a whole features a live, minimal overdubs sound, Danny Bryant believing the songs would benefit from being cut live in the studio with his touring band, many of which were captured in one or two takes.
In his role as first time producer Danny Bryant also wanted the best audio quality on the finished product while retaining that big, live sound.
Fair to say he nailed that too, courtesy of having the album recorded at Chapel Studios (home to a great sounding live room and top-notch vintage equipment) under the auspices of Grammy award winning engineer Ian Dowling (Adele, KT Tunstall), mixed in Nashville by Eddie Spear (Rival Sons, U2, Chris Stapleton) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by another Grammy award winner, San Magee (Gary Moore, The Rolling Stones).
The latter half of the album features not just Danny Bryant’s slide guitar debut on old-time slow blues number 'Hurting Time' but those aforementioned changes of pace.
The acoustic and starkly arranged 'Skin and Bone' is, lyrically, Danny Bryant speaking to his sorely missed father while blues ballad 'Where the River Ends' is an older song Bryant wrote for friend who has lost his daughter.
Both showcase the limits of Danny Bryant as singer but such anguished vocality only adds to the emotional nature of the songs.
Closing with the recorded in just one take instrumental 'Mya,' Means Of Escape is forty-two minutes and nine tracks of just that – it's Danny Bryant on full blues release from his soul searching, year past Revelation.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Means Of Escape is the one year on, heavy blues extension and cathartic release from Revelation; it’s also an album that Bryant is more proud of than anything else he has delivered across his twenty year career or, as the musician himself states "music is my release in the world, it's my way of surviving, it’s my means of escape."
There’s certainly plenty of expressive release to be heard on opener 'Tired of Trying,' a monster slice of modern, slow blues that’s both dedicated to, and influenced by, Walter Trout.
That influence is more in Trout’s "be yourself" mentoring than musically, although when Danny Bryant raises his own bar (after bar) of crying then searing blues notes there’s certainly a nod to Trout in the guitar play and lose-yourself soloing intensity.
Bryant extends that blues expressiveness even further on following number, the six-minute 'Too Far Gone,' featuring Danny Bryant’s Big Band.
Tinkling piano ivories and subtle horn backing support Bryant’s heartfelt soloing, which continues to build even as the song fades.
Danny Bryant’s autobiographical lyric and Joe Cocker at breaking point vocal style take lead on the melodic heavy blues of the title track before some dirty, big Texas Blues come calling in the shape of 'Nine Lives,' with keyboardist Stevie Watts giving it the full Hammond.
But it’s not just the songs that, for the most part (there are a couple of dialled down changes of pace), carry serous weight – the album as a whole features a live, minimal overdubs sound, Danny Bryant believing the songs would benefit from being cut live in the studio with his touring band, many of which were captured in one or two takes.
In his role as first time producer Danny Bryant also wanted the best audio quality on the finished product while retaining that big, live sound.
Fair to say he nailed that too, courtesy of having the album recorded at Chapel Studios (home to a great sounding live room and top-notch vintage equipment) under the auspices of Grammy award winning engineer Ian Dowling (Adele, KT Tunstall), mixed in Nashville by Eddie Spear (Rival Sons, U2, Chris Stapleton) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios by another Grammy award winner, San Magee (Gary Moore, The Rolling Stones).
The latter half of the album features not just Danny Bryant’s slide guitar debut on old-time slow blues number 'Hurting Time' but those aforementioned changes of pace.
The acoustic and starkly arranged 'Skin and Bone' is, lyrically, Danny Bryant speaking to his sorely missed father while blues ballad 'Where the River Ends' is an older song Bryant wrote for friend who has lost his daughter.
Both showcase the limits of Danny Bryant as singer but such anguished vocality only adds to the emotional nature of the songs.
Closing with the recorded in just one take instrumental 'Mya,' Means Of Escape is forty-two minutes and nine tracks of just that – it's Danny Bryant on full blues release from his soul searching, year past Revelation.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Albert Castiglia – Masterpiece
Okay folks, here’s how I imagine the conversation went when Albert Castiglia arrived at the studio and introduced this bunch of songs to his producer Mike Zito.
"No fucking frills, right?"
"Right!"
"Who else we gonna get play on it?"
"Nobody. We’ll do this fucker ourselves. You and me."
"Cool. Let's go."
So here we have the pair of them weighing in with electric, acoustic and bass guitars, while Castiglia takes care of the vocals and Zito also takes responsibility for – would you believe? – drums and keyboards.
It sounds like it was recorded on some clapped-out analogue recording equipment that someone rescued from the dump. And it is flat-out, bone-shakingly magnificent.
Oh sure, it starts out sounding like a particularly juicy T-Bone steak of electric blues, with 'Bring On The Rain' urgent and ready to rock, with guitar licks elbowing their way in all around Albert Castiglia’s growling voice.
But believe me, they’re just lulling you into a false sense of security.
The shuffling primal stomp and booming bass line of ‘I Tried To Tell You’ build foundations of granite for Castiglia’s screw-you vocals and a scrabbling, discordant solo before it sulks its way to an abrupt ending.
And that’s just by way of readying you for the further acts of shock and awe coming your way, like ‘Keep On Swinging’ fr’instance, with its bludgeoning riff over rock steady, reverberating bass and drums, a spell of raking guitar harmonies, and a dogfight of traded guitar licks, while Castiglia insists "Don’t let the bastards get you down."
Or 'Thoughts And Prayers,' on which more bang-crash drums and sledgehammer bass, allied to a lurching, scratchy guitar riff, provide the basis for an acid discourse from Castiglia about "thoughts and prayers and a loaded gun" and "children in the firing line."
Or ‘Catch My Breath’, which welds a Skynyrd-like melody to a chugging, clanking rhythm.
The two covers provide reinforcements.
Johnny Winter’s 'Too Much Seconal' feels like drinking the hair of the dog the morning after the night before, with fuzzy, screeching guitar and some basic blues piano-bashing from Mike Zito, while Albert Castiglia grabbed the most ancient microphone available for his vocals – and drums that sound like they were recorded out in the garden shed.
I’m sure Johnny would be proud, as he would also be of their take on Muddy Waters' 'I Wanna Go Home,' which is all jagged, jangling R'n'B basics with a razor-wire guitar solo – Hard Again indeed.
Albert Castiglia does provide some relief from the scruff-of-the-neck approach though.
The title track is an awestruck but not maudlin reflection on his first discovering he had a daughter, the masterpiece of the title, 30 years after her birth – a simple affair of acoustic strumming and slide remarks, over boom-tap drums.
'Heavy’ is a social commentary slow blues framed around a rippling, rising guitar line and basic, beats-like drums.
And best of all there’s 'Love Will Win The War,' a meditation on the horror of mass shootings in churches, synagogues, schools and – well, you get the idea – set to warmly twangin’ an’ twinklin’ 'Wild Horses' like guitar work.
Albert Castiglia and Mike Zito deserve a lead-heavy slab of acclaim for this album.
Masterpiece is raw and primitive, down to earth and defiant, emotional and honest. And it is not to be denied.
Crank it up to 11 and tell me if I’m wrong.
Iain Cameron
Blues Enthused http://www.bluesenthused.com/
Re-produced for FabricationsHQ by permission
"No fucking frills, right?"
"Right!"
"Who else we gonna get play on it?"
"Nobody. We’ll do this fucker ourselves. You and me."
"Cool. Let's go."
So here we have the pair of them weighing in with electric, acoustic and bass guitars, while Castiglia takes care of the vocals and Zito also takes responsibility for – would you believe? – drums and keyboards.
It sounds like it was recorded on some clapped-out analogue recording equipment that someone rescued from the dump. And it is flat-out, bone-shakingly magnificent.
Oh sure, it starts out sounding like a particularly juicy T-Bone steak of electric blues, with 'Bring On The Rain' urgent and ready to rock, with guitar licks elbowing their way in all around Albert Castiglia’s growling voice.
But believe me, they’re just lulling you into a false sense of security.
The shuffling primal stomp and booming bass line of ‘I Tried To Tell You’ build foundations of granite for Castiglia’s screw-you vocals and a scrabbling, discordant solo before it sulks its way to an abrupt ending.
And that’s just by way of readying you for the further acts of shock and awe coming your way, like ‘Keep On Swinging’ fr’instance, with its bludgeoning riff over rock steady, reverberating bass and drums, a spell of raking guitar harmonies, and a dogfight of traded guitar licks, while Castiglia insists "Don’t let the bastards get you down."
Or 'Thoughts And Prayers,' on which more bang-crash drums and sledgehammer bass, allied to a lurching, scratchy guitar riff, provide the basis for an acid discourse from Castiglia about "thoughts and prayers and a loaded gun" and "children in the firing line."
Or ‘Catch My Breath’, which welds a Skynyrd-like melody to a chugging, clanking rhythm.
The two covers provide reinforcements.
Johnny Winter’s 'Too Much Seconal' feels like drinking the hair of the dog the morning after the night before, with fuzzy, screeching guitar and some basic blues piano-bashing from Mike Zito, while Albert Castiglia grabbed the most ancient microphone available for his vocals – and drums that sound like they were recorded out in the garden shed.
I’m sure Johnny would be proud, as he would also be of their take on Muddy Waters' 'I Wanna Go Home,' which is all jagged, jangling R'n'B basics with a razor-wire guitar solo – Hard Again indeed.
Albert Castiglia does provide some relief from the scruff-of-the-neck approach though.
The title track is an awestruck but not maudlin reflection on his first discovering he had a daughter, the masterpiece of the title, 30 years after her birth – a simple affair of acoustic strumming and slide remarks, over boom-tap drums.
'Heavy’ is a social commentary slow blues framed around a rippling, rising guitar line and basic, beats-like drums.
And best of all there’s 'Love Will Win The War,' a meditation on the horror of mass shootings in churches, synagogues, schools and – well, you get the idea – set to warmly twangin’ an’ twinklin’ 'Wild Horses' like guitar work.
Albert Castiglia and Mike Zito deserve a lead-heavy slab of acclaim for this album.
Masterpiece is raw and primitive, down to earth and defiant, emotional and honest. And it is not to be denied.
Crank it up to 11 and tell me if I’m wrong.
Iain Cameron
Blues Enthused http://www.bluesenthused.com/
Re-produced for FabricationsHQ by permission
Catfish - Burning Bridges
The weight and power of previous album Broken Man and subsequent acclaim (voted 2017 Album of the Year by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association) meant Sussex based quartet Catfish could have met up in the studio with our old friend Difficult Third Album Syndrome.
But given how accomplished they already are as songwriters (as presented on Broken Man; debut album So Many Roads was a highly regarded collection of covers) and with progressive themes, classic rock and a touch of the psychedelic all part of the band’s big, earthy blues rock sound (and the equally big, earthy blues rock voice of Matt Long) no-one need have worried.
Difficult third album syndrome was shown the studio door and come on in, after an off and on recording process between busy UK & Europe touring schedules, Burning Bridges.
The band’s third album is a dynamically themed blues rock offering that showcases just how good the father and son team of Paul Long (keyboards, vocals) and Matt Long (guitars, vocals), Adam Pyke (bass) and Kevin Yates (drums) are. And that’s exceptionally good.
Opener 'Up in Smoke' mixes just about all the previously mentioned rock styles to deliver a dark yet pulsating blues rock number that swells on the Zeppelin motifs and that big, booming voice of Matt Long (guest backing singer Alice Armstrong adds a complementary vocal layer to proceedings).
As on Broken Man Matt Long takes the majority of lead vocals with Paul Long taking lead on four of the eleven songs (while sharing vocal duties on the chain-gang styled number 'Soulbreaker,' a song that lyrically decries the money making celebrity creators).
The tempo is upped for the short, sharp and rampant 'Break Me Down,' Matt Long giving it his best Hendrix on the fiery and thick sounding solo (Paul Long’s full-bodied production lends itself perfectly to the band’s sound and those thick and fluid solos).
'Ghosts,' the first of the Paul Long vocal numbers, is, fittingly, a hauntingly and atmospherically arranged ballad with a crying guitar solo from Matt Long that dovetails beautifully with Paul Long’s plaintive vocal.
The myriad of blending Catfish styles continues through the blues groovin' 'Too Far to Fall,' the gospel blues of 'Archangel' (Alice Armstrong delivering perfect counter-point backing to Matt Long’s lead vocal) and Paul Long’s reflective piano number 'One More Chance.'
There’s also a beefy back to back brace in the shape of 'The Big Picture' (with a tasty little bass solo) and the pacier 'Under The Gun' (reminiscent of King King when they put the pedal down).
But as with Broken Man it’s when Catfish musically stretch or extend that they make their biggest and boldest statements.
On Broken Man it was the eight minute title track (a progressive blues tour-de-force) and an atmospheric, fourteen minute cover of Foy Vance's 'Make It Rain' – Burning Bridges offers up the no less impressive 'The Root of All Evil' (a muscly riffed, seven minute monster of a song with world problems lyricism) and ten minute closing track, 'Exile.'
The latter, a darker offering from Matt Long about the still-not-talked-about enough issues of depression and anxiety, builds from softer, introspective lyricism ("my world is so cold tonight, my world is so small, a fortress of my own mind…") to progressive metal blues with a highly charged and expressive guitar solo that's clearly channeled as an emotional outlet.
Something wicked(ly good) this way comes – and it’s burning bridges to help, as stated in 'Up in Smoke,' light the way.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But given how accomplished they already are as songwriters (as presented on Broken Man; debut album So Many Roads was a highly regarded collection of covers) and with progressive themes, classic rock and a touch of the psychedelic all part of the band’s big, earthy blues rock sound (and the equally big, earthy blues rock voice of Matt Long) no-one need have worried.
Difficult third album syndrome was shown the studio door and come on in, after an off and on recording process between busy UK & Europe touring schedules, Burning Bridges.
The band’s third album is a dynamically themed blues rock offering that showcases just how good the father and son team of Paul Long (keyboards, vocals) and Matt Long (guitars, vocals), Adam Pyke (bass) and Kevin Yates (drums) are. And that’s exceptionally good.
Opener 'Up in Smoke' mixes just about all the previously mentioned rock styles to deliver a dark yet pulsating blues rock number that swells on the Zeppelin motifs and that big, booming voice of Matt Long (guest backing singer Alice Armstrong adds a complementary vocal layer to proceedings).
As on Broken Man Matt Long takes the majority of lead vocals with Paul Long taking lead on four of the eleven songs (while sharing vocal duties on the chain-gang styled number 'Soulbreaker,' a song that lyrically decries the money making celebrity creators).
The tempo is upped for the short, sharp and rampant 'Break Me Down,' Matt Long giving it his best Hendrix on the fiery and thick sounding solo (Paul Long’s full-bodied production lends itself perfectly to the band’s sound and those thick and fluid solos).
'Ghosts,' the first of the Paul Long vocal numbers, is, fittingly, a hauntingly and atmospherically arranged ballad with a crying guitar solo from Matt Long that dovetails beautifully with Paul Long’s plaintive vocal.
The myriad of blending Catfish styles continues through the blues groovin' 'Too Far to Fall,' the gospel blues of 'Archangel' (Alice Armstrong delivering perfect counter-point backing to Matt Long’s lead vocal) and Paul Long’s reflective piano number 'One More Chance.'
There’s also a beefy back to back brace in the shape of 'The Big Picture' (with a tasty little bass solo) and the pacier 'Under The Gun' (reminiscent of King King when they put the pedal down).
But as with Broken Man it’s when Catfish musically stretch or extend that they make their biggest and boldest statements.
On Broken Man it was the eight minute title track (a progressive blues tour-de-force) and an atmospheric, fourteen minute cover of Foy Vance's 'Make It Rain' – Burning Bridges offers up the no less impressive 'The Root of All Evil' (a muscly riffed, seven minute monster of a song with world problems lyricism) and ten minute closing track, 'Exile.'
The latter, a darker offering from Matt Long about the still-not-talked-about enough issues of depression and anxiety, builds from softer, introspective lyricism ("my world is so cold tonight, my world is so small, a fortress of my own mind…") to progressive metal blues with a highly charged and expressive guitar solo that's clearly channeled as an emotional outlet.
Something wicked(ly good) this way comes – and it’s burning bridges to help, as stated in 'Up in Smoke,' light the way.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Alice Cooper – The Breadcrumbs EP
Alice Cooper may well be the fittest of the well past retirement age/ veteran rock and rollers still performing and recording (from drug and alcohol dependency days to a six games a week, four handicap golfer who still delivers the full theatrical Alice Cooper Show from his feet hitting the stage to head hitting the guillotine basket).
He’s also an artist who knows how to successfully mix the new with the nostalgic.
Last solo album, 2017’s Paranormal, was a strong, new material offering but it also nodded to the past – original Alice Cooper Band alumni Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce featured as guest players and subsequently performed on a number of tour dates with Cooper.
There was also the 2015 debut album by super group Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp), which paid homage to Cooper’s long-gone drinking buddies and musician friends through a collection of classic covers (the primarily self-penned material on this year’s sequel, Rise, made for a dreadfully poor follow-up however).
Now, celebrating Detroit’s rock and roll, Motown and proto-punk past comes Breadcrumbs, a six track nod to Alice Cooper’s musical roots and an EP that packs more rock and roll pizzazz and fun into its 21 minutes than the near hour of the aforementioned Rise.
Opening with a reworking of 'Detroit City' from The Eyes of Alice Cooper album, 'Detroit City 2020' carries the same big-beat swagger as the original but sans chorus and with a number of lyrical changes (including a nod to Suzi Quatro).
Miss Quatro’s Detroit inclusion is fitting given the Coop’s cover of Suzi Q’s late night funk ‘n’ horns number 'Your Mama Won’t Like Me,' a faithful to the 1975 original rendition that wins out courtesy of far bigger sound and production values. It’s also a great fit for the back to his Detroit roots Alice Cooper.
New number, 'Go Man Go,' is rockin’ Detroit punk rock ‘n’ roll, led by spoken verses and shout it out "go man go!" choruses. It’s short, sharp and whole load of jam kickin’ MC5 styled fun.
Indeed it wouldn’t be any sort of Detroit music tribute without the MC5; on The Breadcrumbs EP the proto punk outfit are honoured via a cover of 'Sister Anne.'
It’s a slightly truncated take on the original but retains those harmonica blowin’ wails atop its rawk ‘n’ roll framework.
Two other covers complete the EP – a rocked up take of Bob Seger’s first Detroit hit from 1966, 'East Side Story,' and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels’ 1964 hit, 'Devil With a Blue Dress On.'
The latter is slower here but given pace by the inclusion of classic Stax track 'Chains of Love' (Mitch Ryder’s original incorporated 'Good Golly Miss Molly').
The Breadcrumbs EP will not become a Cooper Classic nor likely hit high on the rock charts (limiting it to limited edition 10” vinyl tells you that was never the plan; it is of course also available digitally) but it’s a tasty, Detroit focused half-dozen from one of Michigan’s rock and roll legends.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
He’s also an artist who knows how to successfully mix the new with the nostalgic.
Last solo album, 2017’s Paranormal, was a strong, new material offering but it also nodded to the past – original Alice Cooper Band alumni Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce featured as guest players and subsequently performed on a number of tour dates with Cooper.
There was also the 2015 debut album by super group Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp), which paid homage to Cooper’s long-gone drinking buddies and musician friends through a collection of classic covers (the primarily self-penned material on this year’s sequel, Rise, made for a dreadfully poor follow-up however).
Now, celebrating Detroit’s rock and roll, Motown and proto-punk past comes Breadcrumbs, a six track nod to Alice Cooper’s musical roots and an EP that packs more rock and roll pizzazz and fun into its 21 minutes than the near hour of the aforementioned Rise.
Opening with a reworking of 'Detroit City' from The Eyes of Alice Cooper album, 'Detroit City 2020' carries the same big-beat swagger as the original but sans chorus and with a number of lyrical changes (including a nod to Suzi Quatro).
Miss Quatro’s Detroit inclusion is fitting given the Coop’s cover of Suzi Q’s late night funk ‘n’ horns number 'Your Mama Won’t Like Me,' a faithful to the 1975 original rendition that wins out courtesy of far bigger sound and production values. It’s also a great fit for the back to his Detroit roots Alice Cooper.
New number, 'Go Man Go,' is rockin’ Detroit punk rock ‘n’ roll, led by spoken verses and shout it out "go man go!" choruses. It’s short, sharp and whole load of jam kickin’ MC5 styled fun.
Indeed it wouldn’t be any sort of Detroit music tribute without the MC5; on The Breadcrumbs EP the proto punk outfit are honoured via a cover of 'Sister Anne.'
It’s a slightly truncated take on the original but retains those harmonica blowin’ wails atop its rawk ‘n’ roll framework.
Two other covers complete the EP – a rocked up take of Bob Seger’s first Detroit hit from 1966, 'East Side Story,' and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels’ 1964 hit, 'Devil With a Blue Dress On.'
The latter is slower here but given pace by the inclusion of classic Stax track 'Chains of Love' (Mitch Ryder’s original incorporated 'Good Golly Miss Molly').
The Breadcrumbs EP will not become a Cooper Classic nor likely hit high on the rock charts (limiting it to limited edition 10” vinyl tells you that was never the plan; it is of course also available digitally) but it’s a tasty, Detroit focused half-dozen from one of Michigan’s rock and roll legends.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Davy K Project - Lockdown
The rock, blues and country stylings of Irish singer-guitarist Davy K (aka Davy Kerrigan) are showcased to good effect on debut album Lockdown by The Davy K Project featuring Kerrigan (vocals, guitars, keyboards, mandolin), Mark McConnell (bass, backing vocals, keyboards) and Marty Grieve (drums, percussion).
That each of those genres meshes well and is catered for equally (from harder edged rock blues to radio friendly country-blues) makes the nine track album all the more appealing and accomplished.
Opening number 'Loner' carries a modern rock sheen of big beats, big sound and more than a touch of later era ZZ Top.
You also have to think Davy Kerrigan’s "have mercy" line mid-song is as much a nod to the Top as it is a fitting interjection, while his "I’ve been there and done that, wore the tee shirt" fade out carries a distinctly Dusty country drawl.
That country vocality (and the genre’s musical influence on Davy Kerrigan) is to the fore on 'Funny How,' a breezy acoustic based number that, in a different time and place, would be bouncing in and around the Billboard country charts if it had been written or recorded by any number of celebrated county-pop artists on the other side of the Atlantic.
The breadth of Davy Kerrigan's musical palette is further explored on the rock ballads 'Breathe' and 'Sun Don’t Shine.'
The former proves you don’t always need a big production to get your message across, just an expression of love’s strength ("you’re the air that I breathe") and a complementary guitar solo to fade out on.
The latter is the musically weightier of the two, with a stepped up mid-section and a closing, crying guitar that sits behind the hope for "one more day" lyric.
'Pray' could well be the lyrical counterpart to 'Sun Don't Shine' ("just hold on for one more day...") although in this instance it's a pray for better times ahead world view.
Musically however 'Pray,' through its gritty, hardened guitar edge, is the meat and muscle of the album, as is the title track, which carries a hard hitting feel of 90s era Foreigner/ Bad Company.
The Davy K blend of rock, country and blues makes itself heard on 'The Storm' (a mid-tempo number driven by a subtle little blues riff) and the more countrified rock of 'Whiskey Road.'
Album closer 'Be Alright' is a fine, country rockin’ slice of let’s head down the road to see where it goes, feel good optimism.
Davy Kerrigan, who has recorded with the likes of Tony Carey (Rainbow), Ron Wikso (Foreigner, Cher, David Lee Roth), Marc Lynn (Gotthard) and Neil Murray (Whitesnake), is doing well across the length and breadth of Ireland (and forays into Europe) with his band’s well received, ultra-high energy sets of originals and covers.
But it's still early days for The Davy K Project – in time however they could well become a blues rock name outside of the Emerald Isle, with the help of further exposure, potential support slots, promotion, distribution and good old word of mouth.
What Davy Kerrigan doesn’t need help with is his song writing or song quality – he’s pretty much got that locked down already.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That each of those genres meshes well and is catered for equally (from harder edged rock blues to radio friendly country-blues) makes the nine track album all the more appealing and accomplished.
Opening number 'Loner' carries a modern rock sheen of big beats, big sound and more than a touch of later era ZZ Top.
You also have to think Davy Kerrigan’s "have mercy" line mid-song is as much a nod to the Top as it is a fitting interjection, while his "I’ve been there and done that, wore the tee shirt" fade out carries a distinctly Dusty country drawl.
That country vocality (and the genre’s musical influence on Davy Kerrigan) is to the fore on 'Funny How,' a breezy acoustic based number that, in a different time and place, would be bouncing in and around the Billboard country charts if it had been written or recorded by any number of celebrated county-pop artists on the other side of the Atlantic.
The breadth of Davy Kerrigan's musical palette is further explored on the rock ballads 'Breathe' and 'Sun Don’t Shine.'
The former proves you don’t always need a big production to get your message across, just an expression of love’s strength ("you’re the air that I breathe") and a complementary guitar solo to fade out on.
The latter is the musically weightier of the two, with a stepped up mid-section and a closing, crying guitar that sits behind the hope for "one more day" lyric.
'Pray' could well be the lyrical counterpart to 'Sun Don't Shine' ("just hold on for one more day...") although in this instance it's a pray for better times ahead world view.
Musically however 'Pray,' through its gritty, hardened guitar edge, is the meat and muscle of the album, as is the title track, which carries a hard hitting feel of 90s era Foreigner/ Bad Company.
The Davy K blend of rock, country and blues makes itself heard on 'The Storm' (a mid-tempo number driven by a subtle little blues riff) and the more countrified rock of 'Whiskey Road.'
Album closer 'Be Alright' is a fine, country rockin’ slice of let’s head down the road to see where it goes, feel good optimism.
Davy Kerrigan, who has recorded with the likes of Tony Carey (Rainbow), Ron Wikso (Foreigner, Cher, David Lee Roth), Marc Lynn (Gotthard) and Neil Murray (Whitesnake), is doing well across the length and breadth of Ireland (and forays into Europe) with his band’s well received, ultra-high energy sets of originals and covers.
But it's still early days for The Davy K Project – in time however they could well become a blues rock name outside of the Emerald Isle, with the help of further exposure, potential support slots, promotion, distribution and good old word of mouth.
What Davy Kerrigan doesn’t need help with is his song writing or song quality – he’s pretty much got that locked down already.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Lachy Doley Group – Make or Break
There are a lot of great, nay, outstanding Hammond and blues keyboard players out there in music land but very few, if any, sound quite like Lachy Doley.
The Australian musician also has the somewhat unique instrumentation distinction of being not just a tremendous Hammond player but an advocate and exceptional exponent of the Whammy Clavinet (a Hohner D6, keyboard curio lovers).
The results are the best of both Hammond grooving and guitar-mimicking, whammy bending worlds.
Both those skills are featured on 'A Woman,' the trippy, thick blues groover that opens latest Lachy Doley Group offering, Make or Break, backed by Joel Burton’s sinewy bass line and drummer Jackie Barnes’ simple but highly effective on-point blues-beats.
The band then deliver soul-blues airplay appeal with 'Cruel Cruel World' before getting their slow blues on for 'The Greatest Blues,' a song that showcase not just Lachy Doley’s Whammy Clav skills but his growth as a blues vocalist (the deeper voiced Doley is a far better singer now, in phrasing and expressiveness, than he was on earlier recordings).
The high-tempo, 60-beat sound of 'Strut' is just that while the band get lowdown and funky on the semi-jam workout 'Give It (But You Just Can’t Take It),' with throaty Hammond to the fore.
Add in other dollops of Lachy Doley goodness including the gospel/ Ray Charles styled 'Into the Alone' (now there’s a blues title), slow soul-rocker 'Make or Break,' a re-record for 'The Killer' (a darker shade of funky blues that featured on previous album Lovelight) and album closing blues ballad 'Can't Get Close to You' (which musically nods to Joe Cocker’s version of 'With a Little Help From My Friends') and you have The Lachy Doley Group’s best album to date.
Even with solid, earlier releases such as 'S.O.S,' stellar work on Glenn Hughes’ outstanding 2016 album Resonate ("the greatest living keyboard player in the world today" as stated by The Voice of Rock) and the
Live at Blues on Broadbeach 2016 broadcast, Lachy Doley’s radar signature on the UK and European blues scene is still very small (but then he could spend his entire musical life just trying to cover every musical mile of his home-land down under).
But the quality of Make or Break, coupled with some airplay and spreading of the promotional word, should help ensure his profile north of the equator continues to rise as as more blues listeners and lovers become aware of The Lachy Doley Group; a keyboard-led power-trio force to be reckoned with.
Make or Break?
If it is, Mr Doley is certainly giving it his best funky, soulful and blues grooving shot at it being the former.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Australian musician also has the somewhat unique instrumentation distinction of being not just a tremendous Hammond player but an advocate and exceptional exponent of the Whammy Clavinet (a Hohner D6, keyboard curio lovers).
The results are the best of both Hammond grooving and guitar-mimicking, whammy bending worlds.
Both those skills are featured on 'A Woman,' the trippy, thick blues groover that opens latest Lachy Doley Group offering, Make or Break, backed by Joel Burton’s sinewy bass line and drummer Jackie Barnes’ simple but highly effective on-point blues-beats.
The band then deliver soul-blues airplay appeal with 'Cruel Cruel World' before getting their slow blues on for 'The Greatest Blues,' a song that showcase not just Lachy Doley’s Whammy Clav skills but his growth as a blues vocalist (the deeper voiced Doley is a far better singer now, in phrasing and expressiveness, than he was on earlier recordings).
The high-tempo, 60-beat sound of 'Strut' is just that while the band get lowdown and funky on the semi-jam workout 'Give It (But You Just Can’t Take It),' with throaty Hammond to the fore.
Add in other dollops of Lachy Doley goodness including the gospel/ Ray Charles styled 'Into the Alone' (now there’s a blues title), slow soul-rocker 'Make or Break,' a re-record for 'The Killer' (a darker shade of funky blues that featured on previous album Lovelight) and album closing blues ballad 'Can't Get Close to You' (which musically nods to Joe Cocker’s version of 'With a Little Help From My Friends') and you have The Lachy Doley Group’s best album to date.
Even with solid, earlier releases such as 'S.O.S,' stellar work on Glenn Hughes’ outstanding 2016 album Resonate ("the greatest living keyboard player in the world today" as stated by The Voice of Rock) and the
Live at Blues on Broadbeach 2016 broadcast, Lachy Doley’s radar signature on the UK and European blues scene is still very small (but then he could spend his entire musical life just trying to cover every musical mile of his home-land down under).
But the quality of Make or Break, coupled with some airplay and spreading of the promotional word, should help ensure his profile north of the equator continues to rise as as more blues listeners and lovers become aware of The Lachy Doley Group; a keyboard-led power-trio force to be reckoned with.
Make or Break?
If it is, Mr Doley is certainly giving it his best funky, soulful and blues grooving shot at it being the former.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
EBB – Death and The Maiden EP
Death And The Maiden is the first release from EBB, previously The Erin Bennett Band (themselves formed, for the most part, from ex members of Rockbitch and, latterly, the touring line-up of alt-rock band Syren).
Or, more precisely, a communal art collective of musicians featuring songwriter Erin Bennett (guitars, vocals), Anna Fraser (drums), Nikki Francis (keys), Finn McGregor (bass), Suna Dasi (backing vocals) & Kitty Biscuits (backing vocals, spoken word, poetry).
Death And The Maiden is the six-song soundtrack to 'Krystal's Story,' as described in the 40 page, full coloured A4 booklet that accompanies the EP (seven pages of the book tell the story with the rest of the book featuring imagery, band pics, song lyrics and a sign-off page from Erin Bennett, who wrote 'Krystal's Story' with Suna Dasi).
The band’s myriad of influences (everything from jazz, theatrical and Indian dance to King Crimson and Tool) have produced a genuinely genre defying sound but if labels must be attached then EBB are akin to dark-rock meeting alt-prog.
Such a sound is sometimes unsettling yet perfectly in keeping with the conceptual story of an individual who may be fictional but is most certainly grounded in real life factuality for those who have struggled with their place in things, gender acceptance or sexual morality (and the anguished mental state that can arise through personal confusion or, sadly, all too familiar unacceptance).
Opener 'Dark Lady' is a highly contemporary letting go statement (quite literally, through Erin Bennett’s "I let go" opening and later repeating line in the company of three-part harmonies, synth backing and drum & guitar riff).
Following number 'Throw it All Away' continues the process through darker rock shapes and punchy bass lines (it’s interesting to note the use of Hammond and mellotron through some of the numbers; hence the alt-prog vibe) before the guitar-heavy 'Illusions' offers both edgy rise and more reflective fall.
'So Great a Lover' (an excerpt from Rupert Brooke’s 'The Great Lover,' recited by Kitty Biscuits over an ever rising dark-rock backing) acts as a segue to 'Suicide;' the latter's lyrical tragedy is balanced somewhat by a regimented but highly melodic dark-rock refrain.
The story and EP is concluded with the ballad 'Cold & Still,' the sadness of a line such as "And as she falls, they drain the magic from her veins" counterpointed by the more forthright "You don’t give a fuck about me!"
EBB are dark and different but therein lies the very problem – there will be many a listener who understands or appreciates what EBB and Death And The Maiden are all about but there’s as many (and arguably more) who won’t get the Ebb (the other meaning for the band’s name) and flow of the sextet’s highly angular and at times edgy music and its meaning.
But that’s the very sort of fresh and modern approach to a progressive form of music that should be applauded, even by those who would not normally put their hands together.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Or, more precisely, a communal art collective of musicians featuring songwriter Erin Bennett (guitars, vocals), Anna Fraser (drums), Nikki Francis (keys), Finn McGregor (bass), Suna Dasi (backing vocals) & Kitty Biscuits (backing vocals, spoken word, poetry).
Death And The Maiden is the six-song soundtrack to 'Krystal's Story,' as described in the 40 page, full coloured A4 booklet that accompanies the EP (seven pages of the book tell the story with the rest of the book featuring imagery, band pics, song lyrics and a sign-off page from Erin Bennett, who wrote 'Krystal's Story' with Suna Dasi).
The band’s myriad of influences (everything from jazz, theatrical and Indian dance to King Crimson and Tool) have produced a genuinely genre defying sound but if labels must be attached then EBB are akin to dark-rock meeting alt-prog.
Such a sound is sometimes unsettling yet perfectly in keeping with the conceptual story of an individual who may be fictional but is most certainly grounded in real life factuality for those who have struggled with their place in things, gender acceptance or sexual morality (and the anguished mental state that can arise through personal confusion or, sadly, all too familiar unacceptance).
Opener 'Dark Lady' is a highly contemporary letting go statement (quite literally, through Erin Bennett’s "I let go" opening and later repeating line in the company of three-part harmonies, synth backing and drum & guitar riff).
Following number 'Throw it All Away' continues the process through darker rock shapes and punchy bass lines (it’s interesting to note the use of Hammond and mellotron through some of the numbers; hence the alt-prog vibe) before the guitar-heavy 'Illusions' offers both edgy rise and more reflective fall.
'So Great a Lover' (an excerpt from Rupert Brooke’s 'The Great Lover,' recited by Kitty Biscuits over an ever rising dark-rock backing) acts as a segue to 'Suicide;' the latter's lyrical tragedy is balanced somewhat by a regimented but highly melodic dark-rock refrain.
The story and EP is concluded with the ballad 'Cold & Still,' the sadness of a line such as "And as she falls, they drain the magic from her veins" counterpointed by the more forthright "You don’t give a fuck about me!"
EBB are dark and different but therein lies the very problem – there will be many a listener who understands or appreciates what EBB and Death And The Maiden are all about but there’s as many (and arguably more) who won’t get the Ebb (the other meaning for the band’s name) and flow of the sextet’s highly angular and at times edgy music and its meaning.
But that’s the very sort of fresh and modern approach to a progressive form of music that should be applauded, even by those who would not normally put their hands together.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Anfrew Robert Eustace - Different Sides
The second release from Glasgow based bluesman Andrew Robert Eustace is well named.
Not only is it the full electric blues counter-point to the singer-guitarist-songwriter’s debut album Stories (which was a primarily solo/ semi-acoustic affair) it’s also the weightier or rockier side of the Eustace (to give him the name he’s now performing as) brand of blues, which comes from the same Mississippi and Delta sources as his equally impassioned acoustic/ solo material.
That old school Delta blues sound is captured early, in recording terms (and this is very much a recording, not a production, which lends itself perfectly to Eustace’s raw, earthy and honest live sound), on opening everyman and everywoman number 'For You' (Eustace’s treated loudspeaker microphone vocal sounds like it’s coming to you from a 40s or 50s blues recording studio).
'For You' is also one of four songs performed solo, the other six featuring the Eustace band talents of his long-standing friend and fellow six-stringer Gordon Irvine (rhythm guitar) and the solid, big sounding rhythm section that is Michael McGee (drums) and Ryan Reilly (bass).
The full band are then up front and centre on the Hendrix meets funky blues (check out Ryan Reilly’s little bass break) of the title track, Eustace giving it the full Jimi on the second and concluding solo.
Given the opening one-two of the album it would be easy to see and hear Eustace and Co as a Delta meets blues rock combination but there are a number of, fittingly, different sides to this album and artist – the six minute 'Blues Kind' for example, which carries an almost Robin Trower-esque tone (albeit with a far earthier vocal than that of the late James Dewar).
The plaintive 'Lost Soul' is the second of the solo numbers and another with a very distinct and intentional throwback recording sound; one soul then gives way to another on the seven-and-a-half minute 'Soul in Glasgow,' a gritty, riff-backed mid-tempo number that leaves you in no doubt as to where Eustace’s passions lie ("I left my soul in Glasgow, left my heart in New Orleans!")
'Don’t Cry One Tear' is part shuffle, part Rory Gallagher (you can almost hear the late and great man putting his Irish brogue blues vocal and battered Strat across this number); it sits in complementary but different sided contrast to next number, the we’ve all got troubles solo number, 'North of the Tracks.'
The punchy 'Keep it to Yourself' picks up the pace and allows the band to rock out a little before they settle in to the album’s slow blues highlight, 'Suffer You;' the song offers up plenty of space across its seven-and-a-half minutes for the guitars to cry those blues in relatively restrained, melodically framed fashion.
Ending on the reflective and concise 'Too Fast' (the album is perfectly book-ended by the two shortest solo tracks), Eustace’s second album does indeed showcase a number of very different sides of the recently rebranded artist (let’s be honest, Andrew Robert Eustace sounded more like a firm of Solicitors than it did a blues rock artist).
More importantly, it showcases them very well indeed.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Not only is it the full electric blues counter-point to the singer-guitarist-songwriter’s debut album Stories (which was a primarily solo/ semi-acoustic affair) it’s also the weightier or rockier side of the Eustace (to give him the name he’s now performing as) brand of blues, which comes from the same Mississippi and Delta sources as his equally impassioned acoustic/ solo material.
That old school Delta blues sound is captured early, in recording terms (and this is very much a recording, not a production, which lends itself perfectly to Eustace’s raw, earthy and honest live sound), on opening everyman and everywoman number 'For You' (Eustace’s treated loudspeaker microphone vocal sounds like it’s coming to you from a 40s or 50s blues recording studio).
'For You' is also one of four songs performed solo, the other six featuring the Eustace band talents of his long-standing friend and fellow six-stringer Gordon Irvine (rhythm guitar) and the solid, big sounding rhythm section that is Michael McGee (drums) and Ryan Reilly (bass).
The full band are then up front and centre on the Hendrix meets funky blues (check out Ryan Reilly’s little bass break) of the title track, Eustace giving it the full Jimi on the second and concluding solo.
Given the opening one-two of the album it would be easy to see and hear Eustace and Co as a Delta meets blues rock combination but there are a number of, fittingly, different sides to this album and artist – the six minute 'Blues Kind' for example, which carries an almost Robin Trower-esque tone (albeit with a far earthier vocal than that of the late James Dewar).
The plaintive 'Lost Soul' is the second of the solo numbers and another with a very distinct and intentional throwback recording sound; one soul then gives way to another on the seven-and-a-half minute 'Soul in Glasgow,' a gritty, riff-backed mid-tempo number that leaves you in no doubt as to where Eustace’s passions lie ("I left my soul in Glasgow, left my heart in New Orleans!")
'Don’t Cry One Tear' is part shuffle, part Rory Gallagher (you can almost hear the late and great man putting his Irish brogue blues vocal and battered Strat across this number); it sits in complementary but different sided contrast to next number, the we’ve all got troubles solo number, 'North of the Tracks.'
The punchy 'Keep it to Yourself' picks up the pace and allows the band to rock out a little before they settle in to the album’s slow blues highlight, 'Suffer You;' the song offers up plenty of space across its seven-and-a-half minutes for the guitars to cry those blues in relatively restrained, melodically framed fashion.
Ending on the reflective and concise 'Too Fast' (the album is perfectly book-ended by the two shortest solo tracks), Eustace’s second album does indeed showcase a number of very different sides of the recently rebranded artist (let’s be honest, Andrew Robert Eustace sounded more like a firm of Solicitors than it did a blues rock artist).
More importantly, it showcases them very well indeed.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Heather Findlay – Wild White Horses
It’s remarkable to think that, more than twenty years on from Heather Findlay’s recorded debut with the band Mostly Autumn and a post-Autumn career that has seen many a collaborative, "guesting with" or Heather Findlay Band project, the Yorkshire singer-songwriter has only now released her first full-length solo album.
Findlay, who comfortably crosses and blends the boundaries of progressive, folk, ballad and rock, released The Phoenix Suite back in 2011 and I Am Snow in 2016 but the former was a 5 track EP (albeit a very interesting, angular rock styled one) while the latter was a nine track Winter-themed anthology.
Between those releases it’s been a case of other priorities and musical ventures taking ever-busy precedence; The Illusion’s Reckoning by Mantra Vega (a collaborative project featuring Heather Findlay and multi-instrumentalist Dave Kerzner (Sound of Contact) is a particularly notable atmospheric prog example).
Wild White Horses however captures Heather Findlay in a more rock, Americana-country and bluesy-folk setting, all of which has been built around her collaboration with, and album production from, Thunder’s Luke Morley (the guitarist, who also adds bass, keyboards and percussion to proceedings, co-wrote seven of the twelve numbers with Findlay).
Opening number 'Here’s to You' (written in memory of Heather Findlay’s ex-Mostly Autumn bandmate Liam Davison, who sadly and suddenly passed away in 2017) is a crossover country case in more mainstream point – to wit, if this was Heather Findlay of Nashville and not Heather Findlay of Yorkshire she would have a bubbling under the Billboard Country charts hit on her hands.
The bluesy framed and mid-weight 'Just a Woman' reminds of the sort of mid-tempo, rock-lite song Thunder do so well when they turn it down a notch; all the more fitting then that Luke Morley’s old Thunder mucker Danny Bowes features in vocal duet with Heather Findlay.
The trademark, emotive balladeering of Heather Findlay is to the fore on piano, acoustic guitar and vocal number 'The Island,' only to be bettered later by the evocative vocal that floats atop piano ballad 'Firefly' (the pin-drop moment of the album).
By contrast, 'Face in the Sun' hints at a Findlay of Autumn past but in a percussively and vocally, India framed setting.
The rock edge of Wild White Horses makes its appearance on 'Southern Shores' (similarly rock driven is the Heart-Barracuda styled title track) before the stirring sound of Uilleann pipes, played by Troy Donockley, introduce reflective Celtic folk number I Remember.'
The latter is the sort of song Heather Findlay excels at; similarly her lilting vocality on country-tinged, folk pop number 'Winner' (featuring Ian Anderson on flute) and the rock meets country tones employed on bluesy Americana album closer, 'Forget the Rain.'
The best work to yet feature the voice of Heather Findlay?
Given the strength and classic rock meets modern prog scope of Mostly Autumn’s finest hour, Passengers, that’s a tough call, but Wild White Horses is a seriously good album.
The rock-Americana-folk crossover traits of Wild White Horses also make for a highly accessible offering that, with a fair wind, has the potential to widen and increase the singer's fan-base well beyond the prog shores.
And that's nothing less than the captivating voice and talents of Heather Findlay deserve.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Findlay, who comfortably crosses and blends the boundaries of progressive, folk, ballad and rock, released The Phoenix Suite back in 2011 and I Am Snow in 2016 but the former was a 5 track EP (albeit a very interesting, angular rock styled one) while the latter was a nine track Winter-themed anthology.
Between those releases it’s been a case of other priorities and musical ventures taking ever-busy precedence; The Illusion’s Reckoning by Mantra Vega (a collaborative project featuring Heather Findlay and multi-instrumentalist Dave Kerzner (Sound of Contact) is a particularly notable atmospheric prog example).
Wild White Horses however captures Heather Findlay in a more rock, Americana-country and bluesy-folk setting, all of which has been built around her collaboration with, and album production from, Thunder’s Luke Morley (the guitarist, who also adds bass, keyboards and percussion to proceedings, co-wrote seven of the twelve numbers with Findlay).
Opening number 'Here’s to You' (written in memory of Heather Findlay’s ex-Mostly Autumn bandmate Liam Davison, who sadly and suddenly passed away in 2017) is a crossover country case in more mainstream point – to wit, if this was Heather Findlay of Nashville and not Heather Findlay of Yorkshire she would have a bubbling under the Billboard Country charts hit on her hands.
The bluesy framed and mid-weight 'Just a Woman' reminds of the sort of mid-tempo, rock-lite song Thunder do so well when they turn it down a notch; all the more fitting then that Luke Morley’s old Thunder mucker Danny Bowes features in vocal duet with Heather Findlay.
The trademark, emotive balladeering of Heather Findlay is to the fore on piano, acoustic guitar and vocal number 'The Island,' only to be bettered later by the evocative vocal that floats atop piano ballad 'Firefly' (the pin-drop moment of the album).
By contrast, 'Face in the Sun' hints at a Findlay of Autumn past but in a percussively and vocally, India framed setting.
The rock edge of Wild White Horses makes its appearance on 'Southern Shores' (similarly rock driven is the Heart-Barracuda styled title track) before the stirring sound of Uilleann pipes, played by Troy Donockley, introduce reflective Celtic folk number I Remember.'
The latter is the sort of song Heather Findlay excels at; similarly her lilting vocality on country-tinged, folk pop number 'Winner' (featuring Ian Anderson on flute) and the rock meets country tones employed on bluesy Americana album closer, 'Forget the Rain.'
The best work to yet feature the voice of Heather Findlay?
Given the strength and classic rock meets modern prog scope of Mostly Autumn’s finest hour, Passengers, that’s a tough call, but Wild White Horses is a seriously good album.
The rock-Americana-folk crossover traits of Wild White Horses also make for a highly accessible offering that, with a fair wind, has the potential to widen and increase the singer's fan-base well beyond the prog shores.
And that's nothing less than the captivating voice and talents of Heather Findlay deserve.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Samantha Fish – Kill Or Be Kind
Samantha Fish may be steeped in American roots-blues, but it’s impossible to pigeon-hole the singer-guitarist-songwriter as an artist – she takes that rootsy, traditional template as her starting point but puts a whole, new modern twist on it.
Previous studio album Belle of the West was a defining statement in the career thus far of the Kansas City native
(Miss Fish musically exploring Mississippi and Delta blues in her own inimitable fashion) but Kill Or Be Kind is her most all encompassing and stylistically varied work to date, highlighted to great effect by first two numbers, 'Bullet Proof' and the title track.
'Bullet Proof' is an electric cigar box foot stomper that’s carried by a simple but highly effectively and gritty riff.
The song is given further layers and an added dynamic by Samantha Fish’s lighter verse vocals (that raise to distorted-microphone chorus vocal hollers) and her wicked, sonically treated cigar box slide work.
'Kill Or Be Kind' couldn’t be any different, a Memphis horns swaying ballad that proves once again that Samantha Fish can vocally soul it out as well as she can belt the rockin’ blues.
Lyrically 'Kill Or Be Kind' expounds on the fickleness or duality of love (a recurring theme on the album); musically it manages to sound both modern and old-time.
That modern sound in vintage clothing permeates through Kill Or Be Kind, due in no small part to having the album recorded at the Royal Studios in Memphis (where 2015’s Wild Heart was recorded), produced by Scott Billington (who brought in background soul singers and synths; a first for Samantha Fish) and mixed by Steve Reynolds.
That both are also multiple Grammy award winners tells you they have the sonic chops, and then some.
Co-writing with a number of noted collaborators including Jim McCormick (Luke Bryan, Keith Urban); Kate Pearlman (Kelly Clarkson) and Parker Millsap has as also paid broadening the palette dividends for Samantha Fish – 'She Don't Live Around Here Anymore,' for example, co-written with Parker Millsap, is a smooth and slow Tennessee whisky blend of Memphis soul and country blues.
Those fickle love themes come calling in all their colours (love sick, falling fast, expectations, deceit, love unfulfilled) on soul-soaked blues number 'Love Letters,' the Memphis R&B of 'Try Not To Fall in Love With You' (Samantha Fish does old-school R&B as well as she does roots-blues) and the blues/ soul ballads 'Farewell My Fairweather,' 'Dirty' and 'Dream Girl.'
All three ballads are also beautifully arranged examples of less is more, a trait Samantha Fish embraces on the album.
The ever-changing textures of Kill Or Be Kind are exemplified by the rockabilly blues of 'Love Your Lies,' the pickin’ riff that drives 'Watch it Die' (with soul crying change-up in the second half of the song) and heavier, soul-blues album closer 'You Got It Bad' (which puts the electric cigar box back in Samantha Fish’s capable hands for the solo).
Ladies and gentlemen, Samantha Fish – not so much defining roots-blues and soul in the modern era, as redefining it.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Previous studio album Belle of the West was a defining statement in the career thus far of the Kansas City native
(Miss Fish musically exploring Mississippi and Delta blues in her own inimitable fashion) but Kill Or Be Kind is her most all encompassing and stylistically varied work to date, highlighted to great effect by first two numbers, 'Bullet Proof' and the title track.
'Bullet Proof' is an electric cigar box foot stomper that’s carried by a simple but highly effectively and gritty riff.
The song is given further layers and an added dynamic by Samantha Fish’s lighter verse vocals (that raise to distorted-microphone chorus vocal hollers) and her wicked, sonically treated cigar box slide work.
'Kill Or Be Kind' couldn’t be any different, a Memphis horns swaying ballad that proves once again that Samantha Fish can vocally soul it out as well as she can belt the rockin’ blues.
Lyrically 'Kill Or Be Kind' expounds on the fickleness or duality of love (a recurring theme on the album); musically it manages to sound both modern and old-time.
That modern sound in vintage clothing permeates through Kill Or Be Kind, due in no small part to having the album recorded at the Royal Studios in Memphis (where 2015’s Wild Heart was recorded), produced by Scott Billington (who brought in background soul singers and synths; a first for Samantha Fish) and mixed by Steve Reynolds.
That both are also multiple Grammy award winners tells you they have the sonic chops, and then some.
Co-writing with a number of noted collaborators including Jim McCormick (Luke Bryan, Keith Urban); Kate Pearlman (Kelly Clarkson) and Parker Millsap has as also paid broadening the palette dividends for Samantha Fish – 'She Don't Live Around Here Anymore,' for example, co-written with Parker Millsap, is a smooth and slow Tennessee whisky blend of Memphis soul and country blues.
Those fickle love themes come calling in all their colours (love sick, falling fast, expectations, deceit, love unfulfilled) on soul-soaked blues number 'Love Letters,' the Memphis R&B of 'Try Not To Fall in Love With You' (Samantha Fish does old-school R&B as well as she does roots-blues) and the blues/ soul ballads 'Farewell My Fairweather,' 'Dirty' and 'Dream Girl.'
All three ballads are also beautifully arranged examples of less is more, a trait Samantha Fish embraces on the album.
The ever-changing textures of Kill Or Be Kind are exemplified by the rockabilly blues of 'Love Your Lies,' the pickin’ riff that drives 'Watch it Die' (with soul crying change-up in the second half of the song) and heavier, soul-blues album closer 'You Got It Bad' (which puts the electric cigar box back in Samantha Fish’s capable hands for the solo).
Ladies and gentlemen, Samantha Fish – not so much defining roots-blues and soul in the modern era, as redefining it.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
FM - The Italian Job (CD / DVD)
While The Italian Job is far from being FM’s first live release (whether that be CD or DVD) it’s across the boards set-list makes it another worthwhile purchase for the discerning melodic rock fan and not just the must-have-it-all FM diehards.
Nor does it hurt that the band, featuring ever-present originals Steve Overland (vocals, rhythm guitar), Merv Goldsworthy (bass, backing vox) and Pete Jupp (drums, backing vox) along with twenty-five year FM veteran Jem Davis (keyboards, backing vox) and featured/ lead guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick (who joined a year after the band’s 2007 reformation), are playing and performing as well as they did back in the 80s and 90s day.
Recorded and filmed at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan in April of 2018, The Italian Job (you’d love to think the band arrived at the gig in red, white and blue coloured classic Mini Coopers) is a sixteen track album that acts as both a Best Of the band's back catalogue and a Greatest Hits showcase (no FM show or live recording is going to omit choice Indiscreet and Tough it Out cuts such as melodic rock meets power-pop brace 'That Girl' and 'The Other Side of Midnight,' or the weightier but no less melodic 'Bad Luck' and 'Someday').
Opening with the swaggering and blues fuelled 'Black Magic' (from most recent album Atomic Generation), followed and musically counter-pointed by Indiscreet’s punchy AOR rocker 'I Belong to the Night,' the UK’s leading melodic rock outfit put on their own across-the-years 'FM' radio show – the rockier 'Tough it Out' and Aphrodisiac’s melodic blues ballad 'Closer to Heaven' share stage space with 21st century FM gems including the foot-tapping 'Over You' (preceded by instrumental 'Metropolis' featuring Jim Kirkpatrick) and 'Story of My Life,' the keyboard and vocal showcase for Jem Davis’s tasteful piano remarks and Steve Overland’s still emotive and well-phrased vocality.
The band’s 1987 single 'Let Love Be the Leader' might be a little too AOR schmaltzy for some but it’s melodically poppin' mana for the FM fans.
Far stronger however are ridiculously catchy and radio friendly Atomic Generation number 'Killed By Love' and the melodically rockin' 'Life is a Highway,' an air punching celebration of musical joie de vivre.
For all the quality of later FM releases the band know what most fans want to hear live – three decades on the impact made by debut album Indiscreet and follow-up Tough it Out can’t be ignored (you could also argue the continued interest in those two albums paved the way for the 2007 FM reformation).
Its no surprise therefore that seven of the sixteen songs are lifted from those albums, with the atmospheric 'Love Lies Dying' and the AOR soaked 'Does it Feel Like Love' standing strong as genuine highlights of both FM’s back catalogue and The Italian Job.
Molto bene, boys.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Nor does it hurt that the band, featuring ever-present originals Steve Overland (vocals, rhythm guitar), Merv Goldsworthy (bass, backing vox) and Pete Jupp (drums, backing vox) along with twenty-five year FM veteran Jem Davis (keyboards, backing vox) and featured/ lead guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick (who joined a year after the band’s 2007 reformation), are playing and performing as well as they did back in the 80s and 90s day.
Recorded and filmed at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan in April of 2018, The Italian Job (you’d love to think the band arrived at the gig in red, white and blue coloured classic Mini Coopers) is a sixteen track album that acts as both a Best Of the band's back catalogue and a Greatest Hits showcase (no FM show or live recording is going to omit choice Indiscreet and Tough it Out cuts such as melodic rock meets power-pop brace 'That Girl' and 'The Other Side of Midnight,' or the weightier but no less melodic 'Bad Luck' and 'Someday').
Opening with the swaggering and blues fuelled 'Black Magic' (from most recent album Atomic Generation), followed and musically counter-pointed by Indiscreet’s punchy AOR rocker 'I Belong to the Night,' the UK’s leading melodic rock outfit put on their own across-the-years 'FM' radio show – the rockier 'Tough it Out' and Aphrodisiac’s melodic blues ballad 'Closer to Heaven' share stage space with 21st century FM gems including the foot-tapping 'Over You' (preceded by instrumental 'Metropolis' featuring Jim Kirkpatrick) and 'Story of My Life,' the keyboard and vocal showcase for Jem Davis’s tasteful piano remarks and Steve Overland’s still emotive and well-phrased vocality.
The band’s 1987 single 'Let Love Be the Leader' might be a little too AOR schmaltzy for some but it’s melodically poppin' mana for the FM fans.
Far stronger however are ridiculously catchy and radio friendly Atomic Generation number 'Killed By Love' and the melodically rockin' 'Life is a Highway,' an air punching celebration of musical joie de vivre.
For all the quality of later FM releases the band know what most fans want to hear live – three decades on the impact made by debut album Indiscreet and follow-up Tough it Out can’t be ignored (you could also argue the continued interest in those two albums paved the way for the 2007 FM reformation).
Its no surprise therefore that seven of the sixteen songs are lifted from those albums, with the atmospheric 'Love Lies Dying' and the AOR soaked 'Does it Feel Like Love' standing strong as genuine highlights of both FM’s back catalogue and The Italian Job.
Molto bene, boys.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Peter Frampton Band – All Blues
Considering the back catalogue of critically acclaimed albums by Peter Frampton across his Humble Pie and subsequent forty-eight year solo career (including the Grammy award winning Fingerprints) it may seem as if Frampers has, recently, succumbed to the seemingly mandatory obligation of re-recorded hits (previous album Acoustic Classics) and covers albums – as is the case with All Blues.
The former however is more of a reworked showcase for Peter Frampton’s sometimes overlooked acoustic skills while the latter is a case of there-will-never-be-a-better-time – with a recent diagnosis of IBM (Inclusion Body Myositis; a progressive muscle disorder that causes inflammation, weakness and eventual atrophy) and subsequent Finale : The Farewell Tour, All Blues has become a poignant and what could be deemed necessary homage to some of Peter Frampton's favourite blues standards and favoured blues influences.
Opener 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' carries an authentic Chicago blues club sound, bolstered by some great blues harmonica from fabulous Thunderbird Kim Wilson.
That throwback sound is clearly intentional; the co-production from Chuck Ainlay and Peter Frampton has just enough live-sound reverb to give the sonic impression All Blues was recorded and performed in just such an environment and not Frampton’s home studio in Nashville (even the album cover is throwback in style).
More importantly a collection of blues standards in the capable guitar hands and voice of Peter Frampton, along with band-mates Adam Lester (guitars, vocals), Rob Arthur keyboards, guitars, vocals) and Dan Wojciechowski (drums) make for the perfect partnership – the slow honky-tonk sway of Taj Mahal’s 'She Caught Katy,' the funkier groove of 'You Can’t Judge a Book,' 'The Thrill is Gone' featuring Frampton and Sonny Landreth in top blues crying form, a swampy big-beat take of 'King Bee' (Frampton’s trademark Talk Box adding flitting but effective ‘buzzing’ remarks) to name but four.
But it’s a couple of jazz-blues tunes and a slow blues brace that really make their mark.
An instrumental version of 'Georgia On My Mind' (Rob Arthur’s tasteful piano lines and organ backing framing Peter Frampton’s gorgeous Georgia guitar licks) and the Miles Davis classic 'All Blues,' here given a guitar arranged makeover from Frampton and Larry Carlton (now that’s not too shabby a six-string pairing) and more tasty tinkles on the ivories from Rob Arthur, are outstanding highlights, as is 'Going Down Slow.'
The latter’s "you know my health is now fading and I’m going down slow" lyric isn’t a direct correlation to Peter Frampton’s muscular ailment of course but it tells his own blues tale as well as any official announcement ever could, as do his sympathetic six-string bursts and harmonising cries with guest guitarist Steve Morse.
Freddie King’s 'Same Old Blues' (very much honouring the slow blues original; well if it ain’t broke…) closes out an album that might not go down in Peter Frampton history as his best-ever release (it’s up there, though) but best of luck finding a better performed set of covers (played with genuine reverence), especially given the circumstances that sparked the need for Frampton and his band to get in to the studio and deliver this ten track album of blues classics.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The former however is more of a reworked showcase for Peter Frampton’s sometimes overlooked acoustic skills while the latter is a case of there-will-never-be-a-better-time – with a recent diagnosis of IBM (Inclusion Body Myositis; a progressive muscle disorder that causes inflammation, weakness and eventual atrophy) and subsequent Finale : The Farewell Tour, All Blues has become a poignant and what could be deemed necessary homage to some of Peter Frampton's favourite blues standards and favoured blues influences.
Opener 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' carries an authentic Chicago blues club sound, bolstered by some great blues harmonica from fabulous Thunderbird Kim Wilson.
That throwback sound is clearly intentional; the co-production from Chuck Ainlay and Peter Frampton has just enough live-sound reverb to give the sonic impression All Blues was recorded and performed in just such an environment and not Frampton’s home studio in Nashville (even the album cover is throwback in style).
More importantly a collection of blues standards in the capable guitar hands and voice of Peter Frampton, along with band-mates Adam Lester (guitars, vocals), Rob Arthur keyboards, guitars, vocals) and Dan Wojciechowski (drums) make for the perfect partnership – the slow honky-tonk sway of Taj Mahal’s 'She Caught Katy,' the funkier groove of 'You Can’t Judge a Book,' 'The Thrill is Gone' featuring Frampton and Sonny Landreth in top blues crying form, a swampy big-beat take of 'King Bee' (Frampton’s trademark Talk Box adding flitting but effective ‘buzzing’ remarks) to name but four.
But it’s a couple of jazz-blues tunes and a slow blues brace that really make their mark.
An instrumental version of 'Georgia On My Mind' (Rob Arthur’s tasteful piano lines and organ backing framing Peter Frampton’s gorgeous Georgia guitar licks) and the Miles Davis classic 'All Blues,' here given a guitar arranged makeover from Frampton and Larry Carlton (now that’s not too shabby a six-string pairing) and more tasty tinkles on the ivories from Rob Arthur, are outstanding highlights, as is 'Going Down Slow.'
The latter’s "you know my health is now fading and I’m going down slow" lyric isn’t a direct correlation to Peter Frampton’s muscular ailment of course but it tells his own blues tale as well as any official announcement ever could, as do his sympathetic six-string bursts and harmonising cries with guest guitarist Steve Morse.
Freddie King’s 'Same Old Blues' (very much honouring the slow blues original; well if it ain’t broke…) closes out an album that might not go down in Peter Frampton history as his best-ever release (it’s up there, though) but best of luck finding a better performed set of covers (played with genuine reverence), especially given the circumstances that sparked the need for Frampton and his band to get in to the studio and deliver this ten track album of blues classics.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Rory Gallagher – Blues (Deluxe 3CD Edition)
It’s a testament to Rory Gallagher and his legacy that, nearly a quarter of a century after his passing at only 47 years of age, there is still such reverence attached to any discussion or comment about the brilliance of Gallagher as a blues musician, his catalogue of recorded work and those once seen, never forgotten live performances.
That reverence also helps explain the continued demand for, and appearance of, top notch posthumously released material – and it’s top notch because, well, it’s Rory Gallagher, and comes from the archive tape vaults of the Gallagher Estate.
That ensures quality over quantity, proven by such gems as the acoustic based collection Wheels Within Wheels and 2CD set Notes From San Francisco, which includes the completed but never released studio album of 1977.
And now, in what would have been the 50th year of Rory Gallagher’s recording career, comes Blues, which does exactly what it says on the tin (or rather album cover).
The added Blues bonus is around 90% of the material is previously unreleased and showcases Gallagher in his three natural environments, each on a separate CD entitled Electric Blues, Acoustic Blues and Live Blues
(1CD, 2LP and Limited Blue Vinyl 2LP versions are also available).
Around half the songs on Electric Blues are out-takes from album sessions, many of which are covers of traditional-roots blues tunes.
Most (if not all) such covers were also performed live by Rory Gallagher, so while a song such as 'Tore Down' (here featuring keyboardist Lou Martin) will be familiar to Gallagher fans (it appears again on Live Blues), the previously unreleased / original studio recordings of such tracks become must-hears and must-haves.
Electric Blues also includes 'Leaving Town Blues' from the 1994 Peter Green Rattlesnake Guitar tribute album and two Gallagher guest guitar nuggets – 'Drop Down Baby' from British rock 'n' roll skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan’s 1978 album Puttin’ On the Style and 'I’m Ready' from Muddy Waters’ London Sessions album of 1971.
For many, brilliant "battered '61 Strat" blues player that Rory Gallagher was (I present 'Fly Off the Handle' and 'I Could’ve Had Religion' from Electric Blues as exhibits A & B, M’lud) Gallagher was at his most roots-blues authentic with an acoustic guitar in his flatpicking hands, bottleneck slide on his finger and rack-mounted harmonica within easy blues harp blowin’ reach.
Acoustic Blues showcases just that through, as with Electric Blues, a number of out-takes that didn’t make final track listing (or were fully band arranged for album) – 'Who’s That Coming,' recorded on a metal bodied National reso-phonic guitar, and a slightly faster 'Should’ve Learnt My Lesson' are acoustically fine examples.
Other unreleased acoustic gems include Irish TV performances of 'Secret Agent,' 'Pistol Slapper Blues' and 'Walkin’ Blues,' the latter featuring the great harmonica player Mark Feltham (Nine Below Zero).
Live Blues will delight the Scottish Rory Gallagher fans, including as it does three previously unreleased songs from the recording made of his Glasgow Apollo concert in 1982 (including a truly outstanding blues soaked brace of 'Nothin’ But the Devil' and 'What in the World').
Two songs from Sheffield City Hall and one from Newcastle City Hall, recorded in 1977, also feature.
Other live nuggets include 'Born Under a Bad Sign' with Jack Bruce (from Rockpalast 1991), Rory Gallagher’s guest performance on 'You Upset Me Baby' from Albert King’s Live 1975 album and Gallagher's 1989 concert appearance with the Chris Barber Band on 'Comin' Home Baby.'
When you add a short but interesting interview track (where Rory Gallagher talks influential blues) and an informative booklet exclusive to the 3CD version (comprising previously unseen pictures of Gallagher and new essay by blues/ rock writer Jas Obrecht) you have a top quality rarities album from one of the best to ever strap on a blues guitar in the modern era.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That reverence also helps explain the continued demand for, and appearance of, top notch posthumously released material – and it’s top notch because, well, it’s Rory Gallagher, and comes from the archive tape vaults of the Gallagher Estate.
That ensures quality over quantity, proven by such gems as the acoustic based collection Wheels Within Wheels and 2CD set Notes From San Francisco, which includes the completed but never released studio album of 1977.
And now, in what would have been the 50th year of Rory Gallagher’s recording career, comes Blues, which does exactly what it says on the tin (or rather album cover).
The added Blues bonus is around 90% of the material is previously unreleased and showcases Gallagher in his three natural environments, each on a separate CD entitled Electric Blues, Acoustic Blues and Live Blues
(1CD, 2LP and Limited Blue Vinyl 2LP versions are also available).
Around half the songs on Electric Blues are out-takes from album sessions, many of which are covers of traditional-roots blues tunes.
Most (if not all) such covers were also performed live by Rory Gallagher, so while a song such as 'Tore Down' (here featuring keyboardist Lou Martin) will be familiar to Gallagher fans (it appears again on Live Blues), the previously unreleased / original studio recordings of such tracks become must-hears and must-haves.
Electric Blues also includes 'Leaving Town Blues' from the 1994 Peter Green Rattlesnake Guitar tribute album and two Gallagher guest guitar nuggets – 'Drop Down Baby' from British rock 'n' roll skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan’s 1978 album Puttin’ On the Style and 'I’m Ready' from Muddy Waters’ London Sessions album of 1971.
For many, brilliant "battered '61 Strat" blues player that Rory Gallagher was (I present 'Fly Off the Handle' and 'I Could’ve Had Religion' from Electric Blues as exhibits A & B, M’lud) Gallagher was at his most roots-blues authentic with an acoustic guitar in his flatpicking hands, bottleneck slide on his finger and rack-mounted harmonica within easy blues harp blowin’ reach.
Acoustic Blues showcases just that through, as with Electric Blues, a number of out-takes that didn’t make final track listing (or were fully band arranged for album) – 'Who’s That Coming,' recorded on a metal bodied National reso-phonic guitar, and a slightly faster 'Should’ve Learnt My Lesson' are acoustically fine examples.
Other unreleased acoustic gems include Irish TV performances of 'Secret Agent,' 'Pistol Slapper Blues' and 'Walkin’ Blues,' the latter featuring the great harmonica player Mark Feltham (Nine Below Zero).
Live Blues will delight the Scottish Rory Gallagher fans, including as it does three previously unreleased songs from the recording made of his Glasgow Apollo concert in 1982 (including a truly outstanding blues soaked brace of 'Nothin’ But the Devil' and 'What in the World').
Two songs from Sheffield City Hall and one from Newcastle City Hall, recorded in 1977, also feature.
Other live nuggets include 'Born Under a Bad Sign' with Jack Bruce (from Rockpalast 1991), Rory Gallagher’s guest performance on 'You Upset Me Baby' from Albert King’s Live 1975 album and Gallagher's 1989 concert appearance with the Chris Barber Band on 'Comin' Home Baby.'
When you add a short but interesting interview track (where Rory Gallagher talks influential blues) and an informative booklet exclusive to the 3CD version (comprising previously unseen pictures of Gallagher and new essay by blues/ rock writer Jas Obrecht) you have a top quality rarities album from one of the best to ever strap on a blues guitar in the modern era.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Paul Gemmell & The Black Magic Blues Band
The Scottish town of East Kilbride is most famously known for two things – its roundabouts (it’s nigh on impossible to drive more than 500 yards on the town’s road network without encountering one of the buggers) and for being the largest town in South Lanarkshire.
But it can now also lay claim to being the birthplace of the largest music act to come out of South Lanarkshire, Paul Gemmell & The Black Magic Blues Band, whose influences are some 4000 miles distant from Lanarkshire and neighbouring Glasgow – specifically the Cajun blues of New Orleans (with a hint of Memphis and a splash of South Chicago blues clubs for good measure).
Singer and guitarist Paul Gemmell and his eight Black Magic blues brothers and sisters – Gary Whelan (guitars), Paul Dyet (bass), David MacDonald (drums), Nicola Gemmell & Julie Hodgkinson (vocals), Sharon MacDonald (alto sax), Paul Gardner (tenor sax), Angus Friel (trumpet) – all play their not insignificant part in making the band’s self-titled, thirteen track debut album a Cajun blues, Memphis and New Orleans styled horns and old school South Side blues winner.
Opening with the lazy blues sway and Cajun groove of 'Alcoholic Man' and progressing through a selection of tasty and varied numbers including 'Funky Jesus' (if the Rolling Stones had been from Memphis… ) the New Orleans funeral procession blues of 'Lay My Body Down' and slow blues brace 'You’re Haunting Me' and 'Call My Mother' (both of which feature some seriously purposeful blues crying notes (and equally purposeful vocals) from Paul Gemmell, complemented by Gary Whelan’s six-string support) the nine-piece band deliver their Cajun influenced Black Magic blues in pretty impressive style.
In addition to the Black Magic nonet there are three guest appearances; two in physical six-string form and one notable (but highly influential) by absence…
Guitarist Paul Byrne features on 'Lay My Body Down' while Paul Gemmell’s older brother Stephen Gemmell (who bought the younger sibling his first guitar and taught him his first couple of chords) plays on the rhythm and blues swinging 'Pray,' featuring Nicola Gemmell on vocals (Gemmell's harmony vocal partner Julie Hodgkinson takes the spotlight on Memphis country blues number, 'Who Are You').
Listed on the album’s liner notes as "Inspiration" is David Paterson.
Paul Gemmell’s stepfather, David Paterson, sadly passed away in 2017; he wasn’t a musician but he was a massive inspiration to the music that would become such a part of Paul Gemmell’s life, introducing him to a wide variety of blues artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy.
David Paterson never got to see the Black Magic Blues Band perform, passing shortly before their first ever gig (making a song such as 'Lay My Body Down' all the more poignant).
But while he isn’t part of the band physically, he is certainly with them, and Paul Gemmell, spiritually.
And if that isn't the very essence of Black Magic Blues, I don’t know what is.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But it can now also lay claim to being the birthplace of the largest music act to come out of South Lanarkshire, Paul Gemmell & The Black Magic Blues Band, whose influences are some 4000 miles distant from Lanarkshire and neighbouring Glasgow – specifically the Cajun blues of New Orleans (with a hint of Memphis and a splash of South Chicago blues clubs for good measure).
Singer and guitarist Paul Gemmell and his eight Black Magic blues brothers and sisters – Gary Whelan (guitars), Paul Dyet (bass), David MacDonald (drums), Nicola Gemmell & Julie Hodgkinson (vocals), Sharon MacDonald (alto sax), Paul Gardner (tenor sax), Angus Friel (trumpet) – all play their not insignificant part in making the band’s self-titled, thirteen track debut album a Cajun blues, Memphis and New Orleans styled horns and old school South Side blues winner.
Opening with the lazy blues sway and Cajun groove of 'Alcoholic Man' and progressing through a selection of tasty and varied numbers including 'Funky Jesus' (if the Rolling Stones had been from Memphis… ) the New Orleans funeral procession blues of 'Lay My Body Down' and slow blues brace 'You’re Haunting Me' and 'Call My Mother' (both of which feature some seriously purposeful blues crying notes (and equally purposeful vocals) from Paul Gemmell, complemented by Gary Whelan’s six-string support) the nine-piece band deliver their Cajun influenced Black Magic blues in pretty impressive style.
In addition to the Black Magic nonet there are three guest appearances; two in physical six-string form and one notable (but highly influential) by absence…
Guitarist Paul Byrne features on 'Lay My Body Down' while Paul Gemmell’s older brother Stephen Gemmell (who bought the younger sibling his first guitar and taught him his first couple of chords) plays on the rhythm and blues swinging 'Pray,' featuring Nicola Gemmell on vocals (Gemmell's harmony vocal partner Julie Hodgkinson takes the spotlight on Memphis country blues number, 'Who Are You').
Listed on the album’s liner notes as "Inspiration" is David Paterson.
Paul Gemmell’s stepfather, David Paterson, sadly passed away in 2017; he wasn’t a musician but he was a massive inspiration to the music that would become such a part of Paul Gemmell’s life, introducing him to a wide variety of blues artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy.
David Paterson never got to see the Black Magic Blues Band perform, passing shortly before their first ever gig (making a song such as 'Lay My Body Down' all the more poignant).
But while he isn’t part of the band physically, he is certainly with them, and Paul Gemmell, spiritually.
And if that isn't the very essence of Black Magic Blues, I don’t know what is.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Steve Hackett – At the Edge of Light
Steve Hackett, between his now regular and highly anticipated Genesis Revisited shows, has developed a bit of a knack for producing excellent and multi-faceted studio albums.
His 40th Anniversary (as a solo artist) release, 2015’s Wolflight, was a musically adventurous and storytelling tour-de-force.
Two years later The Night Siren was no less powerful in its musical unification of multi-cultural diversity.
At the Edge of Light is, as the title suggests, a tale across ten tracks of light and dark, from the shadowy and dangerous times we now find ourselves in (and the age old tale of good versus evil) to more uplifting and optimistic interpretations where different musical shades merge to unify cultures and their music.
A recurring theme of Steve Hackett’s music of late has been the expressive and intriguing mix of world and Middle Eastern music with western rock, orchestration, choral arrangements and tribal rhythms.
All the above feature on At the Edge of Light, as do Steve Hackett’s long-time group of touring and studio musicians Rob Townsend (saxophone, clarinet, duduk), Amanda Lehmann (vocals), Gary O’Toole (drums) and Roger King (keyboards, co-producer, engineer).
As with The Night Siren around a dozen guest musicians also contribute including Steve Hackett’s brother John Hackett (flute), singing sisters Durga and Lorelei McBroom, drummers Nick D'Virgilio and Simon Phillips, Indian sitar player Sheema Mukherjee, Icelandic drummer/ percussionist Gulli Briem, Azerbaijani tar player Malik Mansurov and Swedish bassist Jonas Reingold.
Instrumental 'Fallen Walls and Pedestals' makes for a strong, collapse of empires opening statement (Steve Hackett’s fluid notes and crunching guitars over a big beat to the fore) before seguing to 'Beasts in Our Time.' A sweeping, atmospheric piece that features soft, almost lullaby vocal passages (Hackett has progressed from being a vocalist to a true singer over the last couple of albums) the Beasts of the title come to town in the heavier rock closing section.
Following track 'Under the Eye of the Sun' (inspired by the magnificent rockscapes of the world) is a heavy pop romp driven by Gulli Briem’s big drum sound; 'Underground Railroad' (with Durga and Lorelei McBroom in full backing vocal cry) then takes centre, blues influenced stage before culminating in a joyous celebration of freedom ("Keep on moving ‘til the shackles are gone, cross that water to the land beyond").
The eleven-and-a-half minute 'Those Golden Wings' is an epic flight of love that flits seamlessly between rock, orchestral, balladeering, choral and full-on Hackett-prog while the Indian raga structured 'Shadow and Flame,' featuring Sheema Mukherjee, is a musical journey of life (light) & death (darkness) on the River Ganges.
Contrast is provided by the radio friendly 'Hungry Years,' an acoustically framed, 60s inspired vocal-pop song of the highest order.
The final three tracks create a mini light over darkness trilogy.
'Descent' (which isn’t a million (make that 35 million) miles away from 'Mars' by Gustav Holst) morphs to the short, sharp orchestrated 'Conflict' before 'Peace' ensues via a gently building, almost hymnal ballad that features a fine Steve Hackett lead vocal with choral support.
At the Edge of Light is yet another strong, themed outing from Steve Hackett.
Now we just need to start heeding the warnings as expressed by the likes of Mr Hackett before it’s too dark to see where that edge of light is.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
His 40th Anniversary (as a solo artist) release, 2015’s Wolflight, was a musically adventurous and storytelling tour-de-force.
Two years later The Night Siren was no less powerful in its musical unification of multi-cultural diversity.
At the Edge of Light is, as the title suggests, a tale across ten tracks of light and dark, from the shadowy and dangerous times we now find ourselves in (and the age old tale of good versus evil) to more uplifting and optimistic interpretations where different musical shades merge to unify cultures and their music.
A recurring theme of Steve Hackett’s music of late has been the expressive and intriguing mix of world and Middle Eastern music with western rock, orchestration, choral arrangements and tribal rhythms.
All the above feature on At the Edge of Light, as do Steve Hackett’s long-time group of touring and studio musicians Rob Townsend (saxophone, clarinet, duduk), Amanda Lehmann (vocals), Gary O’Toole (drums) and Roger King (keyboards, co-producer, engineer).
As with The Night Siren around a dozen guest musicians also contribute including Steve Hackett’s brother John Hackett (flute), singing sisters Durga and Lorelei McBroom, drummers Nick D'Virgilio and Simon Phillips, Indian sitar player Sheema Mukherjee, Icelandic drummer/ percussionist Gulli Briem, Azerbaijani tar player Malik Mansurov and Swedish bassist Jonas Reingold.
Instrumental 'Fallen Walls and Pedestals' makes for a strong, collapse of empires opening statement (Steve Hackett’s fluid notes and crunching guitars over a big beat to the fore) before seguing to 'Beasts in Our Time.' A sweeping, atmospheric piece that features soft, almost lullaby vocal passages (Hackett has progressed from being a vocalist to a true singer over the last couple of albums) the Beasts of the title come to town in the heavier rock closing section.
Following track 'Under the Eye of the Sun' (inspired by the magnificent rockscapes of the world) is a heavy pop romp driven by Gulli Briem’s big drum sound; 'Underground Railroad' (with Durga and Lorelei McBroom in full backing vocal cry) then takes centre, blues influenced stage before culminating in a joyous celebration of freedom ("Keep on moving ‘til the shackles are gone, cross that water to the land beyond").
The eleven-and-a-half minute 'Those Golden Wings' is an epic flight of love that flits seamlessly between rock, orchestral, balladeering, choral and full-on Hackett-prog while the Indian raga structured 'Shadow and Flame,' featuring Sheema Mukherjee, is a musical journey of life (light) & death (darkness) on the River Ganges.
Contrast is provided by the radio friendly 'Hungry Years,' an acoustically framed, 60s inspired vocal-pop song of the highest order.
The final three tracks create a mini light over darkness trilogy.
'Descent' (which isn’t a million (make that 35 million) miles away from 'Mars' by Gustav Holst) morphs to the short, sharp orchestrated 'Conflict' before 'Peace' ensues via a gently building, almost hymnal ballad that features a fine Steve Hackett lead vocal with choral support.
At the Edge of Light is yet another strong, themed outing from Steve Hackett.
Now we just need to start heeding the warnings as expressed by the likes of Mr Hackett before it’s too dark to see where that edge of light is.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Djabe & Steve Hackett – Back to Sardinia (CD+DVD)
If we want to be Travel Diary accurate then the title of the latest Djabe & Steve Hackett collaboration doesn’t quite tell the Sardinian trip story of the highly respected Hungarian jazz rock outfit and the prog luminary/ renowned guitarist.
While Djabe – Attila Égerházi (guitar, percussion), Tamás Barabás (bass, guitar, synths), Áron Koós-Hutás (trumpet, flugelhorn), János Nagy (keyboards), Péter Kaszás (drums, percussion, vocal) – returned to the beautiful island of Sardinia three years after their visit with Steve Hackett (for the improvised recordings that became 2017’s Life is a Journey : The Sardinian Tapes) the ever-busy Mr Hackett couldn’t make the 2019 trip as he was otherwise engaged in, somewhat ironically, Budapest, as part of a summer touring schedule.
However in this transferable recordings day and technological age that’s hardly a problem.
Djabe recorded in the same location as 2016 (a temporary recording studio next to the Nostra Signore di Tergu cathedral – the Sardinian surroundings were as inspiring as the musical partnership that produced Life is a Journey) before Steve Hackett added his guitar textures and improvised solos three weeks later.
The final mix and mastering was then done by Tamás Barabás, whose composition formed the framework of the band improvised recordings.
The results are the perfect companion piece to Life is a Journey and an album that flits from the longer jazz rock excursions associated with Djabe (the melodically gentle 'Walking Around;' the funkier jazz of 'Cinquecento Fragole,' instrumentally showcasing each individuals’ talents) to mid-length jazz-prog featuring Steve Hackett’s inimitable guitar stylings ('Lonely Cactus') through to more ambient or cool vibe pieces that remind of Pat Metheny in soundtrack mode ('Flying Kites;' the Sardinia inspired title track).
Other highlights include the quirkier guitar twangs of the delightfully simple but wonderfully effective 'Dancing in a Jar,' the jauntier jazz of 'Happy Tergu' and 'Girl in the Palau Woods,' which builds from soft beginnings to rapid-fire rock guitar call and answers.
A couple of vignette pieces, 'Purple Dream' and 'Bottles in the Water,' play complementary counter-point to the longer, more complex pieces; the latter also acts as the perfect bird cries and lapping waves introduction to long-form closing number, 'Floating Boat.'
The final track, a sublime nine-and-a-half minute piece of evocative soft jazz (you can almost see the boat glinting off the sunlit Sardinia shoreline), was recorded during the original 2016 Sardinia sessions and features Gulli Briem on drums.
As was the case with Life is a Journey, Back to Sardinia includes a bonus DVD featuring a 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album.
Other features on the DVD include a 96 kHz / 24-bit stereo mix, When the Film is Rolling (an S8 film shot between recording sessions) and filmed live performances of 'Turtle Trek' (Djabe), Life is a Journey number 'Castelsardo at Night' and a fully jazzed-up rendition of the Genesis classic 'In That Quiet Earth.'
If this is the sort of improvisational quality that can be achieved by being some 1500km and three weeks of recording apart, Steve Hackett needs to be missing the flight Back to Sardinia more often.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
While Djabe – Attila Égerházi (guitar, percussion), Tamás Barabás (bass, guitar, synths), Áron Koós-Hutás (trumpet, flugelhorn), János Nagy (keyboards), Péter Kaszás (drums, percussion, vocal) – returned to the beautiful island of Sardinia three years after their visit with Steve Hackett (for the improvised recordings that became 2017’s Life is a Journey : The Sardinian Tapes) the ever-busy Mr Hackett couldn’t make the 2019 trip as he was otherwise engaged in, somewhat ironically, Budapest, as part of a summer touring schedule.
However in this transferable recordings day and technological age that’s hardly a problem.
Djabe recorded in the same location as 2016 (a temporary recording studio next to the Nostra Signore di Tergu cathedral – the Sardinian surroundings were as inspiring as the musical partnership that produced Life is a Journey) before Steve Hackett added his guitar textures and improvised solos three weeks later.
The final mix and mastering was then done by Tamás Barabás, whose composition formed the framework of the band improvised recordings.
The results are the perfect companion piece to Life is a Journey and an album that flits from the longer jazz rock excursions associated with Djabe (the melodically gentle 'Walking Around;' the funkier jazz of 'Cinquecento Fragole,' instrumentally showcasing each individuals’ talents) to mid-length jazz-prog featuring Steve Hackett’s inimitable guitar stylings ('Lonely Cactus') through to more ambient or cool vibe pieces that remind of Pat Metheny in soundtrack mode ('Flying Kites;' the Sardinia inspired title track).
Other highlights include the quirkier guitar twangs of the delightfully simple but wonderfully effective 'Dancing in a Jar,' the jauntier jazz of 'Happy Tergu' and 'Girl in the Palau Woods,' which builds from soft beginnings to rapid-fire rock guitar call and answers.
A couple of vignette pieces, 'Purple Dream' and 'Bottles in the Water,' play complementary counter-point to the longer, more complex pieces; the latter also acts as the perfect bird cries and lapping waves introduction to long-form closing number, 'Floating Boat.'
The final track, a sublime nine-and-a-half minute piece of evocative soft jazz (you can almost see the boat glinting off the sunlit Sardinia shoreline), was recorded during the original 2016 Sardinia sessions and features Gulli Briem on drums.
As was the case with Life is a Journey, Back to Sardinia includes a bonus DVD featuring a 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album.
Other features on the DVD include a 96 kHz / 24-bit stereo mix, When the Film is Rolling (an S8 film shot between recording sessions) and filmed live performances of 'Turtle Trek' (Djabe), Life is a Journey number 'Castelsardo at Night' and a fully jazzed-up rendition of the Genesis classic 'In That Quiet Earth.'
If this is the sort of improvisational quality that can be achieved by being some 1500km and three weeks of recording apart, Steve Hackett needs to be missing the flight Back to Sardinia more often.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Lewis Hamilton Band – On the Radio
Even from just the funky little riff that opens equally funky rhythm and blues number 'On the Radio' it’s clear Lewis Hamilton (no, not that Lewis Hamilton, this Lewis Hamilton) has stepped it up a notch on his latest studio album.
That’s not to demean what has come before as regards album output or The Lewis Hamilton Band’s stature as a staple of the UK blues/ blues rock club scene (and festival appearances a plenty).
But with On the Radio the Scottish born singer-guitarist, along with his tight and tidy rhythm section of father Nick Hamilton and drummer Ian Beestin (who joined the band in 2017) has delivered his strongest work to date – both in song craft and musicianship.
And that, considering debut album Gambling Machine won the Scottish New Music Award for Scottish Jazz / Blues album of the year for 2012 and previous studio outing, Shipwrecked, was an Album of the Month choice by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association (as well as receiving Paul Jones airplay on his BBC Radio 2 show), is none too shabby a feat.
Indeed On the Radio would seem to point at a deliberate effort to obtain further airplay through accessible, radio friendly blues and blues rock (shuffle number 'Over My Head;' the train track rhythms of the southern fried 'Dusty Trail') that can challenge the popular but mundane for wider broadcast attention.
The latter is something that’s not lost on Lewis Hamilton when he sings "maybe I’m getting old, but new music’s got no soul, not like the blues" on the title track – although if young Mr Hamilton feels he is getting old it’s time for the rest of us to pull out the fleece lined slippers and hot cocoa.
On the Radio is also a pretty blues-cool album, musically speaking – 'Luck Could Strike Twice' shuffles along on a cool groove (or grooves along on its shufflin’ cool vibe, take yer pick) while 'Empty Roads' (used as the theme for the BBC TV series The Mart) has been re-recorded as a shorter, slightly more up-tempo country blues rocking variation of the southern styled original (as heard on the album of the same name).
But it’s not all about the pacier tempos.
'When the River Dries' is five and a half minutes of slow-beat spaciousness that let’s Lewis Hamilton’s what-lies-ahead lyricism and guitar work (short, controlled bursts that play in perfectly blues-crying sympathy to the lyric) do the talking while 'Far Cry From Home' and the perfectly titled 'Lazy' offer acoustic country blues contrast.
Closing track, the instrumental 'Dusk,' is a night closing in solo acoustic workout for a player who knows what he’s doing with a six-string in his hands, whether that be amps up or amps off.
The Lewis Hamilton Band. On the Radio.
Let's hope that becomes not just band name and album title, but a more common occurrence.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That’s not to demean what has come before as regards album output or The Lewis Hamilton Band’s stature as a staple of the UK blues/ blues rock club scene (and festival appearances a plenty).
But with On the Radio the Scottish born singer-guitarist, along with his tight and tidy rhythm section of father Nick Hamilton and drummer Ian Beestin (who joined the band in 2017) has delivered his strongest work to date – both in song craft and musicianship.
And that, considering debut album Gambling Machine won the Scottish New Music Award for Scottish Jazz / Blues album of the year for 2012 and previous studio outing, Shipwrecked, was an Album of the Month choice by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association (as well as receiving Paul Jones airplay on his BBC Radio 2 show), is none too shabby a feat.
Indeed On the Radio would seem to point at a deliberate effort to obtain further airplay through accessible, radio friendly blues and blues rock (shuffle number 'Over My Head;' the train track rhythms of the southern fried 'Dusty Trail') that can challenge the popular but mundane for wider broadcast attention.
The latter is something that’s not lost on Lewis Hamilton when he sings "maybe I’m getting old, but new music’s got no soul, not like the blues" on the title track – although if young Mr Hamilton feels he is getting old it’s time for the rest of us to pull out the fleece lined slippers and hot cocoa.
On the Radio is also a pretty blues-cool album, musically speaking – 'Luck Could Strike Twice' shuffles along on a cool groove (or grooves along on its shufflin’ cool vibe, take yer pick) while 'Empty Roads' (used as the theme for the BBC TV series The Mart) has been re-recorded as a shorter, slightly more up-tempo country blues rocking variation of the southern styled original (as heard on the album of the same name).
But it’s not all about the pacier tempos.
'When the River Dries' is five and a half minutes of slow-beat spaciousness that let’s Lewis Hamilton’s what-lies-ahead lyricism and guitar work (short, controlled bursts that play in perfectly blues-crying sympathy to the lyric) do the talking while 'Far Cry From Home' and the perfectly titled 'Lazy' offer acoustic country blues contrast.
Closing track, the instrumental 'Dusk,' is a night closing in solo acoustic workout for a player who knows what he’s doing with a six-string in his hands, whether that be amps up or amps off.
The Lewis Hamilton Band. On the Radio.
Let's hope that becomes not just band name and album title, but a more common occurrence.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Hawkwind – All Aboard the Skylark (and Acoustic Daze)
Pre-release press cited All Aboard the Skylark, the thirty-second studio album from Hawkwind, as "a storming return to their space rock roots."
And, indeed, that’s exactly where the Skylark be heading with its crew of Dave Brock (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Richard Chadwick (drums), Niall Hone (bass, keyboards) and latest recruit Magnus Martin (guitar, vocals) who joined the Hawk ranks in 2017.
Additionally, given 2019 is Hawkwind’s 50th Anniversary, it would be all but mandatory for the band to deliver a new album that nodded to their most revered period of 70s and 80s space rock and its fusion of prog, new wave, post-punk, electro-psych rock and anything else Dave Brock and his band of Hawk brothers could sonically come up with.
The band’s return to spacey rockin’ could also be because All Aboard the Skylark follows the met with raised eyebrows Road to Utopia, an album of newly recorded older material (from classics to deeper cuts) that incorporated arrangements as diverse as Mariachi and Mike Batt orchestration.
(that FabricationsHQ gave it Feature Review status while many a hard-core Hawk fan bemoaned the whole idea of tells you just how fan-splitting their 2018 offering was).
All Aboard the Skylark, therefore, doesn’t take the Road to Utopia.
Instead this Skylark transports aliens to other planets to eat the inhabitants ('Flesh Fondue,' a space-punk romp with trademark jagged Dave Brock vocal and an ending that’s as humorous as it is chilling – "What’s for dinner darling… flesh fondue? My favourite stew!"), ponders on the what-if ('Last Man on Earth,' a 60s trippin' take on the acoustically framed Hawkwind sound) and takes a decidedly spacey journey through the void on 'We Are Not Dead… Only Sleeping.'
The space and time travels don’t stop there – how about a free-form space-jazz title track before the good ship Skylark travels back '65 Million Years Ago' to an asteroid hitting, mass extinction event via layered guitars, synths, drums and a repeating title-chorus.
The album closes strongly with the instrumental 'The Road To…' (melodic guitar lines over a spaced out, almost Trance like backing) and final number, 'The Fantasy of Faldom.'
A fine, nine minute slice of Hawk-prog 'The Fantasy of Faldom' (based on a Hermann Hesse fairy tale) starts in spacey, acoustic fashion before becoming a little guitar darker and synth sinister.
The song then lifts itself melodically before returning to a bigger arrangement of its opening passages.
And, indeed, that’s exactly where the Skylark be heading with its crew of Dave Brock (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Richard Chadwick (drums), Niall Hone (bass, keyboards) and latest recruit Magnus Martin (guitar, vocals) who joined the Hawk ranks in 2017.
Additionally, given 2019 is Hawkwind’s 50th Anniversary, it would be all but mandatory for the band to deliver a new album that nodded to their most revered period of 70s and 80s space rock and its fusion of prog, new wave, post-punk, electro-psych rock and anything else Dave Brock and his band of Hawk brothers could sonically come up with.
The band’s return to spacey rockin’ could also be because All Aboard the Skylark follows the met with raised eyebrows Road to Utopia, an album of newly recorded older material (from classics to deeper cuts) that incorporated arrangements as diverse as Mariachi and Mike Batt orchestration.
(that FabricationsHQ gave it Feature Review status while many a hard-core Hawk fan bemoaned the whole idea of tells you just how fan-splitting their 2018 offering was).
All Aboard the Skylark, therefore, doesn’t take the Road to Utopia.
Instead this Skylark transports aliens to other planets to eat the inhabitants ('Flesh Fondue,' a space-punk romp with trademark jagged Dave Brock vocal and an ending that’s as humorous as it is chilling – "What’s for dinner darling… flesh fondue? My favourite stew!"), ponders on the what-if ('Last Man on Earth,' a 60s trippin' take on the acoustically framed Hawkwind sound) and takes a decidedly spacey journey through the void on 'We Are Not Dead… Only Sleeping.'
The space and time travels don’t stop there – how about a free-form space-jazz title track before the good ship Skylark travels back '65 Million Years Ago' to an asteroid hitting, mass extinction event via layered guitars, synths, drums and a repeating title-chorus.
The album closes strongly with the instrumental 'The Road To…' (melodic guitar lines over a spaced out, almost Trance like backing) and final number, 'The Fantasy of Faldom.'
A fine, nine minute slice of Hawk-prog 'The Fantasy of Faldom' (based on a Hermann Hesse fairy tale) starts in spacey, acoustic fashion before becoming a little guitar darker and synth sinister.
The song then lifts itself melodically before returning to a bigger arrangement of its opening passages.
As if to remind that the sadly misunderstood Road to Utopia had its acoustically based merits, a second disc entitled Acoustic Daze is also included (it features recordings given to producer/ arranger Mike Batt to formulate what would become Road to Utopia).
Acoustic Daze highlights include the harmonica blowin' 'The Watcher,' 'Down Through the Night,' 'Flying Dr Dave' and live acoustic performances of 'Ascent of Man' and 'We Took the Wrong Steps Years Ago.'
So, have Hawkwind produced another classic to add to their space rockin’ repertoire?
Not quite, but that’s not the point. The point is they can still psychedelically rock space (and fifty years of time) impressively enough to make it a worthwhile trip (man).
All Aboard the Skylark, as we travel the twilight years (or twilight zone, this is Hawkwind after all) of a true legacy band, delivering their highly distinctive brand of space rock as if only a decade had passed and not half a century.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Acoustic Daze highlights include the harmonica blowin' 'The Watcher,' 'Down Through the Night,' 'Flying Dr Dave' and live acoustic performances of 'Ascent of Man' and 'We Took the Wrong Steps Years Ago.'
So, have Hawkwind produced another classic to add to their space rockin’ repertoire?
Not quite, but that’s not the point. The point is they can still psychedelically rock space (and fifty years of time) impressively enough to make it a worthwhile trip (man).
All Aboard the Skylark, as we travel the twilight years (or twilight zone, this is Hawkwind after all) of a true legacy band, delivering their highly distinctive brand of space rock as if only a decade had passed and not half a century.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Heavy Pettin’ – Lettin’ Loose, Rock Ain’t Dead, The Big Bang (re-releases)
In 1983, having made a name for themselves in the live music bars and rock clubs of their native Scotland whilst garnering some attention with the single 'Roll the Dice' (included here as one of two bonus tracks) Heavy Pettin’ headed to the studio to record their debut album, Lettin’ Loose.
That the burgeoning potential of singer Stephen "Hamie" Hayman, guitarists Gordon Bonnar and Punky Mendoza, drummer Gary Moat and bassist Brian Waugh preceded their debut album trip to the studio was evident by the fact celebrated Queen producer of the 80s, Reinhold Mack, and Brian May, were brought in to co-produce.
The debut offering was well named, the band letting loose on all five cylinders with opener 'In and Out of Love' (the song also helped establish the band’s unofficial title as "the Scottish Def Leppard").
Similarly impacting were the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) brace 'Love on the Run' and 'Victims of the Night,' along with two numbers that would become fan favourites, 'Love Times Love' and rock ‘n’ rollicking album closer, 'Hell is Beautiful.'
But it wasn’t all about the heavy rockin’ hitters – 'Broken Heart' and 'Devil in Her Eyes' veered toward the US melodic rock of the day.
That the burgeoning potential of singer Stephen "Hamie" Hayman, guitarists Gordon Bonnar and Punky Mendoza, drummer Gary Moat and bassist Brian Waugh preceded their debut album trip to the studio was evident by the fact celebrated Queen producer of the 80s, Reinhold Mack, and Brian May, were brought in to co-produce.
The debut offering was well named, the band letting loose on all five cylinders with opener 'In and Out of Love' (the song also helped establish the band’s unofficial title as "the Scottish Def Leppard").
Similarly impacting were the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) brace 'Love on the Run' and 'Victims of the Night,' along with two numbers that would become fan favourites, 'Love Times Love' and rock ‘n’ rollicking album closer, 'Hell is Beautiful.'
But it wasn’t all about the heavy rockin’ hitters – 'Broken Heart' and 'Devil in Her Eyes' veered toward the US melodic rock of the day.
In 1985, with a melodically rocking shift in music and a glammed up US rock scene, Heavy Pettin’ decided to cover both those bases on Rock Ain’t Dead.
The album’s title track caught that NWOBHM meets US Glam sound perfectly.
A big-beat, shout-it-out chorus number that simultaneously highlighted and trademarked Stephen Hayman’s end-of-line-yelp vocal style, 'Rock Ain’t Dead' became one of the rock anthems of the eighties.
But it was a meld of US melodic rock and harder edged, British guitar rock that Heavy Pettin’ were truly aiming for on Rock Ain’t Dead, hitting that particular target with 'Angel' and mid-paced brace 'Sole Survivor' and 'China Boy.'
The band also reinforced their Scottish Def Leppard credentials through songs such as the atmospheric 'Lost in Love' and 'Crazy,' the latter included here as a bonus track.
The album’s title track caught that NWOBHM meets US Glam sound perfectly.
A big-beat, shout-it-out chorus number that simultaneously highlighted and trademarked Stephen Hayman’s end-of-line-yelp vocal style, 'Rock Ain’t Dead' became one of the rock anthems of the eighties.
But it was a meld of US melodic rock and harder edged, British guitar rock that Heavy Pettin’ were truly aiming for on Rock Ain’t Dead, hitting that particular target with 'Angel' and mid-paced brace 'Sole Survivor' and 'China Boy.'
The band also reinforced their Scottish Def Leppard credentials through songs such as the atmospheric 'Lost in Love' and 'Crazy,' the latter included here as a bonus track.
By the time Heavy Pettin’ got to their third and final studio album of the 80s, Big Bang, you could also read (or hear) Heavy Poppin’, typified by pop-rocking, keyboard punctuated album opener, 'Born to Burn.'
While the band still had one foot in the emerging British melodic rock camp songs such as 'This is America' and the whoa-oh pop-rock of 'Madonna on the Radio!' pointed to what side of the pond Heavy Pettin’ were now concentrating on.
This new edition of the album includes 'City Girl' and the never before available 'Rock You Endlessly' as bonus tracks.
It also features a new, Gary Moat approved cover (the band never approved the original) and carries the correct title of The Big Bang.
The Big Bang heralded the end of Heavy Pettin’ and not the beginning of an AOR rock career, but that says more about the musical changes taking place in the late 80s (when labels were dropping everything and everybody in search of the next big thing before they even knew what that next big thing was) than it does about the band or the album (recorded in 1986 but not released until 1989).
Additionally, performing the ballad 'Romeo' as a contender for the United Kingdom’s entry in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest did them no favours in the rock ‘n’ roll arena.
However the 21st century resurgence in 70s and 80s classic rock has meant a second wind of sorts for Heavy Pettin’ while the band’s original drummer and a primary songwriter, Gary Moat, leads the line in his own, self effacingly titled but rather tasty rock quintet, Burnt Out Wreck.
The 80s Rock of Heavy Pettin’ Ain’t Dead – it’s just three-and-a-half decades older.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
While the band still had one foot in the emerging British melodic rock camp songs such as 'This is America' and the whoa-oh pop-rock of 'Madonna on the Radio!' pointed to what side of the pond Heavy Pettin’ were now concentrating on.
This new edition of the album includes 'City Girl' and the never before available 'Rock You Endlessly' as bonus tracks.
It also features a new, Gary Moat approved cover (the band never approved the original) and carries the correct title of The Big Bang.
The Big Bang heralded the end of Heavy Pettin’ and not the beginning of an AOR rock career, but that says more about the musical changes taking place in the late 80s (when labels were dropping everything and everybody in search of the next big thing before they even knew what that next big thing was) than it does about the band or the album (recorded in 1986 but not released until 1989).
Additionally, performing the ballad 'Romeo' as a contender for the United Kingdom’s entry in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest did them no favours in the rock ‘n’ roll arena.
However the 21st century resurgence in 70s and 80s classic rock has meant a second wind of sorts for Heavy Pettin’ while the band’s original drummer and a primary songwriter, Gary Moat, leads the line in his own, self effacingly titled but rather tasty rock quintet, Burnt Out Wreck.
The 80s Rock of Heavy Pettin’ Ain’t Dead – it’s just three-and-a-half decades older.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Jack J Hutchinson – Who Feeds the Wolf?
London based blues rock guitarist-singer-songwriter Jack
J Hutchinson isn’t hanging about on Who Feeds the Wolf?, follow up to his excellent 2017 solo debut, Paint No Fiction. (Hutchinson has delivered a tasty selection of blues-rock offerings under his name, including as the JJH Band and JJH’s Boom Boom Brotherhood, but Paint No Fiction is his first, true, solo artist offering).
As if to emphasise the amps to 11 and angrier attitude (Jack J Hutchinson was influenced over the eighteen months of writing and recording by the political upheavals and environmental issues) he comes out hot and rockin’ on album opener 'Justified.'
It’s a big, bold and rather belting statement that’s all heavyweight rock with big dollops of melodically framed hooks, a fierce guitar solo and groovin’ background organ.
'Haunted Bones' is built on a simpler rock framework but works well by being three minutes short, sharp and gritty; the Jack J Hutchinson blues then come calling on following number 'Kiss Your Ass Goodbye,' in fine southern meets contemporary style.
Contrast is provided by the acoustically based 'I Will Follow You;' the Americana tinged number is simple in form but highly effective, particularly on the vocal harmonies (liberal use of harmonies and backing vocals is a feature of Who Feeds the Wolf?, which benefits from a full-bodied production and big vocal sound, courtesy of Jack J Hutchinson’s long-time producer Tony Perretta).
The funky riffage of the seriously grooving 'Lucky Man' cranks the amps back up again (Jack J Hutchinson and his new live band of Lazarus Michaelides (bass), Felipe Amorim (drums) and Alberto Manuzzi (keyboards) giving it plenty) before the album’s six-minute centre-point offers 'Peace of Mind' through another song that highlights Hutchinson’s southern influences as it picks up the Allman Brothers styled pace.
The second half of the album is not without its weight, either.
'Roll Another One' and album closer 'Sleep Awake Obey!' are contemporary rock-blues (with an edgy sonic applied to the guitars) but they don’t quite match up to the strongest tracks on the album.
Indeed, alongside excellent, heavy AOR number 'Winds of Change' (think early or latter-rocking day Doobie Brothers) it’s the lighter shades of the later tracks that really shine.
The slightly countrified and radio friendly 'Let It Ride' has a timeless, could be any era quality to it (I’ll take coastal US music of the early 70s, thanks) while 'Autumn Leaves' is a breezy and lovely little semi-acoustic number that would sit comfortably even further back in time as a late 60s pop hit.
Mention of the lighter musical interludes leads to noting that for all the amps up energy on Who Feeds the Wolf? the album has some introspective, reflective and personal moments (Jack J Hutchinson’s dad, a huge supporter of his son’s music, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s just after the album sessions began).
I’m still not sure who feeds the wolf but this is another howlingly good album from Jack J Hutchinson.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
J Hutchinson isn’t hanging about on Who Feeds the Wolf?, follow up to his excellent 2017 solo debut, Paint No Fiction. (Hutchinson has delivered a tasty selection of blues-rock offerings under his name, including as the JJH Band and JJH’s Boom Boom Brotherhood, but Paint No Fiction is his first, true, solo artist offering).
As if to emphasise the amps to 11 and angrier attitude (Jack J Hutchinson was influenced over the eighteen months of writing and recording by the political upheavals and environmental issues) he comes out hot and rockin’ on album opener 'Justified.'
It’s a big, bold and rather belting statement that’s all heavyweight rock with big dollops of melodically framed hooks, a fierce guitar solo and groovin’ background organ.
'Haunted Bones' is built on a simpler rock framework but works well by being three minutes short, sharp and gritty; the Jack J Hutchinson blues then come calling on following number 'Kiss Your Ass Goodbye,' in fine southern meets contemporary style.
Contrast is provided by the acoustically based 'I Will Follow You;' the Americana tinged number is simple in form but highly effective, particularly on the vocal harmonies (liberal use of harmonies and backing vocals is a feature of Who Feeds the Wolf?, which benefits from a full-bodied production and big vocal sound, courtesy of Jack J Hutchinson’s long-time producer Tony Perretta).
The funky riffage of the seriously grooving 'Lucky Man' cranks the amps back up again (Jack J Hutchinson and his new live band of Lazarus Michaelides (bass), Felipe Amorim (drums) and Alberto Manuzzi (keyboards) giving it plenty) before the album’s six-minute centre-point offers 'Peace of Mind' through another song that highlights Hutchinson’s southern influences as it picks up the Allman Brothers styled pace.
The second half of the album is not without its weight, either.
'Roll Another One' and album closer 'Sleep Awake Obey!' are contemporary rock-blues (with an edgy sonic applied to the guitars) but they don’t quite match up to the strongest tracks on the album.
Indeed, alongside excellent, heavy AOR number 'Winds of Change' (think early or latter-rocking day Doobie Brothers) it’s the lighter shades of the later tracks that really shine.
The slightly countrified and radio friendly 'Let It Ride' has a timeless, could be any era quality to it (I’ll take coastal US music of the early 70s, thanks) while 'Autumn Leaves' is a breezy and lovely little semi-acoustic number that would sit comfortably even further back in time as a late 60s pop hit.
Mention of the lighter musical interludes leads to noting that for all the amps up energy on Who Feeds the Wolf? the album has some introspective, reflective and personal moments (Jack J Hutchinson’s dad, a huge supporter of his son’s music, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s just after the album sessions began).
I’m still not sure who feeds the wolf but this is another howlingly good album from Jack J Hutchinson.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
JOANovARC - JOANovARC
Ride Of Your Life, the 2016 debut album from female rock quartet JOANovARC, was a bright, brash and melodically vibrant mix of hard riff-driven rock, brit-pop and melodically charged hooks.
But FabricationsHQ had serious trepidations and concerns for the next all-new studio release when hearing the single 'Girls Wanna Rock,' released in late 2018.
A derivative of every air punching, "Yeah!" shouting, big-beat rock song you’ve ever heard (with an ill-advised clash of steel video that wasn’t so much female empowering as frankly embarrassing) 'Girls Wanna Rock' was two marching steps back from the one forward of Ride Of Your Life.
Fortunately, whether by reconsidered design, a word in the ear or simply that the single was always going to be a standalone release, 'Girls Wanna Rock' isn’t anywhere near the self-titled JOANovARC (other than a treated still from the video used as the album cover).
Nor would it have been any sort of fit for the album, sonically or musically – JOANovARC is very much a contemporary rock offering from sisters Sam (lead vocals, bass guitar) and Shelley Walker (lead guitar, backing vocals), Laura Ozholl (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Debbie Wildish (drums), with a splash of old-school and a smattering of alt-rock.
Opening track 'Burning' (influenced by the 2011 London riots) is a contemporary with alt-attitude case in point.
A weighty, gritty guitars number with a big chorus, it’s the little touches on 'Burning' (such as the lead guitar lines that chime in, out and through the song) that give it contemporary punctuation, topped off by a melodically sharp solo that complements the whole toward song end.
The hooky harmony vocals and heavy pop drive of 'Waiting For' (inspired by the Foo Fighters but with a touch of Cheap Trick) belies the darker lyric of having to watch, then walk away from, someone you are close to getting deeper into addiction.
Those JOANovARC harmonies are emphasised again on 'Down By the River,' a relatively spacious rock number with drums front and sonically centre (Wayne Proctor and House of Tone colleague Steve Wright, who mixed and mastered the album, have a knack for knowing the what and where of instrument emphasis to deliver the best mix for a given song/ album).
'People Coming Up' (a getting high song with a "comin’ down" middle eight) and edgier 'Take It Out' (the disco-rock cousin to 'Seven Nation Army') keep the contemporary rock grooves spinning before the sparser (and more effective for it) 'When We Were Young' offers up a reflective change of pace.
Other highlights across the eleven songs include the KT Tunstall styled heavy pop meets rock of 'Try It On' (Sam Walker and Laura Ozholl in perfect vocal harmony), the radio friendly and southern country rock affected 'Jane' (featuring a Laura Ozholl lead vocal) and 'Go Home,' an acoustic plea to the character of the story to shake off the shady sides of life and return to where she belongs.
A number of critics and reviewers have made mention of the traceable JOANovARC rock lineage back to Rock Goddess and Girlschool; in terms of musicianship and sibling relationship you could also cite a musically free-spirited, doing-it-for-the-girls link that hearkens further back to Fanny, the American all-girl band of the 70s.
More importantly, through releases such as Ride Of Your Life and the even more impressive JOANovARC, this is a band flying their own musical banner high.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But FabricationsHQ had serious trepidations and concerns for the next all-new studio release when hearing the single 'Girls Wanna Rock,' released in late 2018.
A derivative of every air punching, "Yeah!" shouting, big-beat rock song you’ve ever heard (with an ill-advised clash of steel video that wasn’t so much female empowering as frankly embarrassing) 'Girls Wanna Rock' was two marching steps back from the one forward of Ride Of Your Life.
Fortunately, whether by reconsidered design, a word in the ear or simply that the single was always going to be a standalone release, 'Girls Wanna Rock' isn’t anywhere near the self-titled JOANovARC (other than a treated still from the video used as the album cover).
Nor would it have been any sort of fit for the album, sonically or musically – JOANovARC is very much a contemporary rock offering from sisters Sam (lead vocals, bass guitar) and Shelley Walker (lead guitar, backing vocals), Laura Ozholl (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Debbie Wildish (drums), with a splash of old-school and a smattering of alt-rock.
Opening track 'Burning' (influenced by the 2011 London riots) is a contemporary with alt-attitude case in point.
A weighty, gritty guitars number with a big chorus, it’s the little touches on 'Burning' (such as the lead guitar lines that chime in, out and through the song) that give it contemporary punctuation, topped off by a melodically sharp solo that complements the whole toward song end.
The hooky harmony vocals and heavy pop drive of 'Waiting For' (inspired by the Foo Fighters but with a touch of Cheap Trick) belies the darker lyric of having to watch, then walk away from, someone you are close to getting deeper into addiction.
Those JOANovARC harmonies are emphasised again on 'Down By the River,' a relatively spacious rock number with drums front and sonically centre (Wayne Proctor and House of Tone colleague Steve Wright, who mixed and mastered the album, have a knack for knowing the what and where of instrument emphasis to deliver the best mix for a given song/ album).
'People Coming Up' (a getting high song with a "comin’ down" middle eight) and edgier 'Take It Out' (the disco-rock cousin to 'Seven Nation Army') keep the contemporary rock grooves spinning before the sparser (and more effective for it) 'When We Were Young' offers up a reflective change of pace.
Other highlights across the eleven songs include the KT Tunstall styled heavy pop meets rock of 'Try It On' (Sam Walker and Laura Ozholl in perfect vocal harmony), the radio friendly and southern country rock affected 'Jane' (featuring a Laura Ozholl lead vocal) and 'Go Home,' an acoustic plea to the character of the story to shake off the shady sides of life and return to where she belongs.
A number of critics and reviewers have made mention of the traceable JOANovARC rock lineage back to Rock Goddess and Girlschool; in terms of musicianship and sibling relationship you could also cite a musically free-spirited, doing-it-for-the-girls link that hearkens further back to Fanny, the American all-girl band of the 70s.
More importantly, through releases such as Ride Of Your Life and the even more impressive JOANovARC, this is a band flying their own musical banner high.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Laurence Jones Band - Laurence Jones Band
When British blues rock guitar slinger and singer Laurence Jones announced he was heading to crossover territory on previous album, The Truth, said announcement was met with a fair amount of dubiety and trepidation.
Unfortunately that trepidation proved to be well founded.
While his musical heart was in the right place (Laurence Jones is a fan of many genres including blues and modern pop) his head was filled with producer Gregory Elias’s rearrangement ideas and concise song-length approach.
The results, outside of a couple of more notable moments and song change-ups, was an album of studio sanitised soul-pop blues.
The fact that Laurence Jones’ tight, tidy and talented band of Bennett Holland (keys, backing vocals), Greg Smith (bass) and Phil Wilson (drums, percussion) had little room to instrumentally breath or musically manoeuvre on The Truth didn’t help matters.
This time around however it’s very much about the Jones-Holland-Smith-Wilson quartet and a far more song sympathetic production from Gregory Elias – this is the Laurence Jones Band in album title, sound and delivery, from uber-cool opener 'Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,' built atop Bennett Holland’s piano, a Stonesy retro vibe and "whoo-hoo-ooh" punctuations (take a groovin’ backing vocal bow, Di Reed) to album closing ballad 'The Love,' which finely meshes soul, country and blues.
Sitting between those songs are ten tracks that, for the most part, work well within the crossover parameters.
The funky 'Wipe Those Tears Dry' offers comfort through its lyric… 'I’m Waiting' is the band on full, 60s grooving power… good times number 'Stay' is another with a Stonesy vibe… 'Beautiful Place' is a relatively low-key but effective and personal (written by Laurence Jones for his mother) soul-blues… 'Low Down' is the band’s nod to Blind Faith / Stevie Winwood… the cover of 'Daytripper' (if the Beatles did 12 bar) could be deemed unnecessary but fits the pop-blues profile.
'Long Long Lonely Ride' and 'Mistreated' (no, not that 'Mistreated') are the blues moments of the album.
The former is an acoustically based, one-take and done barroom blues styled number (with some fine ivory tinkling from Bennett Holland) while the latter is a mistreated 'n' cheated soulful blues built around Greg Smith and Phil Wilson’s rhythmic groove (it’s also the one song that allows Jones to truly cry the six-string blues).
The Laurence Jones Band is a solid, soul-pop meets commercial blues offering but it certainly isn’t perfect, its biggest crime being far-too-short-song syndrome.
'Mistreated' is, indeed, mistreated by being only three minutes long (for a soulful, slow blues?) but the biggest offender is 'I’m Waiting.'
Just as you’re strapping yourself in for another round of smokin' guitar and pedal swelling Hammond back 'n' forths from Messrs Jones and Holland, the song starts its fade – at only two-and-a-half minutes in (cut off in its explosive and uplifting prime, no doubt, for edited airplay consideration).
But at the end of the eponymously titled day the Laurence Jones Band, complete with new, mature-cool look (as depicted on the psychedelically tinged album cover), might be on their way to the promised crossover land.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Unfortunately that trepidation proved to be well founded.
While his musical heart was in the right place (Laurence Jones is a fan of many genres including blues and modern pop) his head was filled with producer Gregory Elias’s rearrangement ideas and concise song-length approach.
The results, outside of a couple of more notable moments and song change-ups, was an album of studio sanitised soul-pop blues.
The fact that Laurence Jones’ tight, tidy and talented band of Bennett Holland (keys, backing vocals), Greg Smith (bass) and Phil Wilson (drums, percussion) had little room to instrumentally breath or musically manoeuvre on The Truth didn’t help matters.
This time around however it’s very much about the Jones-Holland-Smith-Wilson quartet and a far more song sympathetic production from Gregory Elias – this is the Laurence Jones Band in album title, sound and delivery, from uber-cool opener 'Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,' built atop Bennett Holland’s piano, a Stonesy retro vibe and "whoo-hoo-ooh" punctuations (take a groovin’ backing vocal bow, Di Reed) to album closing ballad 'The Love,' which finely meshes soul, country and blues.
Sitting between those songs are ten tracks that, for the most part, work well within the crossover parameters.
The funky 'Wipe Those Tears Dry' offers comfort through its lyric… 'I’m Waiting' is the band on full, 60s grooving power… good times number 'Stay' is another with a Stonesy vibe… 'Beautiful Place' is a relatively low-key but effective and personal (written by Laurence Jones for his mother) soul-blues… 'Low Down' is the band’s nod to Blind Faith / Stevie Winwood… the cover of 'Daytripper' (if the Beatles did 12 bar) could be deemed unnecessary but fits the pop-blues profile.
'Long Long Lonely Ride' and 'Mistreated' (no, not that 'Mistreated') are the blues moments of the album.
The former is an acoustically based, one-take and done barroom blues styled number (with some fine ivory tinkling from Bennett Holland) while the latter is a mistreated 'n' cheated soulful blues built around Greg Smith and Phil Wilson’s rhythmic groove (it’s also the one song that allows Jones to truly cry the six-string blues).
The Laurence Jones Band is a solid, soul-pop meets commercial blues offering but it certainly isn’t perfect, its biggest crime being far-too-short-song syndrome.
'Mistreated' is, indeed, mistreated by being only three minutes long (for a soulful, slow blues?) but the biggest offender is 'I’m Waiting.'
Just as you’re strapping yourself in for another round of smokin' guitar and pedal swelling Hammond back 'n' forths from Messrs Jones and Holland, the song starts its fade – at only two-and-a-half minutes in (cut off in its explosive and uplifting prime, no doubt, for edited airplay consideration).
But at the end of the eponymously titled day the Laurence Jones Band, complete with new, mature-cool look (as depicted on the psychedelically tinged album cover), might be on their way to the promised crossover land.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Liberty Lies - It’s The Hope That Kills You
Hard rock meets contemporary & alt-rock-metal outfit Liberty Lies, over the last ten years, have slowly but self-assuredly been making a name for themselves with, first, the New Addiction EP followed by debut album Reflections and support slots to the likes of Shinedown, Halestorm, Magnum, Rival Sons and others.
But the Black Country quartet – Shaun Richards (vocals), Josh Pritchett (guitars), Adam Stevens (drums), Miles Bagshaw (bass) – have been hinting lately at even bigger and better things.
2015 EP Fracture and later metal-rock releases 'Are You Listening?' (2017) and 'Mouth Breathers' (2018) brought forth a more commercial and alt-contemporary sound, respectively.
Yet, collectively, that EP and those two songs helped define the band’s new found sonic identity, something that has borne full-album fruit on It’s The Hope That Kills You, which opens in the weightiest of fashions.
'United Nothing' thunders out the gates in a full-on delivery of unbridled, heavy contemporary rock-metal via riffing guitars (one playing counterpoint refrain to the other’s main thrust), a huge beat and an assertive vocal from Shaun Richards as he sings in anguish for the global state of affairs ("here we stand a world divided; how long can we keep surviving?").
Richards then brings it home (in both senses), almost shouting himself hoarse on the repeated "you tell us that this is a Kingdom, when we are the United victim!"
Such state of the world views are clearly evident on songs titled 'The Day the World is Done' (a quirky, rocking-pop to metal offering set over a repeating guitar motif) and the seven-minute 'These Dark Days,' a rhythmically framed and dialled down number that changes musical shape a couple of times before ending on Shaun Richards’ questioning "do you listen, do you listen to me?"
Social commentary or worry for the future while trying to stay positive is a recurring theme, as is the band’s finely honed brand of bristling, melodically charged alt-rock and metal, from the mid-tempo weight of 'Four Walls' and Jeff Scott Soto/ W.E.T styled 'Coming Home' to the contemporary rock and metal punches of
'A Thousand People' and 'Different Tongues.'
But there’s also lighter moments within the metallic shades via rock framed ballad 'Letters' (complete with subtle but effective guitar chimes), the plaintive passages of the darkly atmospheric 'Family Tree' and closing number, 'Align.'
The latter opens in relatively hushed piano, vocal and atmospheric guitar tones before building to an anthemic, full-band crescendo and a hopeful vocal cry of "maybe we could align?"
Six years ago Liberty Lies made quite the statement with Reflections, an album that contained a number of stand-out moments (including the impressive 'Russian Dolls').
But those musical Reflections were under the "sounds a bit like" influences of a number of contemporary contemporaries including Mastodon and Biffy Clyro.
With It’s The Hope That Kills You however the band have musically developed, widened their sonic pallet and delivered a multi-styled contemporary rock album that includes, on the physical version, two bonus tracks (the tempo-shifting metal of 'Slower' and the six-minute 'Blame') as well the aforementioned pre-album singles, 'Mouth Breather' and 'Are You Listening?'
The results are a twelve (or fourteen) track album that stands tall as one of the best contemporary rock releases of 2019.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But the Black Country quartet – Shaun Richards (vocals), Josh Pritchett (guitars), Adam Stevens (drums), Miles Bagshaw (bass) – have been hinting lately at even bigger and better things.
2015 EP Fracture and later metal-rock releases 'Are You Listening?' (2017) and 'Mouth Breathers' (2018) brought forth a more commercial and alt-contemporary sound, respectively.
Yet, collectively, that EP and those two songs helped define the band’s new found sonic identity, something that has borne full-album fruit on It’s The Hope That Kills You, which opens in the weightiest of fashions.
'United Nothing' thunders out the gates in a full-on delivery of unbridled, heavy contemporary rock-metal via riffing guitars (one playing counterpoint refrain to the other’s main thrust), a huge beat and an assertive vocal from Shaun Richards as he sings in anguish for the global state of affairs ("here we stand a world divided; how long can we keep surviving?").
Richards then brings it home (in both senses), almost shouting himself hoarse on the repeated "you tell us that this is a Kingdom, when we are the United victim!"
Such state of the world views are clearly evident on songs titled 'The Day the World is Done' (a quirky, rocking-pop to metal offering set over a repeating guitar motif) and the seven-minute 'These Dark Days,' a rhythmically framed and dialled down number that changes musical shape a couple of times before ending on Shaun Richards’ questioning "do you listen, do you listen to me?"
Social commentary or worry for the future while trying to stay positive is a recurring theme, as is the band’s finely honed brand of bristling, melodically charged alt-rock and metal, from the mid-tempo weight of 'Four Walls' and Jeff Scott Soto/ W.E.T styled 'Coming Home' to the contemporary rock and metal punches of
'A Thousand People' and 'Different Tongues.'
But there’s also lighter moments within the metallic shades via rock framed ballad 'Letters' (complete with subtle but effective guitar chimes), the plaintive passages of the darkly atmospheric 'Family Tree' and closing number, 'Align.'
The latter opens in relatively hushed piano, vocal and atmospheric guitar tones before building to an anthemic, full-band crescendo and a hopeful vocal cry of "maybe we could align?"
Six years ago Liberty Lies made quite the statement with Reflections, an album that contained a number of stand-out moments (including the impressive 'Russian Dolls').
But those musical Reflections were under the "sounds a bit like" influences of a number of contemporary contemporaries including Mastodon and Biffy Clyro.
With It’s The Hope That Kills You however the band have musically developed, widened their sonic pallet and delivered a multi-styled contemporary rock album that includes, on the physical version, two bonus tracks (the tempo-shifting metal of 'Slower' and the six-minute 'Blame') as well the aforementioned pre-album singles, 'Mouth Breather' and 'Are You Listening?'
The results are a twelve (or fourteen) track album that stands tall as one of the best contemporary rock releases of 2019.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Andy Lindquist – Full Pain Love
Andy Lindquist is the most prolific BMI songwriter, musician and performer you have never heard of.
OK, that's clearly not the case for every music fan on the planet, particularly those in Florida where the North Dakota born musician resides and primarily performs (via a productive time in Minneapolis and a shorter stint in Seattle), but it’s certainly true of many a blues/ blues-rock fan in the UK and Europe.
And that’s because it isn’t all about the blues for Andy Lindquist – Full Pain Love is his seventh blues based offering but Lindquist has recorded and released more than fifty albums from rock, instrumental and power-pop to old school funk & soul, fusion and Celtic New Age.
Nor is a prolific recording career the only string to Andy Lindquist's multi-disciplinary bow – he owns and runs his own label and publishing company, is a guitar luthier (building and playing his own instruments), published poet and successful commercial writer.
Add in running a ministry with his wife that helps get women and young girls in Pakistan out of the sexual slave trade and you have a musician and activist who, frankly, I doubt ever finds time to sleep.
With Full Pain Love Andy Lindquist has covered all the blues bases from the similarly framed, slow shuffling bar-room brace 'A Stone' and 'Karma’s Gonna Get You Good' to the slower blues spaciousness of 'Funky Kinda Voo Doo' (which it is) through to the muscly, ZZ Topified 'You Got Two Faces' and on to the piano led and gospel affected 'Man Has Got to Sing the Blues.'
The latter number also highlights the rawer, earthy sound of Andy Lindquist.
This is not over-produced blues for the middle class masses, this is very honest blues music from a very honest musician (similarly Lindquist’s singing which, while sitting in a slightly higher register, reminds of the expressive vocality of British blues stalwart Danny Bryant).
The more boisterous stomp-blues of 'Hold Onto That Love' and the gritty pace applied to 'In the Devil’s Snare' are Full Pain Love winners, as is the travelling down a dusty, riff-driven southern road sound of 'The Kerosene Shakes' and the melodic soul sultriness and little guitar licks that shape 'Inside My Skin.'
By way of good and deserved promotional fortune Full Pain Love was cited as a pick of the month for November by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association, helping raise Andy Lindquist’s profile to the most prolific BMI songwriter, musician and performer many a UK (and further afield) blues fan has now heard of.
If you haven’t heard Full Pain Love give it a digital spin or three; better still buy a copy (all mechanical royalties go to charity/ toward the efforts against the sexual slave trade) then introduce yourself to what is a massive and interesting back catalogue.
You owe it not so much to yourself or the blues as to the tireless efforts and positivity of Andy Lindquist.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
OK, that's clearly not the case for every music fan on the planet, particularly those in Florida where the North Dakota born musician resides and primarily performs (via a productive time in Minneapolis and a shorter stint in Seattle), but it’s certainly true of many a blues/ blues-rock fan in the UK and Europe.
And that’s because it isn’t all about the blues for Andy Lindquist – Full Pain Love is his seventh blues based offering but Lindquist has recorded and released more than fifty albums from rock, instrumental and power-pop to old school funk & soul, fusion and Celtic New Age.
Nor is a prolific recording career the only string to Andy Lindquist's multi-disciplinary bow – he owns and runs his own label and publishing company, is a guitar luthier (building and playing his own instruments), published poet and successful commercial writer.
Add in running a ministry with his wife that helps get women and young girls in Pakistan out of the sexual slave trade and you have a musician and activist who, frankly, I doubt ever finds time to sleep.
With Full Pain Love Andy Lindquist has covered all the blues bases from the similarly framed, slow shuffling bar-room brace 'A Stone' and 'Karma’s Gonna Get You Good' to the slower blues spaciousness of 'Funky Kinda Voo Doo' (which it is) through to the muscly, ZZ Topified 'You Got Two Faces' and on to the piano led and gospel affected 'Man Has Got to Sing the Blues.'
The latter number also highlights the rawer, earthy sound of Andy Lindquist.
This is not over-produced blues for the middle class masses, this is very honest blues music from a very honest musician (similarly Lindquist’s singing which, while sitting in a slightly higher register, reminds of the expressive vocality of British blues stalwart Danny Bryant).
The more boisterous stomp-blues of 'Hold Onto That Love' and the gritty pace applied to 'In the Devil’s Snare' are Full Pain Love winners, as is the travelling down a dusty, riff-driven southern road sound of 'The Kerosene Shakes' and the melodic soul sultriness and little guitar licks that shape 'Inside My Skin.'
By way of good and deserved promotional fortune Full Pain Love was cited as a pick of the month for November by the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association, helping raise Andy Lindquist’s profile to the most prolific BMI songwriter, musician and performer many a UK (and further afield) blues fan has now heard of.
If you haven’t heard Full Pain Love give it a digital spin or three; better still buy a copy (all mechanical royalties go to charity/ toward the efforts against the sexual slave trade) then introduce yourself to what is a massive and interesting back catalogue.
You owe it not so much to yourself or the blues as to the tireless efforts and positivity of Andy Lindquist.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Andy Lindquist – NuffYoStuff
That American musician Andy Lindquist has popped out another album not long after previous release Full Pain Love became an Independent Blues Broadcasters Association album of the month choice is no surprise given just how extraordinarily prolific the Florida based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer is.
Nor are Full Pain Love and NuffYoStuff (his fifty-fifth studio album) his only releases of 2019, none of which cover all the musical colours of Andy Lindquist’s songwriting palette.
While Full Pain Love is his seventh blues based work and NuffYoStuff described by Andy Lindquist as "southern rock with a British slant," the musician’s output ranges from rock, blues, soul and sci-fi to power-pop, funk, fusion and a touch of Celtic inspired New Age.
And that southern rock with a British slant summation is only half the story of NuffYoStuff.
British rock (of the 70s) is a clear influence but so is American rock of the same vintage, with gritty, thick riffed guitars and big soul-funky backing vocals.
All of which make themselves heard immediately on the bullish title track and second number 'Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight,' which, I’m pleased to report, has more than enough cowbell to keep time behind some seriously muscly guitar work (a recurring theme).
The funkier 'Ghost To Me' slows the tempo a little but is no less guitar earthy and forthright in its musicality and lyricism ("you’re knocking on my door like you did before… but you’re still a ghost to me").
It’s also another song that has those big, multi-layered backing vocals to the fore (so stylised and distinct as to be decidedly Lindquistian – is that even a word? It is now).
That opening trio also help locate the southern rock road more precisely in the American south-east.
You won’t find any freebirds, green grass or high tides on NuffYoStuff but what you will find is a whole dose of southern fried Louisiana Cajun and Floridian gator country, heard to great effect on the seriously weighty closing brace of 'Long Tall Woman' and 'That Southern Groove.'
But southern-rock tinged influences are heard elsewhere, such as on the lighter touch of 'All This In Between' and don’t look back/ look for better times number 'Yesterday’s Blues,' while the hope and positivity of Andy Lindquist is heard loud and positively proud on the melodically framed rock song 'Little Bit of Magic.'
Such positivity (also heard on heavy-pop rocker 'Promise Me a Little Time') helps balance the lyrical theme of having had enough or telling it like it is – titles such as 'Better Watch Yourself' (another muscly little rocker), the aforementioned 'Ghost to Me' and the title track’s "I’ve had enuff of yo' stuff!" tag line telling the time to move on tale.
There’s also a little lyrical finger pointing goin’ on as heard on the ballad 'Cold as a Stone' ("What makes you better than the rest of the world? You stand in judgement with your flags’ unfurled...").
Andy Lindquist is in a rich vein of form right now – Full Pain Love was a very good album deserving of its IBBA recognition but the weightier NuffYoStuff is even better.
Check it out ch’all.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Nor are Full Pain Love and NuffYoStuff (his fifty-fifth studio album) his only releases of 2019, none of which cover all the musical colours of Andy Lindquist’s songwriting palette.
While Full Pain Love is his seventh blues based work and NuffYoStuff described by Andy Lindquist as "southern rock with a British slant," the musician’s output ranges from rock, blues, soul and sci-fi to power-pop, funk, fusion and a touch of Celtic inspired New Age.
And that southern rock with a British slant summation is only half the story of NuffYoStuff.
British rock (of the 70s) is a clear influence but so is American rock of the same vintage, with gritty, thick riffed guitars and big soul-funky backing vocals.
All of which make themselves heard immediately on the bullish title track and second number 'Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight,' which, I’m pleased to report, has more than enough cowbell to keep time behind some seriously muscly guitar work (a recurring theme).
The funkier 'Ghost To Me' slows the tempo a little but is no less guitar earthy and forthright in its musicality and lyricism ("you’re knocking on my door like you did before… but you’re still a ghost to me").
It’s also another song that has those big, multi-layered backing vocals to the fore (so stylised and distinct as to be decidedly Lindquistian – is that even a word? It is now).
That opening trio also help locate the southern rock road more precisely in the American south-east.
You won’t find any freebirds, green grass or high tides on NuffYoStuff but what you will find is a whole dose of southern fried Louisiana Cajun and Floridian gator country, heard to great effect on the seriously weighty closing brace of 'Long Tall Woman' and 'That Southern Groove.'
But southern-rock tinged influences are heard elsewhere, such as on the lighter touch of 'All This In Between' and don’t look back/ look for better times number 'Yesterday’s Blues,' while the hope and positivity of Andy Lindquist is heard loud and positively proud on the melodically framed rock song 'Little Bit of Magic.'
Such positivity (also heard on heavy-pop rocker 'Promise Me a Little Time') helps balance the lyrical theme of having had enough or telling it like it is – titles such as 'Better Watch Yourself' (another muscly little rocker), the aforementioned 'Ghost to Me' and the title track’s "I’ve had enuff of yo' stuff!" tag line telling the time to move on tale.
There’s also a little lyrical finger pointing goin’ on as heard on the ballad 'Cold as a Stone' ("What makes you better than the rest of the world? You stand in judgement with your flags’ unfurled...").
Andy Lindquist is in a rich vein of form right now – Full Pain Love was a very good album deserving of its IBBA recognition but the weightier NuffYoStuff is even better.
Check it out ch’all.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Erja Lyytinen – Another World
The musical shift heard on Finnish blues guitar songstress Erja’s Lyytinen’s previous studio album Stolen Hearts (best described as melodic blues rock) has come to fuller and bolder fruition on Another World.
Further, if 2015’s Live in London superbly documented the end of one musical chapter (a back catalogue of top notch soul-pop and slide blues) Stolen Hearts, coupled with Another World, clearly heralds the start and continuation of another, one that encompasses all of Erja Lyytinen’s songwriting and storytelling traits.
It may seem like business as usual with opener 'Snake in the Grass,' a gritty blues rock offering that oozes melody and raunch in equal measure, but as you delve deeper you hear the subtleties that confirm Erja Lyytinen’s own view that Another World, much like that title, sees her entering new and explorative musical territories.
In the case of 'Snake in the Grass' those new territories includes far more assured vocals (in strength, phrasing and confidence) and some of the feistiest guitar work she has yet laid down, here in harmony and guitar duel with guest shredstress Jennifer Batten.
Emphasising Another World’s musical explorations and showcasing a musician stretching herself is following number, 'Cherry Overdrive,' a six-minute, souped-up, car driving excursion that builds from its bluesy, almost psychedelic lower gears to a dreamy, freeway cruising section (complete with expressive and beautifully melodic guitar solo) before returning to its opening remarks.
The highlights don’t start and end with 'Cherry Overdrive' however.
The title track is a strikingly atmospheric, hard melodic rock number (with a sci-fi slanted love story lyric) while 'Miracle' is the soul-pop vehicle that allows Erja Lyytinen to deliver a slow-build solo that’s one of her most emotive (a section of the solo emulates the cries of babies in a nod to the birth, and love of, her twins).
Elsewhere there’s the angular and darker 'Hard as Stone,' which segues to a Santana-esque finale (inspired by Erja Lyytinen’s recent on-stage cameo with Carlos Santana) and the pacey boogie of 'Wedding Day' where Lyytinen goes toe to toe and slide to slide with the great Sonny Landreth.
While Another World is a more positive offering, lyrically, than Stolen Hearts (a more personal, emotional work) the final two songs play to I’m still standing defiance and trying to find acceptance in an inevitable, if unwanted, break-up.
The lighter, reflective and Celtic-tinged 'Torn' (Erja Lyytinen plays violin for the first recorded time) is written for those who live to fight another day while the stripped bare (musically and emotionally) ballad 'Break My Heart Gently' (with atmospheric slide accentuation from Sonny Landreth) features Lyytinen’s most honest and soul-baring vocal.
Another World is unquestionably Erja Lyytinen’s most adventurous album to date.
More importantly, whether in CD or Digital format (the latter includes the funky blues rock number 'Without You,' a 2018 single, as a bonus track) Another World is also Erja’s Lyytinen’s best album to date.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Further, if 2015’s Live in London superbly documented the end of one musical chapter (a back catalogue of top notch soul-pop and slide blues) Stolen Hearts, coupled with Another World, clearly heralds the start and continuation of another, one that encompasses all of Erja Lyytinen’s songwriting and storytelling traits.
It may seem like business as usual with opener 'Snake in the Grass,' a gritty blues rock offering that oozes melody and raunch in equal measure, but as you delve deeper you hear the subtleties that confirm Erja Lyytinen’s own view that Another World, much like that title, sees her entering new and explorative musical territories.
In the case of 'Snake in the Grass' those new territories includes far more assured vocals (in strength, phrasing and confidence) and some of the feistiest guitar work she has yet laid down, here in harmony and guitar duel with guest shredstress Jennifer Batten.
Emphasising Another World’s musical explorations and showcasing a musician stretching herself is following number, 'Cherry Overdrive,' a six-minute, souped-up, car driving excursion that builds from its bluesy, almost psychedelic lower gears to a dreamy, freeway cruising section (complete with expressive and beautifully melodic guitar solo) before returning to its opening remarks.
The highlights don’t start and end with 'Cherry Overdrive' however.
The title track is a strikingly atmospheric, hard melodic rock number (with a sci-fi slanted love story lyric) while 'Miracle' is the soul-pop vehicle that allows Erja Lyytinen to deliver a slow-build solo that’s one of her most emotive (a section of the solo emulates the cries of babies in a nod to the birth, and love of, her twins).
Elsewhere there’s the angular and darker 'Hard as Stone,' which segues to a Santana-esque finale (inspired by Erja Lyytinen’s recent on-stage cameo with Carlos Santana) and the pacey boogie of 'Wedding Day' where Lyytinen goes toe to toe and slide to slide with the great Sonny Landreth.
While Another World is a more positive offering, lyrically, than Stolen Hearts (a more personal, emotional work) the final two songs play to I’m still standing defiance and trying to find acceptance in an inevitable, if unwanted, break-up.
The lighter, reflective and Celtic-tinged 'Torn' (Erja Lyytinen plays violin for the first recorded time) is written for those who live to fight another day while the stripped bare (musically and emotionally) ballad 'Break My Heart Gently' (with atmospheric slide accentuation from Sonny Landreth) features Lyytinen’s most honest and soul-baring vocal.
Another World is unquestionably Erja Lyytinen’s most adventurous album to date.
More importantly, whether in CD or Digital format (the latter includes the funky blues rock number 'Without You,' a 2018 single, as a bonus track) Another World is also Erja’s Lyytinen’s best album to date.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Yngwie Malmsteen – Blue Lightning
"Only a few guitarists are known with only their first name. Yngwie is one of them.
With Blue Lightning, Yngwie Malmsteen highlights not only his enduring dexterity and diversity, but also pays homage to those from the blues and rock worlds who have fuelled his artistic spirit for so long.
Anyone who is expecting Yngwie to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock.
Because that is not what he has done.
He has masterfully transformed classics like 'Smoke On The Water,' 'Purple Haze' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' into his own inimitable style.
He also wrote and recorded four new tracks for this album.
Deluxe CD and Double Blue Vinyl edition of Blue Lightning include two bonus tracks not on the regular CD."
Mascot Label Group Press Release
"Only a few guitarists are going to be called names when their latest product is heard by true blues and blues rock aficionados and critics with an ear. Yngwie is one of them.
With Blue Lightning, Yngwie Malmsteen yet again flexes his (not unimpressive) neoclassical metal-shredding fingers over his favoured Fender Strats – but on an album of classic covers that highlights not so much his dexterity as one-dimensionality, while painfully overplaying in homage to those from the blues and rock worlds in a blaze of fast and furious guitar-licks (the very antithesis of the blues).
All while his artistic spirit goes for a lie down.
Anyone who is expecting Yngwie to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock because each is an over-bearing, self-serving shred-fest, manhandling the likes of 'Smoke on the Water,' pulverising 'Purple Haze' and criminally mutilating 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' in his own inimitable style.
The four new tracks written and recorded for this album are a self-penned extension of the covers.
In summary, the only thing bluesy about this album is the colour of the Double Vinyl edition."
FabricationsHQ Pressure Release
With Blue Lightning, Yngwie Malmsteen highlights not only his enduring dexterity and diversity, but also pays homage to those from the blues and rock worlds who have fuelled his artistic spirit for so long.
Anyone who is expecting Yngwie to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock.
Because that is not what he has done.
He has masterfully transformed classics like 'Smoke On The Water,' 'Purple Haze' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' into his own inimitable style.
He also wrote and recorded four new tracks for this album.
Deluxe CD and Double Blue Vinyl edition of Blue Lightning include two bonus tracks not on the regular CD."
Mascot Label Group Press Release
"Only a few guitarists are going to be called names when their latest product is heard by true blues and blues rock aficionados and critics with an ear. Yngwie is one of them.
With Blue Lightning, Yngwie Malmsteen yet again flexes his (not unimpressive) neoclassical metal-shredding fingers over his favoured Fender Strats – but on an album of classic covers that highlights not so much his dexterity as one-dimensionality, while painfully overplaying in homage to those from the blues and rock worlds in a blaze of fast and furious guitar-licks (the very antithesis of the blues).
All while his artistic spirit goes for a lie down.
Anyone who is expecting Yngwie to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock because each is an over-bearing, self-serving shred-fest, manhandling the likes of 'Smoke on the Water,' pulverising 'Purple Haze' and criminally mutilating 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' in his own inimitable style.
The four new tracks written and recorded for this album are a self-penned extension of the covers.
In summary, the only thing bluesy about this album is the colour of the Double Vinyl edition."
FabricationsHQ Pressure Release
Eddie Martin – Thirst
From the cool little guitar and harmonica unison riff that introduces and frames, 'One Man Band' (a mid-tempo boogie driven by a simple beat) it’s clear that Eddie Martin is heading for another winner with Thirst, his twelfth studio album.
'One Man Band' could also be part-autobiographical (Eddie Martin is the UK’s finest solo blues performer; in 2018 he picked up the European Blues Award for Best Solo Artist) but the song is actually about Martin’s favourite one man band musician, Memphis’s Richard Johnston.
It also comes with the not-so-one-man-band twist of being accompanied by drummer Tom Gilkes, bassist Jerry Soffe and backing singers Audra Nishita & Nadine Gingell, all of whom feature throughout Thirst.
But one song does not an album make and luckily – or, rather, unsurprisingly, given Eddie Martin’s songwriting pedigree (200 published songs thus far) – Mr Martin has another ten worthy of our attention.
Lyrically, too, Eddie Martin runs the gamut, from the humour of bar-room piano (courtesy of Yuki Yoshizu) and slide blues number 'Sewn Up' ("If nip and tuck doesn’t change our luck, we get some more if we’ve got the bucks") to the thoroughly thought provoking, as heard on the slower and rootsier 'Free Man Blues.'
The latter, a homeless war-vet’s take on Freedom ("you know that freedoms deep, it’s not just a simple treat;
it talks of others that you might not meet, who had theirs stolen in their sleep") features some subtle but highly impacting Hammond organ from Jonny Henderson, who also lays some tasty B3 tones down on the decidedly funky 'Searching For Home.'
Another slow number, the eight minute 'Like Water' (featuring an acoustic 12-string intro in intentional homage to Keith Richards on 'Wild Horses') is akin to Paul Rodgers in his deepest, subtlety expressed blues form (indeed there’s a touch of Rodgers in Eddie Martin’s phrasing here).
The song also benefits from the organ and Fender Rhodes contributions of Jonny Henderson and Dan Moore, as well as a delightfully crying solo from Eddie Martin.
That Martin's solo is expressive but not overly long is a fine example of the musician's less is more / only what the song needs musical mantra.
Even more impacting is 'Imagine Us From the Sky,' a slowly building slide, guitar and Hammond number that conjures classic era Allman Brothers sonic imagery.
If Joe Bonamassa (albeit with, no doubt, a bigger soundscape) had written or recorded this 'un it would be hailed as JoBo’s latest epic.
Such longer or emotive numbers are tempered and complemented by the shorter and sharp slide blues fun of 'Run River Run,' the up-tempo shuffle of the humorous 'Silver Spoon' and the Bo Diddley-esque and slide squealin' 'Louisiana Woman' (lyrically a tribute to the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson).
The dark, seven minute slow blues rumba 'Frozen Lake' (Ry Cooder slide meets Nick Cave’s poetic lyricism) makes for a spacious and intriguing closing remark that’s begging to be used in a yet to be written, eerie TV series set down by the misty Bayou swamplands.
Thirst isn’t just a cracking little album, it’s also well named – it sums up in one word Eddie Martin’s unquenching appetite for writing, recording and performing.
It also reconfirms Eddie Martin’s drive and determination to continue to get better each time around.
In that regard, job done. Until the next one, probably.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
'One Man Band' could also be part-autobiographical (Eddie Martin is the UK’s finest solo blues performer; in 2018 he picked up the European Blues Award for Best Solo Artist) but the song is actually about Martin’s favourite one man band musician, Memphis’s Richard Johnston.
It also comes with the not-so-one-man-band twist of being accompanied by drummer Tom Gilkes, bassist Jerry Soffe and backing singers Audra Nishita & Nadine Gingell, all of whom feature throughout Thirst.
But one song does not an album make and luckily – or, rather, unsurprisingly, given Eddie Martin’s songwriting pedigree (200 published songs thus far) – Mr Martin has another ten worthy of our attention.
Lyrically, too, Eddie Martin runs the gamut, from the humour of bar-room piano (courtesy of Yuki Yoshizu) and slide blues number 'Sewn Up' ("If nip and tuck doesn’t change our luck, we get some more if we’ve got the bucks") to the thoroughly thought provoking, as heard on the slower and rootsier 'Free Man Blues.'
The latter, a homeless war-vet’s take on Freedom ("you know that freedoms deep, it’s not just a simple treat;
it talks of others that you might not meet, who had theirs stolen in their sleep") features some subtle but highly impacting Hammond organ from Jonny Henderson, who also lays some tasty B3 tones down on the decidedly funky 'Searching For Home.'
Another slow number, the eight minute 'Like Water' (featuring an acoustic 12-string intro in intentional homage to Keith Richards on 'Wild Horses') is akin to Paul Rodgers in his deepest, subtlety expressed blues form (indeed there’s a touch of Rodgers in Eddie Martin’s phrasing here).
The song also benefits from the organ and Fender Rhodes contributions of Jonny Henderson and Dan Moore, as well as a delightfully crying solo from Eddie Martin.
That Martin's solo is expressive but not overly long is a fine example of the musician's less is more / only what the song needs musical mantra.
Even more impacting is 'Imagine Us From the Sky,' a slowly building slide, guitar and Hammond number that conjures classic era Allman Brothers sonic imagery.
If Joe Bonamassa (albeit with, no doubt, a bigger soundscape) had written or recorded this 'un it would be hailed as JoBo’s latest epic.
Such longer or emotive numbers are tempered and complemented by the shorter and sharp slide blues fun of 'Run River Run,' the up-tempo shuffle of the humorous 'Silver Spoon' and the Bo Diddley-esque and slide squealin' 'Louisiana Woman' (lyrically a tribute to the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson).
The dark, seven minute slow blues rumba 'Frozen Lake' (Ry Cooder slide meets Nick Cave’s poetic lyricism) makes for a spacious and intriguing closing remark that’s begging to be used in a yet to be written, eerie TV series set down by the misty Bayou swamplands.
Thirst isn’t just a cracking little album, it’s also well named – it sums up in one word Eddie Martin’s unquenching appetite for writing, recording and performing.
It also reconfirms Eddie Martin’s drive and determination to continue to get better each time around.
In that regard, job done. Until the next one, probably.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Hank Marvin – Gold (3CD set)
Other than being undisputed champions of rock guitar, there’s a luminous fraternity of six-string players including Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Brian May and Peter Frampton that have another commonality.
They were all directly influenced by, or inspired to pick up a guitar because of, one Hank Brian Marvin.
A six-and-a-half-decades career veteran and creator of one of the most distinct and memorable guitar sounds in rock and pop (as first heard with The Shadows, the UK’s most successful instrumental group) Hank Marvin celebrates fifty years as a solo artist with the release of the 3CD, 59 tracks, career spanning Gold.
From his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album of 1969 (from which the warm and breezy 'Sacha' and the samba arranged 'Windmills of Your Mind' feature) through to latest release, UK Top 10 album Without a Word (four tracks including 'Peter Gunn/ Baby Elephant Walk' – a "Shadows Walk" medley if ever you heard one), Gold presents a comprehensive Best Of the sixteen album solo career of Hank Marvin and the "Hank Marvin sound" as played on his now iconic Red Fender Stratocaster.
That sound, a melodic steely echoing accompanied by Hank Marvin's trademark pitch-bending through liberal use of the tremolo arm (heard to great effect on opening track 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'), helped launch the careers of both Hank Marvin and The Shadows.
It also inspired countless numbers to pick up the guitar including the aforementioned greats, two of which feature on Gold – Mark Knopfler duets with Hank Marvin on re-records of The Shadows classics 'Wonderful Land' and 'Nivram' while Brian May accompanies Marvin on, rather fittingly, given the guitar pair’s successes, 'We Are The Champions.'
But there are also musical instances of those that influenced the influencer.
Hank Marvin’s guitar lines on 'Peggy Sue' (one of five Buddy Holly numbers to feature – Holly was the artist that inspired Marvin to play guitar) mimic that of Holly’s vocal before he drops in to a little Duane Eddy twang.
Eddy himself, a clear and obvious influence on Hank Marvin, trades licks with Marvin on the pacey surf-pop rocker 'Pipeline.'
There are also little solo nuggets or deeper cuts that deserve their Gold status.
The funky 'Lifeline' is a relatively rare vocal outing for Hank Marvin (nine Marvin vocal songs feature on Gold, including pop hit 'Don't Talk'), the disco-styled 'Ebb Tide' (from 1977 guitar & orchestra album The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate) is a cute little addition while the faster tempo applied to Bread’s 'Guitar Man' makes for an interesting dance floor number.
And it wouldn’t be any sort of Hank Marvin career collection without his old mucker Cliff Richard stepping up to the mic; here it’s 'Move It' (natch) and 'Heartbeat.'
Related, Hank Plays Cliff on instrumental takes of 'Devil Woman,' 'When the Girl in Your Arms,' 'Summer Holiday' and 'Wired For Sound.'
Hank Marvin and his guitar, as a member of The Shadows (with and without Sir Cliff) and as a solo artist, has spent approximately 900 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. That is none too shabby.
Hank Marvin. Red Fender Stratocaster. Gold plated Legacy Artist.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
They were all directly influenced by, or inspired to pick up a guitar because of, one Hank Brian Marvin.
A six-and-a-half-decades career veteran and creator of one of the most distinct and memorable guitar sounds in rock and pop (as first heard with The Shadows, the UK’s most successful instrumental group) Hank Marvin celebrates fifty years as a solo artist with the release of the 3CD, 59 tracks, career spanning Gold.
From his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album of 1969 (from which the warm and breezy 'Sacha' and the samba arranged 'Windmills of Your Mind' feature) through to latest release, UK Top 10 album Without a Word (four tracks including 'Peter Gunn/ Baby Elephant Walk' – a "Shadows Walk" medley if ever you heard one), Gold presents a comprehensive Best Of the sixteen album solo career of Hank Marvin and the "Hank Marvin sound" as played on his now iconic Red Fender Stratocaster.
That sound, a melodic steely echoing accompanied by Hank Marvin's trademark pitch-bending through liberal use of the tremolo arm (heard to great effect on opening track 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'), helped launch the careers of both Hank Marvin and The Shadows.
It also inspired countless numbers to pick up the guitar including the aforementioned greats, two of which feature on Gold – Mark Knopfler duets with Hank Marvin on re-records of The Shadows classics 'Wonderful Land' and 'Nivram' while Brian May accompanies Marvin on, rather fittingly, given the guitar pair’s successes, 'We Are The Champions.'
But there are also musical instances of those that influenced the influencer.
Hank Marvin’s guitar lines on 'Peggy Sue' (one of five Buddy Holly numbers to feature – Holly was the artist that inspired Marvin to play guitar) mimic that of Holly’s vocal before he drops in to a little Duane Eddy twang.
Eddy himself, a clear and obvious influence on Hank Marvin, trades licks with Marvin on the pacey surf-pop rocker 'Pipeline.'
There are also little solo nuggets or deeper cuts that deserve their Gold status.
The funky 'Lifeline' is a relatively rare vocal outing for Hank Marvin (nine Marvin vocal songs feature on Gold, including pop hit 'Don't Talk'), the disco-styled 'Ebb Tide' (from 1977 guitar & orchestra album The Hank Marvin Guitar Syndicate) is a cute little addition while the faster tempo applied to Bread’s 'Guitar Man' makes for an interesting dance floor number.
And it wouldn’t be any sort of Hank Marvin career collection without his old mucker Cliff Richard stepping up to the mic; here it’s 'Move It' (natch) and 'Heartbeat.'
Related, Hank Plays Cliff on instrumental takes of 'Devil Woman,' 'When the Girl in Your Arms,' 'Summer Holiday' and 'Wired For Sound.'
Hank Marvin and his guitar, as a member of The Shadows (with and without Sir Cliff) and as a solo artist, has spent approximately 900 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. That is none too shabby.
Hank Marvin. Red Fender Stratocaster. Gold plated Legacy Artist.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Seamus McGarvey Band - Seamus O'Boogie
I’m sure lots of bands recording an album regard it as a labour of love, but Seamus O’Boogie is really in a different category.
Irish bassist Pat McGarvey had had a long-standing notion to record with his harmonica-playing brother John and their amateur musician dad, Seamus, but it was only with the passing of Seamus’s brother, sister and father-in-law that the idea crystallised, bringing this album into being.
Now in his seventies, Seamus McGarvey has been a lifelong music fan, collecting records and attending shows by many famous blues, rock 'n' roll and country artists, as well as singing and playing guitar himself.
Seamus O’Boogie is a collection of cover versions that celebrate his enthusiasm and have personal meaning for the family, recorded in Edinburgh with the assistance of local guitarist Jed Potts and drummer Calum McIntyre.
McGarvey senior’s affinity for blues music is demonstrated by the feel of his vocal delivery on tracks like Robert Johnson’s ‘Rambling On My Mind’ and Sonny Boy Williamson II’s ‘Don’t Start Me Talkin.'
On both tracks John McGarvey’s harp and Jed Potts’ guitar combine very nicely, with Potts delivering a shivering and shaking solo on the latter.
The same is also true of songs like Lonnie Johnson’s ‘It’s Too Late To Cry,’ an acid tale of a no good woman (Seamus McGarvey capturing the man’s breaking point with an emphatic "That did it!") and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s ‘Walk On,' which opens reflectively with sparse harp and guitar accompaniment.
More upbeat blues comes in the form of ‘I Ain’t Superstitious’, with its snapping, lurching arrangement and a brittle-toned solo from Jed Potts, as well as the sturdy grind of Elmore James’ ‘Look On Yonder Wall’.
Seamus McGarvey’s penchant for country music is well represented by ‘Sea Of Heartbreak’ and ‘Deep River Blues;' on the former it’s apparent that while his voice doesn’t have the basso profundo quality of Johnny Cash it does have something of Cash's character, with restrained banjo and amusing "bom-bom-bom" backing vocals from Pat McGarvey providing some variety.
The latter is a more laid back, country-ish take on a traditional blues, with Calum McIntyre providing washboard percussion that even stretches to the use of a bicycle bell.
Crossover tunes like Brook Benton’s pop hit ‘Hotel Happiness’ and Carl Perkins’ country/rock ’n’ roll ‘Honey Don’t’ feel like throwaways by comparison and I’ll never go a bundle on a crooning-style Elvis tune such ‘Don’t Leave Me Now,' nicely enough done though it may be.
But on Duke Ellington’s ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’ the understated delivery and Seamus McGarvey’s liltingly romantic vocal are good enough to have me digging out a DVD of When Harry Met Sally, in which the tune gets the briefest of airings courtesy of Harry Connick Jr. Such is the power of a classic song.
There’s some rock ’n’ roll too, in the form of ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and Jerry Lee Lewis’s ‘Break Up.'
The band rock away satisfyingly enough on the former (Calum McIntyre’s drums becoming more urgent in support of the guitar and harp solos) but the latter rattles along more vibrantly, with whoops of enthusiasm from Seamus McGarvey and a nifty solo from Jed Potts.
There are some curiosities added to the album too, harvested from a family cassette tape dating back to 1983.
Snippets of song introductions and conversation, along with renditions of a few Irish tunes on which Seamus McGarvey’s late brother John can be heard singing, add to the personal touch and underline my original point: Seamus O’Boogie is a labour of love.
Iain Cameron
Blues Enthused http://www.bluesenthused.com/
Re-produced for FabricationsHQ by permission
Irish bassist Pat McGarvey had had a long-standing notion to record with his harmonica-playing brother John and their amateur musician dad, Seamus, but it was only with the passing of Seamus’s brother, sister and father-in-law that the idea crystallised, bringing this album into being.
Now in his seventies, Seamus McGarvey has been a lifelong music fan, collecting records and attending shows by many famous blues, rock 'n' roll and country artists, as well as singing and playing guitar himself.
Seamus O’Boogie is a collection of cover versions that celebrate his enthusiasm and have personal meaning for the family, recorded in Edinburgh with the assistance of local guitarist Jed Potts and drummer Calum McIntyre.
McGarvey senior’s affinity for blues music is demonstrated by the feel of his vocal delivery on tracks like Robert Johnson’s ‘Rambling On My Mind’ and Sonny Boy Williamson II’s ‘Don’t Start Me Talkin.'
On both tracks John McGarvey’s harp and Jed Potts’ guitar combine very nicely, with Potts delivering a shivering and shaking solo on the latter.
The same is also true of songs like Lonnie Johnson’s ‘It’s Too Late To Cry,’ an acid tale of a no good woman (Seamus McGarvey capturing the man’s breaking point with an emphatic "That did it!") and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s ‘Walk On,' which opens reflectively with sparse harp and guitar accompaniment.
More upbeat blues comes in the form of ‘I Ain’t Superstitious’, with its snapping, lurching arrangement and a brittle-toned solo from Jed Potts, as well as the sturdy grind of Elmore James’ ‘Look On Yonder Wall’.
Seamus McGarvey’s penchant for country music is well represented by ‘Sea Of Heartbreak’ and ‘Deep River Blues;' on the former it’s apparent that while his voice doesn’t have the basso profundo quality of Johnny Cash it does have something of Cash's character, with restrained banjo and amusing "bom-bom-bom" backing vocals from Pat McGarvey providing some variety.
The latter is a more laid back, country-ish take on a traditional blues, with Calum McIntyre providing washboard percussion that even stretches to the use of a bicycle bell.
Crossover tunes like Brook Benton’s pop hit ‘Hotel Happiness’ and Carl Perkins’ country/rock ’n’ roll ‘Honey Don’t’ feel like throwaways by comparison and I’ll never go a bundle on a crooning-style Elvis tune such ‘Don’t Leave Me Now,' nicely enough done though it may be.
But on Duke Ellington’s ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’ the understated delivery and Seamus McGarvey’s liltingly romantic vocal are good enough to have me digging out a DVD of When Harry Met Sally, in which the tune gets the briefest of airings courtesy of Harry Connick Jr. Such is the power of a classic song.
There’s some rock ’n’ roll too, in the form of ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and Jerry Lee Lewis’s ‘Break Up.'
The band rock away satisfyingly enough on the former (Calum McIntyre’s drums becoming more urgent in support of the guitar and harp solos) but the latter rattles along more vibrantly, with whoops of enthusiasm from Seamus McGarvey and a nifty solo from Jed Potts.
There are some curiosities added to the album too, harvested from a family cassette tape dating back to 1983.
Snippets of song introductions and conversation, along with renditions of a few Irish tunes on which Seamus McGarvey’s late brother John can be heard singing, add to the personal touch and underline my original point: Seamus O’Boogie is a labour of love.
Iain Cameron
Blues Enthused http://www.bluesenthused.com/
Re-produced for FabricationsHQ by permission
Chantel McGregor – Bury’d ALive
With an acoustic album in the pipeline and a full, new studio album scheduled for 2020 (the long awaited follow up to 2015’s powerful, Southern Gothic influenced Lose Control), a live release from singer and exceptional rock guitar talent Chantel McGregor is well timed, an exclamation point and wrap-up statement to the last four years of Lose Control performances before heading for acoustic and studio album pastures new.
It also showcases and captures just how good Chantel McGregor and her band, the tight and flexible rhythm section of drummer Thom Gardner and bassist Colin Sutton, truly are.
Bu then you have to be percussively expressive and fluid with the bass lines, given Miss McGregor’s penchant for taking songs into semi-improvised, different-each-night territory (take your deserved round of applause, 'Eternal Dream,' a song that shares musical DNA with the late Jeff Buckley and, live, allows McGregor and her band to journey down a more progressive, blues-fusion road).
Similarly, and even more notable, is the near thirteen minute 'Inconsolable.'
The only cover to feature, the song starts fairly faithful to American folk & rock singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke’s original, but Chantel McGregor’s acoustic guitar is soon swapped the electric, as she takes lead on an extended, free flowing instrumental section.
With the guitarist losing herself in ever-rising six-string cries and howls Colin Sutton (who fills the space with some sinewy four-string lines) and Thom Gardner keep one ear on their rhythm and presumably one eye on their leader to see where she might go next.
Recorded in March of this year at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds, Bury’d ALive (I see what you did there) is about far more than just those extended excursions and guitar-play that flits between the finessed and the furious (such six-string extremes are to the fore on the nine minute, slow-build instrumental 'April').
The opening Lose Control salvo of the heavyweight 'Take the Power' and riff rockin’ 'Killing Time' positively bristle with Southern Gothic energy; 'Caught Out,' from debut album Like No Other, hides its middle-eastern motifs under heavier clothing, putting it slap bang in the American South alongside its Lose Control cousins.
Equally impressive are the short, sharp and riff driven 'Lose Control' and 'Your Fever,' a grungy, mid-tempo slice of heavy blues that incorporates interesting melodic threads.
Recorded by engineer Ben Sitch and given full-sounding live life courtesy of Wayne Proctor’s first class production, mixing and mastering job, Bury’d ALive is an 11 track, 68 minute encapsulation of an artist on top, expressive form and one who will no doubt always be wanted for questioning by the Blues Police.
Long may those traits continue.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
It also showcases and captures just how good Chantel McGregor and her band, the tight and flexible rhythm section of drummer Thom Gardner and bassist Colin Sutton, truly are.
Bu then you have to be percussively expressive and fluid with the bass lines, given Miss McGregor’s penchant for taking songs into semi-improvised, different-each-night territory (take your deserved round of applause, 'Eternal Dream,' a song that shares musical DNA with the late Jeff Buckley and, live, allows McGregor and her band to journey down a more progressive, blues-fusion road).
Similarly, and even more notable, is the near thirteen minute 'Inconsolable.'
The only cover to feature, the song starts fairly faithful to American folk & rock singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke’s original, but Chantel McGregor’s acoustic guitar is soon swapped the electric, as she takes lead on an extended, free flowing instrumental section.
With the guitarist losing herself in ever-rising six-string cries and howls Colin Sutton (who fills the space with some sinewy four-string lines) and Thom Gardner keep one ear on their rhythm and presumably one eye on their leader to see where she might go next.
Recorded in March of this year at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds, Bury’d ALive (I see what you did there) is about far more than just those extended excursions and guitar-play that flits between the finessed and the furious (such six-string extremes are to the fore on the nine minute, slow-build instrumental 'April').
The opening Lose Control salvo of the heavyweight 'Take the Power' and riff rockin’ 'Killing Time' positively bristle with Southern Gothic energy; 'Caught Out,' from debut album Like No Other, hides its middle-eastern motifs under heavier clothing, putting it slap bang in the American South alongside its Lose Control cousins.
Equally impressive are the short, sharp and riff driven 'Lose Control' and 'Your Fever,' a grungy, mid-tempo slice of heavy blues that incorporates interesting melodic threads.
Recorded by engineer Ben Sitch and given full-sounding live life courtesy of Wayne Proctor’s first class production, mixing and mastering job, Bury’d ALive is an 11 track, 68 minute encapsulation of an artist on top, expressive form and one who will no doubt always be wanted for questioning by the Blues Police.
Long may those traits continue.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Larry Miller – The Sinner and The Saint
There will be very few, if any, blues-rock gig goers in the UK or Europe who don’t know the name Larry Miller, his high-energy stage shows or incendiary style of guitar play (not that Miller can’t also play the blues because he most assuredly can, as at least a couple of songs on each of his studio albums can testify to).
Those same fans will also be aware that, since suffering a debilitating stroke back in August of 2015 (although intensive rehabilitation has helped both health and recovery) it’s still not clear if the enigmatic stage presence of Larry Miller will ever be seen or heard in a full performance setting again (but that’s the goal).
Which makes The Sinner and The Saint all the more poignant, coupled with the fact it’s Larry Miller's first album of all new material since 2014’s Soldier of the Line (an album that saw Miller develop his singer-songwriter-storytelling side) and the album he was working on when he had the stroke.
Now completed as a fully-fledged double album and featuring the talents of Graham Walker (drums) and Neil Sadler (bass, keyboards; Sadler also recorded, mixed and mastered the Miller-Sadler produced album) The Sinner and The Saint has been well worth the wait.
It’s also a perfectly balanced old school double album, both in length (9 tracks across 42 minutes; 6 tracks across 33 minutes) and its sequencing.
Disc One, titled The Sinner, is primarily Larry Miller rocking it up via songs such as rock 'n' roll boogie opener 'Gotta Turn the Corner' and the grittier 'I May Be Down (But the Kid Ain’t Out)' with its bursts of six-string fizz.
There are also darker lyrical touches, as carried on the rhythmic jazz-blues sway of 'No More Mr Nice Guy' (which extends and outros with some tasty Miller fret-work).
But the blues also come calling on Disc One.
'I Want My Life Back' and 'Don’t Talk About Me' are quintessential Larry Miller stamped slow blues (Miller’s 1957 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top crying complementary notes of sympathy on both) while the wonderfully titled 'Black Oak Arkansas Hangman' and 'Your Tears Will Hit the Floor' are rootsier, semi-acoustic offerings that feature Miller on a 1931 National Duolian Resonator and mandolin, respectively.
Disc Two, The Saint, carries fittingly Saintly positivity through songs such as the up-tempo and uplifting 'Hear the Train a Coming' (Larry Miller’s Gold Top hitting some joyful expressions), the musically contrasting Christian-blues ballad 'The Outlawed Name' (featuring some inspired soloing on the closing section) and the jazzier, rock-blues tones of 'Taste My Love.'
The second disc also carries a couple of boy sings the blues winners in the shape of the Gospel-tinged 'Rescue Me' and seven minute album closer 'Ain’t No Love Here Anymore.'
Larry Miller. Sinner, Saint and Survivor.
You didn’t think a debilitating stroke was going to stop him playing from a musical heart as strong as his, did you?
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Those same fans will also be aware that, since suffering a debilitating stroke back in August of 2015 (although intensive rehabilitation has helped both health and recovery) it’s still not clear if the enigmatic stage presence of Larry Miller will ever be seen or heard in a full performance setting again (but that’s the goal).
Which makes The Sinner and The Saint all the more poignant, coupled with the fact it’s Larry Miller's first album of all new material since 2014’s Soldier of the Line (an album that saw Miller develop his singer-songwriter-storytelling side) and the album he was working on when he had the stroke.
Now completed as a fully-fledged double album and featuring the talents of Graham Walker (drums) and Neil Sadler (bass, keyboards; Sadler also recorded, mixed and mastered the Miller-Sadler produced album) The Sinner and The Saint has been well worth the wait.
It’s also a perfectly balanced old school double album, both in length (9 tracks across 42 minutes; 6 tracks across 33 minutes) and its sequencing.
Disc One, titled The Sinner, is primarily Larry Miller rocking it up via songs such as rock 'n' roll boogie opener 'Gotta Turn the Corner' and the grittier 'I May Be Down (But the Kid Ain’t Out)' with its bursts of six-string fizz.
There are also darker lyrical touches, as carried on the rhythmic jazz-blues sway of 'No More Mr Nice Guy' (which extends and outros with some tasty Miller fret-work).
But the blues also come calling on Disc One.
'I Want My Life Back' and 'Don’t Talk About Me' are quintessential Larry Miller stamped slow blues (Miller’s 1957 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top crying complementary notes of sympathy on both) while the wonderfully titled 'Black Oak Arkansas Hangman' and 'Your Tears Will Hit the Floor' are rootsier, semi-acoustic offerings that feature Miller on a 1931 National Duolian Resonator and mandolin, respectively.
Disc Two, The Saint, carries fittingly Saintly positivity through songs such as the up-tempo and uplifting 'Hear the Train a Coming' (Larry Miller’s Gold Top hitting some joyful expressions), the musically contrasting Christian-blues ballad 'The Outlawed Name' (featuring some inspired soloing on the closing section) and the jazzier, rock-blues tones of 'Taste My Love.'
The second disc also carries a couple of boy sings the blues winners in the shape of the Gospel-tinged 'Rescue Me' and seven minute album closer 'Ain’t No Love Here Anymore.'
Larry Miller. Sinner, Saint and Survivor.
You didn’t think a debilitating stroke was going to stop him playing from a musical heart as strong as his, did you?
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Mustangs - Watertown
The birdsong chirps that introduce the acoustically framed and sunlit warmth of 'King of the Green Fields' ("sunrise behind the hill, light the ancient pagan fields…) and the raised tempo of the seguing 'Field & Factory' herald in the beginning of The Mustangs journey across those green fields while telling a tale, through the fictional locale of Watertown, of industrialisation and its march through the natural environment.
Watertown is also the band’s second conceptually themed album in a row.
In 2017 The Mustangs delivered the beautifully crafted but criminally ignored Just Passing Through (life as a train journey); now, through like-minds and a conversation between front man (and primary songwriter) Adam Norsworthy and band-mate Jonathan Bartley (Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales) they have delivered their own warning on the impact of pollution on the environment.
Soft prog environmental message blues? Well, why not.
While that will have the blues police tearing what’s left of their hair out the rest of us can applaud a group that continue to stretch the musical boundaries and challenge themselves thematically and lyrically (this ain’t a band that woke up this morning to get themselves a beer while writing a 12 bar; if anything they write too intelligently).
That said The Mustangs have always been labelled blues rock, primarily though the Dr Feelgood styled R&B influences of their earlier albums.
But the quartet – Adam Norsworthy (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Jonathan Bartley (drums, backing vocals), Derek Kingaby (blues harp) and Ben McKeown (bass, backing vocals) – have since developed in to a tight, tidy and acclaimed unit that’s as much about melodic pop, country/folk, rock and, yes, even prog, as they are blues.
All of those traits manifest themselves on Watertown, from the quirky and rhythmic, blues harp punctuated R&B of 'An Easy Place' and melodic blues-pop charm of 'Love Will Pass You By' through to the foot tapping folk-pop of 'Going Into Town' and the rockier edge that’s applied to 'Kings of Light' (while early industrialists declare "we’ll illuminate the nation, and black out all the stars…") and the gritty and Stonesy 'Swimming with the Devil.'
But therein lies the thematic problem.
With such a myriad of styles the message of Watertown is lost – the music (well produced by Adam Norsworthy and beautifully mixed by Wayne Proctor) does the talking and not, ironically, the lyrical narrative and story the band are trying to convey.
Further, in this digital day and short attention span age, where the majority of listeners are throwing their music collection on random shuffle or playlisting favourite tracks on their streaming platform of choice, Watertown, as a concept, will probably never get the hearing, nor larger audience, it's musical and thematic scope deserves.
But we come to praise The Mustangs musicality and Adam Norsworthy’s songwriting, not to bury them under the (hopefully still) green and pleasant lands as reflected upon, somewhat poignantly, the questioning ballad and closing number 'Looking for Old England.'
The conclusion however is that with Watertown, what could have been The Mustangs crowning achievement will more likely become their well-intentioned musical folly.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Watertown is also the band’s second conceptually themed album in a row.
In 2017 The Mustangs delivered the beautifully crafted but criminally ignored Just Passing Through (life as a train journey); now, through like-minds and a conversation between front man (and primary songwriter) Adam Norsworthy and band-mate Jonathan Bartley (Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales) they have delivered their own warning on the impact of pollution on the environment.
Soft prog environmental message blues? Well, why not.
While that will have the blues police tearing what’s left of their hair out the rest of us can applaud a group that continue to stretch the musical boundaries and challenge themselves thematically and lyrically (this ain’t a band that woke up this morning to get themselves a beer while writing a 12 bar; if anything they write too intelligently).
That said The Mustangs have always been labelled blues rock, primarily though the Dr Feelgood styled R&B influences of their earlier albums.
But the quartet – Adam Norsworthy (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Jonathan Bartley (drums, backing vocals), Derek Kingaby (blues harp) and Ben McKeown (bass, backing vocals) – have since developed in to a tight, tidy and acclaimed unit that’s as much about melodic pop, country/folk, rock and, yes, even prog, as they are blues.
All of those traits manifest themselves on Watertown, from the quirky and rhythmic, blues harp punctuated R&B of 'An Easy Place' and melodic blues-pop charm of 'Love Will Pass You By' through to the foot tapping folk-pop of 'Going Into Town' and the rockier edge that’s applied to 'Kings of Light' (while early industrialists declare "we’ll illuminate the nation, and black out all the stars…") and the gritty and Stonesy 'Swimming with the Devil.'
But therein lies the thematic problem.
With such a myriad of styles the message of Watertown is lost – the music (well produced by Adam Norsworthy and beautifully mixed by Wayne Proctor) does the talking and not, ironically, the lyrical narrative and story the band are trying to convey.
Further, in this digital day and short attention span age, where the majority of listeners are throwing their music collection on random shuffle or playlisting favourite tracks on their streaming platform of choice, Watertown, as a concept, will probably never get the hearing, nor larger audience, it's musical and thematic scope deserves.
But we come to praise The Mustangs musicality and Adam Norsworthy’s songwriting, not to bury them under the (hopefully still) green and pleasant lands as reflected upon, somewhat poignantly, the questioning ballad and closing number 'Looking for Old England.'
The conclusion however is that with Watertown, what could have been The Mustangs crowning achievement will more likely become their well-intentioned musical folly.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Vince Neads – Slow Road
There’s a quick double-take required when seeing Vince Neads for the first time, particularly with a guitar in his hands, because there’s every chance the comment will be "wait, is that not Gwyn Ashton?"
Not only are they brothers in physicality, they are also brothers in musical arms – both have Fab Tone Records commonalities and are like-minded musical mates that have gigged together.
Further, the Welsh born, Oz bred Gwyn Ashton appears on Slow Road, the debut album from Vince Neads (Ashton is featured on resonator, lapslide and additional electric guitars).
Vince Neads is also cut from the same individualistic style of artistry – in Gwyn Ashton’s case that's a gritty, psychedelically-tinged Oz-blues that sounds like no-one else; with Vince Neads it’s a blues, country, rock and mainstream eclectic-ness that all fits together through Neads’ songwriting skills (all ten tracks on Slow Road are self-penned originals) and clever arrangements that include tempo shifts or a melodic change-up or two.
Opener 'Down the Track' is an instantly engaging and rockin’ country guitar picking blues with a big hook chorus (and harmonica and violin accentuations from Paul Gooderham and Paul Burgess respectively). 'Coming Home' then picks up the pace to rock out in a more contemporary, hard country meets blues rocking fashion, interwoven with melodic passages.
The shout-it-out chorus of 'Cutting Loose,' a song that also carries a soupçon of Hendrix, continues the contemporary blues rock vibe before Vince Neads gets his blues on for 'One Day.'
Slow blues is not his strength, vocally speaking, but the subtlety of the guitar lines on 'One Day' and the use of harmonica make for a well-weighted offering that sets up the shuffle and harp wails of 'She's So Fine.'
Just when you’ think you’ve got Vince Neads musically sussed up pops 'Five More Minutes,' a lovely airplay potential number that could be Howard Jones without the electro-pop instrumentation.
'Through the Fire' returns to the contemporary rock 'n' blues with hooks theme of the album before Tim Moore’s tinkling ivories and Paul Gooderham’s wailing harmonica take centre bar-room blues stage on 'Little More Time.'
The title of instrumental 'Boogie With V' (featuring Vince Neads on keyboards) is self-explanatory (although Neads gets a little classical on tune’s end) as, to a lesser degree, is closing number 'Bullet.'
The final song hits the target with its clever use of melodic light and gothic shade (darker, sinister verse vocals mix with brighter, melodic choruses) and a rapid-fire, quick-stop finish.
With Vince Neads having plied his vocal and guitar trade for many a year, this has been a long-awaited debut album from one of blues rock’s best kept secrets.
But now that secret is out and, backed by a tidy rhythm section of bassist Christian Nokes (whom many a modern prog fan will know from Birmingham based progressives IO Earth) and drummer Neil Ablard (Chris Jamieson is behind the kit for two of the songs), Vince Neads’ Slow Road trip has been well worth the wait.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Not only are they brothers in physicality, they are also brothers in musical arms – both have Fab Tone Records commonalities and are like-minded musical mates that have gigged together.
Further, the Welsh born, Oz bred Gwyn Ashton appears on Slow Road, the debut album from Vince Neads (Ashton is featured on resonator, lapslide and additional electric guitars).
Vince Neads is also cut from the same individualistic style of artistry – in Gwyn Ashton’s case that's a gritty, psychedelically-tinged Oz-blues that sounds like no-one else; with Vince Neads it’s a blues, country, rock and mainstream eclectic-ness that all fits together through Neads’ songwriting skills (all ten tracks on Slow Road are self-penned originals) and clever arrangements that include tempo shifts or a melodic change-up or two.
Opener 'Down the Track' is an instantly engaging and rockin’ country guitar picking blues with a big hook chorus (and harmonica and violin accentuations from Paul Gooderham and Paul Burgess respectively). 'Coming Home' then picks up the pace to rock out in a more contemporary, hard country meets blues rocking fashion, interwoven with melodic passages.
The shout-it-out chorus of 'Cutting Loose,' a song that also carries a soupçon of Hendrix, continues the contemporary blues rock vibe before Vince Neads gets his blues on for 'One Day.'
Slow blues is not his strength, vocally speaking, but the subtlety of the guitar lines on 'One Day' and the use of harmonica make for a well-weighted offering that sets up the shuffle and harp wails of 'She's So Fine.'
Just when you’ think you’ve got Vince Neads musically sussed up pops 'Five More Minutes,' a lovely airplay potential number that could be Howard Jones without the electro-pop instrumentation.
'Through the Fire' returns to the contemporary rock 'n' blues with hooks theme of the album before Tim Moore’s tinkling ivories and Paul Gooderham’s wailing harmonica take centre bar-room blues stage on 'Little More Time.'
The title of instrumental 'Boogie With V' (featuring Vince Neads on keyboards) is self-explanatory (although Neads gets a little classical on tune’s end) as, to a lesser degree, is closing number 'Bullet.'
The final song hits the target with its clever use of melodic light and gothic shade (darker, sinister verse vocals mix with brighter, melodic choruses) and a rapid-fire, quick-stop finish.
With Vince Neads having plied his vocal and guitar trade for many a year, this has been a long-awaited debut album from one of blues rock’s best kept secrets.
But now that secret is out and, backed by a tidy rhythm section of bassist Christian Nokes (whom many a modern prog fan will know from Birmingham based progressives IO Earth) and drummer Neil Ablard (Chris Jamieson is behind the kit for two of the songs), Vince Neads’ Slow Road trip has been well worth the wait.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Cormac Neeson – White Feather
White Feather, the debut solo album from Cormac Neeson, lead singer with acclaimed Northern Irish rock outfit The Answer, firmly roots the singer in his life affirming world of country, soul, blues and Celtic folk.
The results are an album of well-crafted, introspective numbers that draw heavily from the aforementioned influences and shaped by Cormac Neeson's personal experiences of upheaval and change over the last few years.
The generally under-stated and mid to slow tempo collection of songs that make up White Feather are also genuinely warm and inviting – which is all the more impressive given the personal and reflective subject matter at hand and a nod to the song writing quality (Cormac Neeson worked with a number of leading Nashville country song writers including Allen Palmer, Tennessee Songwriter of the Year Corey Lee Barker and the late Blue Miller).
The country pedal steel and piano (some lovely ivory tinkling remarks from John McCullough) of opening number 'White Feather' is the perfect vehicle for Cormac Neeson’s Celtic lilted vocal and lyric that reflects on the impact of a new birth ("spent two weeks waiting on a heartbeat, no bigger than a small seed…") and, one surmises, a rebirth of sorts for Cormac Neeson.
'Do Something Today' reminds of Frankie Miller in slower, county-blues clothing (and if you’re conjuring up thoughts of Frankie Miller you’re on the right (album) track); similarly Miller-esque is the more up-tempo 'Don’t Wait Up.'
'Broken Wing' has, in the saddest of unforeseen circumstances, become the very definition of country blues.
An emotively delivered ballad written for Cormac Neeson’s son and the challenges he has faced in his young life, the song was co-written with ex Bob Seger guitarist and India.Arie producer Blue Miller (as was vocally rhythmic country soul number 'Oh Son'). Tragically, Miller died of a brain aneurysm in August of 2018.
'Song That Lives Forever' (with cello interjections floating atop guitars, dobro and banjo) and 'Home to Me' offer, in turn, well-crafted blues waltzing and homecoming country but' Artefact' and the prayer plea 'Look Down On Me' might be a melancholic step too far for some.
'Artefact' and 'Look Down On Me' both benefit from their use of well-arranged female backing vocals however, as do half the numbers on the album.
Three additional songs – ballad 'Everywhere But Here,' the bluesy 'What You Do To Me' and the string arranged 'Whole Again' – are listed on the CD artwork and booklet but are not actually included and have to be downloaded.
The reason? While the album was the result of a successful direct-to-fan Pledge Music campaign, it was also worryingly caught up for a short time in that funding body’s well documented payment problems – hence the "missing tracks" issue.
White Feather might not be the album you would expect Cormac Neeson to make, but it’s the album he absolutely needed to make.
Those with a fondness or appreciation for Celtic influenced country blues should be very glad he did.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The results are an album of well-crafted, introspective numbers that draw heavily from the aforementioned influences and shaped by Cormac Neeson's personal experiences of upheaval and change over the last few years.
The generally under-stated and mid to slow tempo collection of songs that make up White Feather are also genuinely warm and inviting – which is all the more impressive given the personal and reflective subject matter at hand and a nod to the song writing quality (Cormac Neeson worked with a number of leading Nashville country song writers including Allen Palmer, Tennessee Songwriter of the Year Corey Lee Barker and the late Blue Miller).
The country pedal steel and piano (some lovely ivory tinkling remarks from John McCullough) of opening number 'White Feather' is the perfect vehicle for Cormac Neeson’s Celtic lilted vocal and lyric that reflects on the impact of a new birth ("spent two weeks waiting on a heartbeat, no bigger than a small seed…") and, one surmises, a rebirth of sorts for Cormac Neeson.
'Do Something Today' reminds of Frankie Miller in slower, county-blues clothing (and if you’re conjuring up thoughts of Frankie Miller you’re on the right (album) track); similarly Miller-esque is the more up-tempo 'Don’t Wait Up.'
'Broken Wing' has, in the saddest of unforeseen circumstances, become the very definition of country blues.
An emotively delivered ballad written for Cormac Neeson’s son and the challenges he has faced in his young life, the song was co-written with ex Bob Seger guitarist and India.Arie producer Blue Miller (as was vocally rhythmic country soul number 'Oh Son'). Tragically, Miller died of a brain aneurysm in August of 2018.
'Song That Lives Forever' (with cello interjections floating atop guitars, dobro and banjo) and 'Home to Me' offer, in turn, well-crafted blues waltzing and homecoming country but' Artefact' and the prayer plea 'Look Down On Me' might be a melancholic step too far for some.
'Artefact' and 'Look Down On Me' both benefit from their use of well-arranged female backing vocals however, as do half the numbers on the album.
Three additional songs – ballad 'Everywhere But Here,' the bluesy 'What You Do To Me' and the string arranged 'Whole Again' – are listed on the CD artwork and booklet but are not actually included and have to be downloaded.
The reason? While the album was the result of a successful direct-to-fan Pledge Music campaign, it was also worryingly caught up for a short time in that funding body’s well documented payment problems – hence the "missing tracks" issue.
White Feather might not be the album you would expect Cormac Neeson to make, but it’s the album he absolutely needed to make.
Those with a fondness or appreciation for Celtic influenced country blues should be very glad he did.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Raelyn Nelson Band – Don’t
As an emerging female artist in Nashville and granddaughter of music icon Willie Nelson you’d be forgiven for thinking you already know what Raelyn Nelson sounds like before you’ve heard a note of her band.
Because while Raelyn Nelson has been singing since she can remember (raised on a steady diet of traditional country and gospel music), that would put you on the wrong country road when you should be heading down the garage band/ rockabilly path.
Working with independent producer (and veteran of the underground rock and American punk scene) Jonathan Bright, Raelyn Nelson and her band have created a sound which is part Loretta Lynn and part Cheap Trick (if they had been born and raised in Nashville Tennessee and not Rockford Illinois); all of which is as heard to fine garage and rockabilly-punk effect on debut album, Don’t.
Lead-off single and opening number 'Weed and Whiskey' (if ever a title told you this was a relation of Willie Nelson…) is the fun, foot-stomping, country rockin’ side of a band whose genre crossing sound is further proven by bill sharing shows with acts as diverse as country superstar Tim McGraw, indie rockers Drivin' n Cryin', punk band Descendents and American blues-rock supergroup Hard Working Americans.
There’s a little bit of everything on 'Pieces' (which flits from countrified verses to rock guitar bursts, all wrapped in a decidedly New Wave vibe) while 'Nothing On' might be the best example of garage band does country rockabilly you’ll find on the album – or anywhere else for that matter.
'Hating You' keeps the rockabilly-punk pace up whilst demonstrating Raelyn Nelson’s acerbic lyricism
("I once was confused, but I’ve paid all my dues, now I love hating you even more") before the band rock ‘n’ roll it up for 'Mama Cry' (similarly the rockin’ guitar roll that drives 'About That').
'Texas' and 'Good Times' are ridiculously hooky slices of new wave rockabilly that Raelyn Nelson and her band seem to be able to deliver with ease.
The former is a rockabilly romping trip out of Musicville to check out "tacos, cowboys and horses!" while the latter has you wondering if the subject of Miss Nelson’s lyrical attention is the same unfortunate country boy that featured in 'Hating You' ("usually when I’m with you my heart just skips a beat… but lately all I want to do is punch you in the teeth").
Contrasting with all that has gone before is penultimate number 'Everything Falls.'
Radio friendly Americana pop, 'Everything Falls' is high on harmonies and a song that reminds of The Byrds around the time their guitar chimes headed for country territory.
Closing number 'Rebel Girl' puts the capital G and P in Garage Punk, a short, sharp and spikey two and a half minutes that, paired alongside 'Everything Falls,' shows there are two sides to Miss Raelyn Nelson.
It’s also fitting the album closes out with the highly raucous 'Rebel Girl' because on Don’t Raelyn Nelson and her band have delivered a truly rebellious take on the Nashville sound – a musical Clash that's epitomised by the clever London Calling album cover homage (nice touch).
Nashville garage punk, y'all.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Because while Raelyn Nelson has been singing since she can remember (raised on a steady diet of traditional country and gospel music), that would put you on the wrong country road when you should be heading down the garage band/ rockabilly path.
Working with independent producer (and veteran of the underground rock and American punk scene) Jonathan Bright, Raelyn Nelson and her band have created a sound which is part Loretta Lynn and part Cheap Trick (if they had been born and raised in Nashville Tennessee and not Rockford Illinois); all of which is as heard to fine garage and rockabilly-punk effect on debut album, Don’t.
Lead-off single and opening number 'Weed and Whiskey' (if ever a title told you this was a relation of Willie Nelson…) is the fun, foot-stomping, country rockin’ side of a band whose genre crossing sound is further proven by bill sharing shows with acts as diverse as country superstar Tim McGraw, indie rockers Drivin' n Cryin', punk band Descendents and American blues-rock supergroup Hard Working Americans.
There’s a little bit of everything on 'Pieces' (which flits from countrified verses to rock guitar bursts, all wrapped in a decidedly New Wave vibe) while 'Nothing On' might be the best example of garage band does country rockabilly you’ll find on the album – or anywhere else for that matter.
'Hating You' keeps the rockabilly-punk pace up whilst demonstrating Raelyn Nelson’s acerbic lyricism
("I once was confused, but I’ve paid all my dues, now I love hating you even more") before the band rock ‘n’ roll it up for 'Mama Cry' (similarly the rockin’ guitar roll that drives 'About That').
'Texas' and 'Good Times' are ridiculously hooky slices of new wave rockabilly that Raelyn Nelson and her band seem to be able to deliver with ease.
The former is a rockabilly romping trip out of Musicville to check out "tacos, cowboys and horses!" while the latter has you wondering if the subject of Miss Nelson’s lyrical attention is the same unfortunate country boy that featured in 'Hating You' ("usually when I’m with you my heart just skips a beat… but lately all I want to do is punch you in the teeth").
Contrasting with all that has gone before is penultimate number 'Everything Falls.'
Radio friendly Americana pop, 'Everything Falls' is high on harmonies and a song that reminds of The Byrds around the time their guitar chimes headed for country territory.
Closing number 'Rebel Girl' puts the capital G and P in Garage Punk, a short, sharp and spikey two and a half minutes that, paired alongside 'Everything Falls,' shows there are two sides to Miss Raelyn Nelson.
It’s also fitting the album closes out with the highly raucous 'Rebel Girl' because on Don’t Raelyn Nelson and her band have delivered a truly rebellious take on the Nashville sound – a musical Clash that's epitomised by the clever London Calling album cover homage (nice touch).
Nashville garage punk, y'all.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The New Roses – Nothing But Wild
There’s a fair few contemporary rock and roll guitar bands vying for a place in old Blighty's rock scene these days, but over in the Rhine District of Germany there’s a quartet that has many of the guitar-led Brits beat on the unveiling of their most recent musical wares.
To be fair The New Roses – Timmy Rough (lead vocals, guitars), Norman Bites (lead guitar), Urban Berz (drums), Hardy (bass) – have a big head start on the up and comers, having debuted their self-titled EP in 2012 and releasing the brash, high-energy Without a Trace in 2013.
The band made an almost immediate impact in their homeland and, later, further afield through critically acclaimed shows, significant supports slots (Saxon, The Dead Daisies), impressive third album One More For the Road and a clutch of noteworthy festival and event appearances including Sweden Rock, the UEFA Champions League Festival and KISS Kruise VIII.
Taking its lead from One More From the Road, a hook-laden and predominately faster tempo set of guitar-rock nuggets (with a sprinkle of whoa-oh-ohs and a touch of hard country), Nothing But Wild is, indeed, nothing but wild and loud rock and roll fun with nary a breather between thirteen, energy-laden songs that are catchier than the common cold and emphasise the band’s blue collar rock and roll sensibilities (a couple of unplugged numbers are also included for good Bonus Track measure).
From opener 'Soundtrack of My Life,' which rocks like the proverbial (Foo Fighters meet Aerosmith back when the latter had Toys in their Attic) to big melodic closer 'Glory Road' (Bon Jovi does Springsteen) Nothing But Wild is an out-and-out winner with no filler, easing up on the rock and roll gas only for rock ballad 'The Only Thing,' the simple beat and acoustic fun of 'Meet Me Half Way' and country influenced 'The Bullet' (a song that is just crying out for mainstream, airplay).
The ballads also highlight that while Timmy Rough has a true raucous and roll voice, he’s a deceptively rangy singer that can also deliver on a slow burn or AOR styled number.
Lead-off single 'Down by the River' is another monster song, a massive slice of melodically driven rock and roll that celebrates splashing about in summers past; similarly notable for its melodically hard rockin’ US sound is 'Running Out of Hearts.'
Lyrically, there are instances of the absolutely throwaway (the raunch 'n' rolling title track and the huge sounding and ridiculously infectious 'Can’t Stop Rock and Roll' are the main culprits) but they are tongue-in-cheek fun and fit the good times profile of both band and album to the "fast cars" and "cut-off jeans" tee.
"As long as there’s a beat in my chest, I know that rock n roll ain’t dead!" proudly declared Timmy Rough on Without a Trace number 'Still Got My Rock and Roll.'
Six years and three studio albums later The New Roses rock and roll heart is beating even harder, bigger and melodically better, with more hooks than all the fishing lines cast in the Rhine River.
Vorsprung durch rock und roll, boys.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
To be fair The New Roses – Timmy Rough (lead vocals, guitars), Norman Bites (lead guitar), Urban Berz (drums), Hardy (bass) – have a big head start on the up and comers, having debuted their self-titled EP in 2012 and releasing the brash, high-energy Without a Trace in 2013.
The band made an almost immediate impact in their homeland and, later, further afield through critically acclaimed shows, significant supports slots (Saxon, The Dead Daisies), impressive third album One More For the Road and a clutch of noteworthy festival and event appearances including Sweden Rock, the UEFA Champions League Festival and KISS Kruise VIII.
Taking its lead from One More From the Road, a hook-laden and predominately faster tempo set of guitar-rock nuggets (with a sprinkle of whoa-oh-ohs and a touch of hard country), Nothing But Wild is, indeed, nothing but wild and loud rock and roll fun with nary a breather between thirteen, energy-laden songs that are catchier than the common cold and emphasise the band’s blue collar rock and roll sensibilities (a couple of unplugged numbers are also included for good Bonus Track measure).
From opener 'Soundtrack of My Life,' which rocks like the proverbial (Foo Fighters meet Aerosmith back when the latter had Toys in their Attic) to big melodic closer 'Glory Road' (Bon Jovi does Springsteen) Nothing But Wild is an out-and-out winner with no filler, easing up on the rock and roll gas only for rock ballad 'The Only Thing,' the simple beat and acoustic fun of 'Meet Me Half Way' and country influenced 'The Bullet' (a song that is just crying out for mainstream, airplay).
The ballads also highlight that while Timmy Rough has a true raucous and roll voice, he’s a deceptively rangy singer that can also deliver on a slow burn or AOR styled number.
Lead-off single 'Down by the River' is another monster song, a massive slice of melodically driven rock and roll that celebrates splashing about in summers past; similarly notable for its melodically hard rockin’ US sound is 'Running Out of Hearts.'
Lyrically, there are instances of the absolutely throwaway (the raunch 'n' rolling title track and the huge sounding and ridiculously infectious 'Can’t Stop Rock and Roll' are the main culprits) but they are tongue-in-cheek fun and fit the good times profile of both band and album to the "fast cars" and "cut-off jeans" tee.
"As long as there’s a beat in my chest, I know that rock n roll ain’t dead!" proudly declared Timmy Rough on Without a Trace number 'Still Got My Rock and Roll.'
Six years and three studio albums later The New Roses rock and roll heart is beating even harder, bigger and melodically better, with more hooks than all the fishing lines cast in the Rhine River.
Vorsprung durch rock und roll, boys.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Nine Below Zero – Avalanche
Opening your 40th Anniversary year album with a song entitled 'I Wanna Be a Wannabe' is a little self-effacing given Nine Below Zero’s cult stature and respectful status in the R&B and rock music world.
But, lyrically, ever-present and singer-guitarist Dennis Greaves and NBZ are actually having a jab at the Wannabe celebrity brigade, while also delivering an honest appraisal of the difficulties for even the best of bands in the face of such 21st century celebrity ("15 minutes, not enough fame; but the years roll on, I’m still in the game – I thought why not, I’ve got nothing to lose, because there’s not a lot of money in singing the blues").
It’s an up-tempo, fun song (NBZ co-founder Mark Feltham’s harmonica the perfect foil to Dennis Greaves’ sharp lyric) from a fun band in eight piece format, as first showcased at Glastonbury in 2016 and subsequently heard on that year’s studio album, 13 Shades of Blue.
Three line-up changes have since taken place however, including the addition of drummer Sonny Greaves (son of Dennis Greaves), who rhythmically dovetails very nicely, thank you very much, with bassist Ben Willis.
There’s plenty of variety and newer Nine Below Zero shades to be heard on Avalanche, including brass (Dave Boraston - trumpet, Chris Rand - saxophone), keyboards (from multi-instrumentalist Tom Monks) and bigger backing and harmony vocal arrangements.
The bluesy pop ‘n’ horns 'Ter Wit Ter Woo' (a Dennis Greaves and Glenn Tilbrook co-write), for example, features backing singer Charlie Austen on lead vocal; she also shares lead duties with Dennis Greaves on the R&B soul-pop of 'One of Sour, Two of Sweet.'
Austen then steps back up to the microphone for 'Recycle Me,' a true and touching blues that retells the story of a 13 year old girl who died suddenly but became an 8x organ donor.
Elsewhere in the Nine Below Zero variety pack you’ll find the funky, brass blowin’ instrumental 'Hey Siri (Go **** Yourself),' some old school NBZ in the shape of R&B rock and roller 'Breadhead' and Mambo swayin’ album closer, 'I Drink But I Don’t Get Drunk.'
Avalanche may be multi-faceted, but the band still know how to blues it up.
The jazz-swing employed on 'Austerity Blues' is in finger-clicking contrast to the nothing to s(w)ing about lyricism; social-political commentary also features on 'Race to the Bottom,' a song built on a mid-tempo soul groove and some thick n syrupy little guitar remarks.
'Roots and Wings,' more simply, is the sort of piano tinkling in the background number no R&B blues band should be without.
Avalanche is a fine, multi-styled outing from an octet firing on all eight R&B, soul-pop cylinders and around half-a-dozen guest musicians (including Glenn Tilbrook, Hammond player Andy Fairclough and backing singers Amy Mayes and Denise Gordon).
All of whom play their part in delivering Nine Below Zero’s most all-encompassing work to date.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But, lyrically, ever-present and singer-guitarist Dennis Greaves and NBZ are actually having a jab at the Wannabe celebrity brigade, while also delivering an honest appraisal of the difficulties for even the best of bands in the face of such 21st century celebrity ("15 minutes, not enough fame; but the years roll on, I’m still in the game – I thought why not, I’ve got nothing to lose, because there’s not a lot of money in singing the blues").
It’s an up-tempo, fun song (NBZ co-founder Mark Feltham’s harmonica the perfect foil to Dennis Greaves’ sharp lyric) from a fun band in eight piece format, as first showcased at Glastonbury in 2016 and subsequently heard on that year’s studio album, 13 Shades of Blue.
Three line-up changes have since taken place however, including the addition of drummer Sonny Greaves (son of Dennis Greaves), who rhythmically dovetails very nicely, thank you very much, with bassist Ben Willis.
There’s plenty of variety and newer Nine Below Zero shades to be heard on Avalanche, including brass (Dave Boraston - trumpet, Chris Rand - saxophone), keyboards (from multi-instrumentalist Tom Monks) and bigger backing and harmony vocal arrangements.
The bluesy pop ‘n’ horns 'Ter Wit Ter Woo' (a Dennis Greaves and Glenn Tilbrook co-write), for example, features backing singer Charlie Austen on lead vocal; she also shares lead duties with Dennis Greaves on the R&B soul-pop of 'One of Sour, Two of Sweet.'
Austen then steps back up to the microphone for 'Recycle Me,' a true and touching blues that retells the story of a 13 year old girl who died suddenly but became an 8x organ donor.
Elsewhere in the Nine Below Zero variety pack you’ll find the funky, brass blowin’ instrumental 'Hey Siri (Go **** Yourself),' some old school NBZ in the shape of R&B rock and roller 'Breadhead' and Mambo swayin’ album closer, 'I Drink But I Don’t Get Drunk.'
Avalanche may be multi-faceted, but the band still know how to blues it up.
The jazz-swing employed on 'Austerity Blues' is in finger-clicking contrast to the nothing to s(w)ing about lyricism; social-political commentary also features on 'Race to the Bottom,' a song built on a mid-tempo soul groove and some thick n syrupy little guitar remarks.
'Roots and Wings,' more simply, is the sort of piano tinkling in the background number no R&B blues band should be without.
Avalanche is a fine, multi-styled outing from an octet firing on all eight R&B, soul-pop cylinders and around half-a-dozen guest musicians (including Glenn Tilbrook, Hammond player Andy Fairclough and backing singers Amy Mayes and Denise Gordon).
All of whom play their part in delivering Nine Below Zero’s most all-encompassing work to date.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
David Pastorius – Radio Gold
David Pastorius is a bass playing chip off the familial block.
Nephew of late and legendary American jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, David Pastorius unquestionably has the chops – he can flex his bass muscles across everything from hip hop to metal and has played with a diversity of artists, from American rapper Tech N9ne to, currently, Canadian blues rocker Pat Travers.
And now he has the album to show off those chops – although in song style and genre structure you have to suspect there was more than a hint of irony and tongue wedged in cheek in coming up with the title Radio Gold.
Opening track 'Rojas' is samba-esque with bass guitar carrying the melody and rhythm parts, supplemented with sympathetic but expert keys, guitar and drums from David K. Mathews, Tom Allen and Alex Petrosky respectively.
The number, reminiscent of Chick Corea, is a solid base, or is that bass (sorry), from which to build.
Following number 'Day One' is a cross between drummer Lenny White in his 70s and 80s solo album era (Alex Petrosky is again featured) and Level 42 (without over-doing the slap bass); David Pastorius’ use of an envelope filter, triggering the distinctive, funky wah sound, is highly effective here.
The pleasant, funky and commercially appealing 'Supersonic' is one of three numbers on the album to feature vocals while 'Thunderfoot' returns us to instrumental-with-a-groove territory with, once again, a touch of Level 42 (sans slapping) and some great saxophone from Carl Lewis.
'Snake Pilskin' is a rockier offering (with a stellar bass solo) that recalls Brand X in funkier mode; there’s also an influence of bassist extraordinaire Jeff Berlin, especially in David Pastorius’ use of super-fast 16ths (think Joe Dart of Vulfpeck for a more modern reference).
'Got it Good' leads with a summery pop vibe but veers into a nasally rap vocals which sounds incongruous, ruining what could have been a good little pop number.
'The Chase' gives David Pastorius further room to show off his bass chops in both finger and slap technique (the bass solo is remarkable for both its dexterity and lightness of touch) before 'Candlebox' heads once more for rockier territory and some tasty harmonics work from Pastorius.
'Nikoa' showcases David Pastorius delivering a pleasant melody via tap-bass; that Pastorius’ playing holds interest for the three minutes and ten seconds of the track with this technique alone is further testament to his skill as a bass player.
'Shooting Star' is an instrumental amalgamation of samba, rock and funk yet, despite those disparate genre influences, this number is an absolute winner.
The short and sharp 'Fake News' is another amalgamation, this time incorporating hip hop, funk and rap; offering up complete contrast is following number 'Pit Bike,' a piece of muscular funk that features slap bass and rock guitar (courtesy of Pat Travers) to drive, or is that ride, the song to its conclusion.
'Han Solo' is another triumph of solo bass playing without ever trying to overwhelm the listener with pure technique (skilfully carved melody lines and chorus sections that use only bass and drums).
The acid-jazz styled title track closes out the album.
Largely a vehicle for the saxophone of Carl Lewis (taking melody and solo duties) 'Radio Gold' includes a half-time section toward the end before closing out on a playful bass section.
As David Pastorius and Local 518 the bassist showcased some seriously funky and rhythmic fusion through the self-titled 2007 debut and Sense of Urgency in 2009.
But Radio Gold is David Pastorius at his most eclectic (enjoyable yet curious might be the best summation) and expressive.
Nelson McFarlane
FabricationsHQ
Nephew of late and legendary American jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, David Pastorius unquestionably has the chops – he can flex his bass muscles across everything from hip hop to metal and has played with a diversity of artists, from American rapper Tech N9ne to, currently, Canadian blues rocker Pat Travers.
And now he has the album to show off those chops – although in song style and genre structure you have to suspect there was more than a hint of irony and tongue wedged in cheek in coming up with the title Radio Gold.
Opening track 'Rojas' is samba-esque with bass guitar carrying the melody and rhythm parts, supplemented with sympathetic but expert keys, guitar and drums from David K. Mathews, Tom Allen and Alex Petrosky respectively.
The number, reminiscent of Chick Corea, is a solid base, or is that bass (sorry), from which to build.
Following number 'Day One' is a cross between drummer Lenny White in his 70s and 80s solo album era (Alex Petrosky is again featured) and Level 42 (without over-doing the slap bass); David Pastorius’ use of an envelope filter, triggering the distinctive, funky wah sound, is highly effective here.
The pleasant, funky and commercially appealing 'Supersonic' is one of three numbers on the album to feature vocals while 'Thunderfoot' returns us to instrumental-with-a-groove territory with, once again, a touch of Level 42 (sans slapping) and some great saxophone from Carl Lewis.
'Snake Pilskin' is a rockier offering (with a stellar bass solo) that recalls Brand X in funkier mode; there’s also an influence of bassist extraordinaire Jeff Berlin, especially in David Pastorius’ use of super-fast 16ths (think Joe Dart of Vulfpeck for a more modern reference).
'Got it Good' leads with a summery pop vibe but veers into a nasally rap vocals which sounds incongruous, ruining what could have been a good little pop number.
'The Chase' gives David Pastorius further room to show off his bass chops in both finger and slap technique (the bass solo is remarkable for both its dexterity and lightness of touch) before 'Candlebox' heads once more for rockier territory and some tasty harmonics work from Pastorius.
'Nikoa' showcases David Pastorius delivering a pleasant melody via tap-bass; that Pastorius’ playing holds interest for the three minutes and ten seconds of the track with this technique alone is further testament to his skill as a bass player.
'Shooting Star' is an instrumental amalgamation of samba, rock and funk yet, despite those disparate genre influences, this number is an absolute winner.
The short and sharp 'Fake News' is another amalgamation, this time incorporating hip hop, funk and rap; offering up complete contrast is following number 'Pit Bike,' a piece of muscular funk that features slap bass and rock guitar (courtesy of Pat Travers) to drive, or is that ride, the song to its conclusion.
'Han Solo' is another triumph of solo bass playing without ever trying to overwhelm the listener with pure technique (skilfully carved melody lines and chorus sections that use only bass and drums).
The acid-jazz styled title track closes out the album.
Largely a vehicle for the saxophone of Carl Lewis (taking melody and solo duties) 'Radio Gold' includes a half-time section toward the end before closing out on a playful bass section.
As David Pastorius and Local 518 the bassist showcased some seriously funky and rhythmic fusion through the self-titled 2007 debut and Sense of Urgency in 2009.
But Radio Gold is David Pastorius at his most eclectic (enjoyable yet curious might be the best summation) and expressive.
Nelson McFarlane
FabricationsHQ
Matt Pearce & The Mutiny – Gotta Get Home
As Dorothy was a long way from Kansas in Oz, Matt Pearce is musically and sonically an equally long way from the heavy crunch-rock of Voodoo Six with his own band project, Matt Pearce & The Mutiny.
Whether you also have to click your heels together when you feel you Gotta Get Home isn’t covered on the self-produced debut album from the Voodoo Six guitarist (other Voodoo connections are Tony Newton’s excellent mix and drums from Joe Lazarus) but just about everything else is...
The huge dollops of funk, monster grooves, rhythm ‘n’ soul blues and mix of throwback and modern sounds might, rather fittingly, be musical mutiny to the Blues Police but Gotta Get Home is a refreshing and highly original take on a genre that can all too often and easily fall into 12 bar, mandatory ten minute slow blues and same ol' shuffle territory.
To emphasise and underline that Matt Pearce & The Mutiny are as much about groove and soul as blues or rock, opener 'Scarecrowing' funks itself right out of the speakers and into a dancefloor groove that’s akin to a 70s soul review (if Stevie Wonder did blues rock).
While Matt Pearce’s vocal helps set the soul-tone it’s his guitar that really does the talking, and classy soul cryin’.
'Ordinary Blues' is a tad more than the title would suggest, its funky and rhythmic weaving broken up by a languid, slip ‘n’ slide guitar bridge that recalls The James Gang in their Joe Walsh hay day.
Following number 'Like a Hammer,' with its thick, syrupy organ lines well up in the mix, is an equally impressive heavy soul-blues number.
Weighing in at over seven and a half minutes is soulful album highlight 'Some People.'
Matt Pearce’s higher vocal takes on a decidedly Prince vibe while spacious keys and a simple rhythm allow Pearce’s guitar to float across the top of the "world's gone crazy" number in highly expressive fashion.
A trio of tracks showcase Matt Pearce can blues it up as well as he can funk it out.
The soulful slow blues 'Set Me Free' features some tasty guitar remarks while 'Worried' is the London based, Glasgow born Matt Pearce at foot-tapping, guitar picking home in the Delta.
The gospel ‘n’ slide blues of the near seven minute title track is enhanced by the wonderful vocal backing and vocal interjections delivered by Acantha Lang.
Voodoo Six have made quite the prolific, rhythmic rock-metal mark in a relatively short time – four albums (plus a re-release and remix of the debut) and three EPs in a twelve year span; opening for, and later supporting, Iron Maiden; four Download Festival appearances. There’s also a new album in the works.
In comparison, it’s early days for Matt Pearce & The Mutiny, but with a debut album that was #1 in the Amazon Best Selling Blues Albums and Hot New Releases charts a day after its release, notable festival appearances (including HRH Blues earlier in the year) a radio edit of the album’s title track play listed by Planet Rock and special guest slot on the Laurence Jones Band’s winter tour of the UK, it all bodes rather well.
And, given the wide array of influences from funk and grooves to blues and soul (and the tiniest sprinkle of Voodoo Six rock edge), it could well turn out to be mutiny on a bountiful blues scale.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Whether you also have to click your heels together when you feel you Gotta Get Home isn’t covered on the self-produced debut album from the Voodoo Six guitarist (other Voodoo connections are Tony Newton’s excellent mix and drums from Joe Lazarus) but just about everything else is...
The huge dollops of funk, monster grooves, rhythm ‘n’ soul blues and mix of throwback and modern sounds might, rather fittingly, be musical mutiny to the Blues Police but Gotta Get Home is a refreshing and highly original take on a genre that can all too often and easily fall into 12 bar, mandatory ten minute slow blues and same ol' shuffle territory.
To emphasise and underline that Matt Pearce & The Mutiny are as much about groove and soul as blues or rock, opener 'Scarecrowing' funks itself right out of the speakers and into a dancefloor groove that’s akin to a 70s soul review (if Stevie Wonder did blues rock).
While Matt Pearce’s vocal helps set the soul-tone it’s his guitar that really does the talking, and classy soul cryin’.
'Ordinary Blues' is a tad more than the title would suggest, its funky and rhythmic weaving broken up by a languid, slip ‘n’ slide guitar bridge that recalls The James Gang in their Joe Walsh hay day.
Following number 'Like a Hammer,' with its thick, syrupy organ lines well up in the mix, is an equally impressive heavy soul-blues number.
Weighing in at over seven and a half minutes is soulful album highlight 'Some People.'
Matt Pearce’s higher vocal takes on a decidedly Prince vibe while spacious keys and a simple rhythm allow Pearce’s guitar to float across the top of the "world's gone crazy" number in highly expressive fashion.
A trio of tracks showcase Matt Pearce can blues it up as well as he can funk it out.
The soulful slow blues 'Set Me Free' features some tasty guitar remarks while 'Worried' is the London based, Glasgow born Matt Pearce at foot-tapping, guitar picking home in the Delta.
The gospel ‘n’ slide blues of the near seven minute title track is enhanced by the wonderful vocal backing and vocal interjections delivered by Acantha Lang.
Voodoo Six have made quite the prolific, rhythmic rock-metal mark in a relatively short time – four albums (plus a re-release and remix of the debut) and three EPs in a twelve year span; opening for, and later supporting, Iron Maiden; four Download Festival appearances. There’s also a new album in the works.
In comparison, it’s early days for Matt Pearce & The Mutiny, but with a debut album that was #1 in the Amazon Best Selling Blues Albums and Hot New Releases charts a day after its release, notable festival appearances (including HRH Blues earlier in the year) a radio edit of the album’s title track play listed by Planet Rock and special guest slot on the Laurence Jones Band’s winter tour of the UK, it all bodes rather well.
And, given the wide array of influences from funk and grooves to blues and soul (and the tiniest sprinkle of Voodoo Six rock edge), it could well turn out to be mutiny on a bountiful blues scale.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Pearl Handled Revolver – Fantasy Reigns
Pearl Handled Revolver’s mix and marriage of styles (darkened psychedelic, stoner soul, progressive blues and rhythmic grooves) makes for an interesting and unique sound – contemporary psychedelic in 60s influenced clothing.
Further, Fantasy Reigns, like all its Pearl Handled predecessors, is an album that can’t be truly appreciated until played a number of times and the listener allows the PHR sound to wash over and through them.
That said songs such as opening number 'In My Blood' are impacting on first play.
A decidedly tripping and rhythmic 60s romp that sits somewhere between Iron Butterfly and The Doors, keyboardist Simon Rinaldo’s Hammond B3 takes as much of a lead on 'In My Blood' as Lee Vernon’s husky, dark-shaded tones (Vernon’s vocality sits somewhere between Nick Cave and Jim Morrison).
'Machine Gun' (think ELP at their most 'Living Sin' sinister with the addition of some searing wah guitar from Andy Paris) also carries instant psychedelic blues rock appeal, but it’s the meat of the material on Fantasy Reigns that needs a little more time to digest and savour.
The prime repeated plays required example is the album’s stand out number, 'Belly of the Whale.'
The longest song the band have ever written and recorded (clocking in at close to ten and a half minutes) it’s a pulsating and, at times, highly rhythmic (courtesy of Chris Thatcher’s drum pattern and wave crash cymbals) voyage of, as the title suggests, contemplation and rebirth.
Lee Vernon’s languid tones also manage to channel Jim Morrison’s lyrically-poetic style ("when the pale light of my real life, lets fantasy reign…")
'Belly of the Whale' is the focal point of Fantasy Reigns but it’s far from being the only feature moment of the album – 'Something Going On Up There' is the psychedelic-soul counter-point to the weighty Whale number that precedes it while 'Siren' lyrically bemoans the current state of morally decaying affairs through a dark, horror movie 5/4 waltz (and some seriously angry guitar remarks from Andy Paris).
The album’s lightest moment, 'Petrol Skin,' is also worthy of mention.
An atmospheric, spoken word, two-and-a-half minute vignette piece that‘s as haunting as it is ghostly charming, 'Petrol Skin' segues to the darker, psychotic-delic 'The Switch,' with sinister surf guitar lines lurking in the closing bars background.
Album closer 'Raise Your Hand' wraps up all that has gone before (while not conceptual Fantasy Reigns contains a number of songs lyrically built around what ails the modern world) but in a more uplifting, flip it 180 degrees fashion.
Santana-esque and highly percussive (featuring Simon Rinaldo’s son Lucas on congas) 'Raise Your Hand' is a musical cry to do just that amidst the hope that while Fantasy Reigns, a better reality still has a fighting chance.
With studio album number four, Pearl Handled Revolver are firing shots that deserve to be heard.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Further, Fantasy Reigns, like all its Pearl Handled predecessors, is an album that can’t be truly appreciated until played a number of times and the listener allows the PHR sound to wash over and through them.
That said songs such as opening number 'In My Blood' are impacting on first play.
A decidedly tripping and rhythmic 60s romp that sits somewhere between Iron Butterfly and The Doors, keyboardist Simon Rinaldo’s Hammond B3 takes as much of a lead on 'In My Blood' as Lee Vernon’s husky, dark-shaded tones (Vernon’s vocality sits somewhere between Nick Cave and Jim Morrison).
'Machine Gun' (think ELP at their most 'Living Sin' sinister with the addition of some searing wah guitar from Andy Paris) also carries instant psychedelic blues rock appeal, but it’s the meat of the material on Fantasy Reigns that needs a little more time to digest and savour.
The prime repeated plays required example is the album’s stand out number, 'Belly of the Whale.'
The longest song the band have ever written and recorded (clocking in at close to ten and a half minutes) it’s a pulsating and, at times, highly rhythmic (courtesy of Chris Thatcher’s drum pattern and wave crash cymbals) voyage of, as the title suggests, contemplation and rebirth.
Lee Vernon’s languid tones also manage to channel Jim Morrison’s lyrically-poetic style ("when the pale light of my real life, lets fantasy reign…")
'Belly of the Whale' is the focal point of Fantasy Reigns but it’s far from being the only feature moment of the album – 'Something Going On Up There' is the psychedelic-soul counter-point to the weighty Whale number that precedes it while 'Siren' lyrically bemoans the current state of morally decaying affairs through a dark, horror movie 5/4 waltz (and some seriously angry guitar remarks from Andy Paris).
The album’s lightest moment, 'Petrol Skin,' is also worthy of mention.
An atmospheric, spoken word, two-and-a-half minute vignette piece that‘s as haunting as it is ghostly charming, 'Petrol Skin' segues to the darker, psychotic-delic 'The Switch,' with sinister surf guitar lines lurking in the closing bars background.
Album closer 'Raise Your Hand' wraps up all that has gone before (while not conceptual Fantasy Reigns contains a number of songs lyrically built around what ails the modern world) but in a more uplifting, flip it 180 degrees fashion.
Santana-esque and highly percussive (featuring Simon Rinaldo’s son Lucas on congas) 'Raise Your Hand' is a musical cry to do just that amidst the hope that while Fantasy Reigns, a better reality still has a fighting chance.
With studio album number four, Pearl Handled Revolver are firing shots that deserve to be heard.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Piston – Piston
In the contemporary, blues infused rock world there always seems to be a new or emerging band separating itself from the pack and a contender or three in the running for the Next Big Thing award.
Making a claim for that title in 2019 and a band to definitely keep your eyes and ears on are Piston, a "British five-piece rock ‘n’ roll engine," the components of which are vocalist Rob Angelico, guitarists Jack Edwards and Luke Allatt, bassist Stuart Egan and drummer Brad Newlands.
That rock ‘n’ roll engine remark is given further musical credence by the opening one-two salvo on Piston’s self titled debut album (the fact the band scrapped an earlier, completed album tells you this a unit who mean serious start-again-and-get-it-right business).
'Dynamite' might not erupt out the speakers with the power of the glycerine fuelled explosive the song is named after but it certainly lights the fuse of what the band are all about – the choppy, repeating chords riff drives the contemporary, grunge-tinged rock and roll number along while the "C’mon! C’mon!" shouts invite the listener to help celebrate the arrival of Piston.
Following number 'Rainmaker,' an attention grabber as soon as it was released as a single, is a big, muscly, bruising slice of mid-tempo rock with a huge beat as laid down by Brad Newlands and fiery lead guitar work.
The five Pistons keep pumping through the alt-indie rock and "whoah-ohs" of 'Go Now,' the fast and furiously guitar sparking single, 'One More Day' and the boisterous back to back brace of 'Blow it Away' and 'Let it Rise' (the former’s guitar crunch dovetailing with the rebellious "take control" rock of the faster paced latter).
Other highlights include relationship song 'Carry Us Home' (a southern affected blues rock ballad Bad Touch will be launching a Public Inquiry upon to see how they didn’t come up with it first) and the equally southern sound of 'Leave If You Dare,' which positively stomps across its four minutes plus of blues rocking action.
(Only three of the ten songs touch on, or run to just over, four minutes; Piston are a band who like to keep it short and sharp for maximum effect).
'Into The Night,' which flits between spacier, melodically phrased verses and crunching, thick guitar backed choruses, closes out the album in fine, heavyweight contemporary psychedelia fashion.
With a vibrant, guitars and vocals up front production from Dan Swift (Iggy Pop; Depeche Mode) and two bonus tracks in the Romesh Dodangoda remixed for radio shape of 'One More Day' and 'Rainmaker,' Piston loudly, proudly and firmly announces there’s a new and serious contemporary rock ‘n’ roll player in town.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Making a claim for that title in 2019 and a band to definitely keep your eyes and ears on are Piston, a "British five-piece rock ‘n’ roll engine," the components of which are vocalist Rob Angelico, guitarists Jack Edwards and Luke Allatt, bassist Stuart Egan and drummer Brad Newlands.
That rock ‘n’ roll engine remark is given further musical credence by the opening one-two salvo on Piston’s self titled debut album (the fact the band scrapped an earlier, completed album tells you this a unit who mean serious start-again-and-get-it-right business).
'Dynamite' might not erupt out the speakers with the power of the glycerine fuelled explosive the song is named after but it certainly lights the fuse of what the band are all about – the choppy, repeating chords riff drives the contemporary, grunge-tinged rock and roll number along while the "C’mon! C’mon!" shouts invite the listener to help celebrate the arrival of Piston.
Following number 'Rainmaker,' an attention grabber as soon as it was released as a single, is a big, muscly, bruising slice of mid-tempo rock with a huge beat as laid down by Brad Newlands and fiery lead guitar work.
The five Pistons keep pumping through the alt-indie rock and "whoah-ohs" of 'Go Now,' the fast and furiously guitar sparking single, 'One More Day' and the boisterous back to back brace of 'Blow it Away' and 'Let it Rise' (the former’s guitar crunch dovetailing with the rebellious "take control" rock of the faster paced latter).
Other highlights include relationship song 'Carry Us Home' (a southern affected blues rock ballad Bad Touch will be launching a Public Inquiry upon to see how they didn’t come up with it first) and the equally southern sound of 'Leave If You Dare,' which positively stomps across its four minutes plus of blues rocking action.
(Only three of the ten songs touch on, or run to just over, four minutes; Piston are a band who like to keep it short and sharp for maximum effect).
'Into The Night,' which flits between spacier, melodically phrased verses and crunching, thick guitar backed choruses, closes out the album in fine, heavyweight contemporary psychedelia fashion.
With a vibrant, guitars and vocals up front production from Dan Swift (Iggy Pop; Depeche Mode) and two bonus tracks in the Romesh Dodangoda remixed for radio shape of 'One More Day' and 'Rainmaker,' Piston loudly, proudly and firmly announces there’s a new and serious contemporary rock ‘n’ roll player in town.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Ariel Posen – How Long
Guitarist Ariel Posen isn’t just a member of award winning Canadian alt-country group The Bros. Landreth, he’s also quite the ear catching singer-songwriter-producer and solo performer (the strength of the latter underlined by the number of globe travelling shows undertaken by the Winnipeg born musician before Joey and David Landreth stopped by for chat).
Backing up and showcasing what Ariel Posen has to offer as a solo artist is How Long, a ten track album that presents the full skill-set of the Heartland based, multi-styled songwriter (a mix and blend of vocal pop, soul-blues, cool R&B grooves and melodic rock & roll).
'Try' opens How Long in fine, soul-blues smooth style.
Ariel Posen’s smoky Steve Miler-esque vocal and harmonised choruses dovetail perfectly with the groove of the mid-tempo number, as does Posen's short but perfectly fitting solo that cries little guitar notes of joy in accompaniment.
Similarly weighted to 'Try' are 'Fade' and 'Can’t Stop Thinking About You.'
'Fade' features Ariel Posen’s slide guitar flitting across a simple beat and uncluttered sound while 'Can’t Stop Thinking About You' makes it mark through an equally simple framework, those Posen guitar tones and an unashamed tug on the heart(land)strings ("You’ve got a hold on my heart… and its been there, right from the start").
But Ariel Posen can also rock the Heartland without ever having to take the amps to 11; 'Things That I’ve Said' is melodic country Heartland of the highest AOR rockin' order.
Ariel Posen’s distinct guitar tones are such a feature of How Long (Posen produces his big, thick blues hued notes and six-string remarks with what seems to be a lazy ease) it’s no surprise the album features three short, vignette instrumentals – 'Daybreak,' 'She Knows' and 'Hollow Hour.'
Each is a little bit country, but a lot more Ariel Posen.
Should there be any question as to whether the Winnipeg boy can also sing and play the blues, the answer comes in the slow-tempo shape of 'Get You Back,' a six minute number that lyrically decries a separation mistake ("Tired of this heartache, same old mistakes… I’ve been crazy, a fool, I’ve been drinking for two…") Ariel Posen’s highly effective, close to distortion, gone to a darker place guitar notes make an even bigger statement than the lyric.
How Long also delivers two ballads, the questioning title track (a heartland blues both musically and lyrically "How long can this feel so wrong; I’d love to leave this all behind…") and closing number, 'Better Late Than Never.'
Another song that features those resonating (in more way than one) Posen six-string tones, 'Better Late Than Never' is a lovely, last-dance heartland waltz in everything but name.
Ariel Posen might be thankful to The Bros. Landreth for the opportunity to become a musical member of their family but we should all be thankful he’s been given the time off to reintroduce himself as a solo artist.
And a damn fine one.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Backing up and showcasing what Ariel Posen has to offer as a solo artist is How Long, a ten track album that presents the full skill-set of the Heartland based, multi-styled songwriter (a mix and blend of vocal pop, soul-blues, cool R&B grooves and melodic rock & roll).
'Try' opens How Long in fine, soul-blues smooth style.
Ariel Posen’s smoky Steve Miler-esque vocal and harmonised choruses dovetail perfectly with the groove of the mid-tempo number, as does Posen's short but perfectly fitting solo that cries little guitar notes of joy in accompaniment.
Similarly weighted to 'Try' are 'Fade' and 'Can’t Stop Thinking About You.'
'Fade' features Ariel Posen’s slide guitar flitting across a simple beat and uncluttered sound while 'Can’t Stop Thinking About You' makes it mark through an equally simple framework, those Posen guitar tones and an unashamed tug on the heart(land)strings ("You’ve got a hold on my heart… and its been there, right from the start").
But Ariel Posen can also rock the Heartland without ever having to take the amps to 11; 'Things That I’ve Said' is melodic country Heartland of the highest AOR rockin' order.
Ariel Posen’s distinct guitar tones are such a feature of How Long (Posen produces his big, thick blues hued notes and six-string remarks with what seems to be a lazy ease) it’s no surprise the album features three short, vignette instrumentals – 'Daybreak,' 'She Knows' and 'Hollow Hour.'
Each is a little bit country, but a lot more Ariel Posen.
Should there be any question as to whether the Winnipeg boy can also sing and play the blues, the answer comes in the slow-tempo shape of 'Get You Back,' a six minute number that lyrically decries a separation mistake ("Tired of this heartache, same old mistakes… I’ve been crazy, a fool, I’ve been drinking for two…") Ariel Posen’s highly effective, close to distortion, gone to a darker place guitar notes make an even bigger statement than the lyric.
How Long also delivers two ballads, the questioning title track (a heartland blues both musically and lyrically "How long can this feel so wrong; I’d love to leave this all behind…") and closing number, 'Better Late Than Never.'
Another song that features those resonating (in more way than one) Posen six-string tones, 'Better Late Than Never' is a lovely, last-dance heartland waltz in everything but name.
Ariel Posen might be thankful to The Bros. Landreth for the opportunity to become a musical member of their family but we should all be thankful he’s been given the time off to reintroduce himself as a solo artist.
And a damn fine one.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Praying Mantis – Keep it Alive! (CD & DVD)
With Keep it Alive!, recorded / filmed at the Frontiers Rock Festival V in Milan in 2018, British rock stalwarts Praying Mantis do exactly what it says on the tin (OK, album cover).
For this is a band that never seem to be off the road, keeping it live and delivering high quality Mantis material since their 1990 reunion (reformed around ever-present brothers Tino (guitars, vocals) and Chris (bass, vocals) Troy), subsequent release Predator in Disguise and what is an ongoing celebration of their New Wave Of British Heavy Metal past and consistently solid, heavy melodic rock present.
In short, Keep it Alive! is a sixty minute Best Of performance that covers all the Praying Mantis bases and eras (it’s refreshing to hear and see a band who concentrate on the new as much, or even more so, as they do the classics/ old).
'Captured City' kicks off proceedings in all its NWOBHM glory although here, as has always been the case with Praying Mantis, it’s more about hard-edged melodic rock than metal, driven by the guitars of Tino Troy and Andy Burgess, backed by the beefy rhythm section of Chris Troy and drummer Hans In T’ Zandt and led by the powerfully voiced John 'Jaycee' Cuijpers.
One of the band’s earliest and most impacting numbers, 'Captured City' still resonates as it did on its original Soundhouse Tapes release of 1979.
'Fighting in the Streets,' from the band’s highly acclaimed 1981 debut Time Tells No Lies (an album that promised so much only for management issues and line-up instabilities to scupper what would have been a bright future) rocks like the bejesus before an audience sing-a-long of 'Happy Birthday' (for Tino Troy) leads to a raft of new material culled from the last three studio albums.
The AOR styled melodic rock of 'Highway' (from excellent 2009 release Sanctuary) features a fine, Neal Schon-styled solo from Andy Burgess while the rockier 'Believable' and Dio-esque 'Fight for Your Honour' are lifted from the equally notable Legacy album of 2015.
A brace from the then new / about-to-be-released Gravity album also feature – the pacey, power down rock of 'Keep it Alive' (backing harmonies - a Mantis trait - to the fore) and 'Mantis Theme.'
The latter is as clichéd a power ballad as you will ever hear ("raise your hands together, come on join the band; staying strong together, united we will stand") but for obvious reasons it’s become a for-the-Mantis-faithful winner.
Praying Mantis’ 90s period is covered via an outing for the band’s outstanding ballad, 'Dream On' (from 1993’s Cry From a New World) and the punchy "I Know it! You Know it!" cries of 'Time Slipping Away' from Predator in Disguise (older fans will however recall the song predates the band’s 90s reformation).
A show stopping rendition of debut album classic 'Children of the Earth' brings the set to a rollicking, pseudo progressive metal conclusion; the seven minute live version flitting as it does from hard rock and Tino Troy’s neo classical bursts to melodic rock and metal.
40 years on from their Soundhouse Tapes beginnings are Praying Mantis as vibrant and rock relevant today as they were back in the NWOBHM day?
Absolutely. Because time, and Keep it Alive!, tells no lies.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
For this is a band that never seem to be off the road, keeping it live and delivering high quality Mantis material since their 1990 reunion (reformed around ever-present brothers Tino (guitars, vocals) and Chris (bass, vocals) Troy), subsequent release Predator in Disguise and what is an ongoing celebration of their New Wave Of British Heavy Metal past and consistently solid, heavy melodic rock present.
In short, Keep it Alive! is a sixty minute Best Of performance that covers all the Praying Mantis bases and eras (it’s refreshing to hear and see a band who concentrate on the new as much, or even more so, as they do the classics/ old).
'Captured City' kicks off proceedings in all its NWOBHM glory although here, as has always been the case with Praying Mantis, it’s more about hard-edged melodic rock than metal, driven by the guitars of Tino Troy and Andy Burgess, backed by the beefy rhythm section of Chris Troy and drummer Hans In T’ Zandt and led by the powerfully voiced John 'Jaycee' Cuijpers.
One of the band’s earliest and most impacting numbers, 'Captured City' still resonates as it did on its original Soundhouse Tapes release of 1979.
'Fighting in the Streets,' from the band’s highly acclaimed 1981 debut Time Tells No Lies (an album that promised so much only for management issues and line-up instabilities to scupper what would have been a bright future) rocks like the bejesus before an audience sing-a-long of 'Happy Birthday' (for Tino Troy) leads to a raft of new material culled from the last three studio albums.
The AOR styled melodic rock of 'Highway' (from excellent 2009 release Sanctuary) features a fine, Neal Schon-styled solo from Andy Burgess while the rockier 'Believable' and Dio-esque 'Fight for Your Honour' are lifted from the equally notable Legacy album of 2015.
A brace from the then new / about-to-be-released Gravity album also feature – the pacey, power down rock of 'Keep it Alive' (backing harmonies - a Mantis trait - to the fore) and 'Mantis Theme.'
The latter is as clichéd a power ballad as you will ever hear ("raise your hands together, come on join the band; staying strong together, united we will stand") but for obvious reasons it’s become a for-the-Mantis-faithful winner.
Praying Mantis’ 90s period is covered via an outing for the band’s outstanding ballad, 'Dream On' (from 1993’s Cry From a New World) and the punchy "I Know it! You Know it!" cries of 'Time Slipping Away' from Predator in Disguise (older fans will however recall the song predates the band’s 90s reformation).
A show stopping rendition of debut album classic 'Children of the Earth' brings the set to a rollicking, pseudo progressive metal conclusion; the seven minute live version flitting as it does from hard rock and Tino Troy’s neo classical bursts to melodic rock and metal.
40 years on from their Soundhouse Tapes beginnings are Praying Mantis as vibrant and rock relevant today as they were back in the NWOBHM day?
Absolutely. Because time, and Keep it Alive!, tells no lies.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Redfish – Souls
Souls, the long awaited full-length debut album from soul blues R&B quintet Redfish, is, to use the oft used, not immediately impacting phrase "a real grower."
To wit, an album that needs multiple listens to truly appreciate and hear what it's all about.
Which is strange given that what Redfish do, live (a heady and healthy well-performed mixture of deep soul-blues and R&B), is exactly what the band deliver on album (without the covers; Souls consists of twelve tracks of band-penned material).
But it’s that very Redfish pattern (i.e. there is no musical pattern, just a great mix and match of blues styles) that means the full album picture is only revealed and understood after a few spins.
Only then do you get why the album opens with funky, mid-tempo number 'There’s Nothing Else' (complete with horn section; one of a number of songs to feature bluesy brass), which would more ordinarily be sequenced mid album; it’s followed by more obvious opener 'Don’t Waste the Good Stuff,' which slides, shuffles and blues’s along like a modern day Elmore James.
Such seemingly random but carefully chosen track sequencing is down to a lyrical story-flow theme of a troubled soul, as written and delivered by Redfish front man Brian "Stumblin'" Harris.
Lyrics such as "there’s nothing else I’d rather do, than spend a lifetime loving you" and "don’t waste the good stuff on that clown" set the early themed scene.
While Stumblin’ Harris’ lyrics and, by association, his vocals are central to the Souls story (he may not be the strongest voiced singer on the blues rock circuit but there’s a vulnerability that complements the lyrical themes; slow blues brace 'Hate the Song But Love the Singer' and 'Just Like Peggy Lee' are prime examples) and bassist Rod Mackay and drummer Sandy Sweetman have a locked-down tight rhythm 'n' groove goin' on, special mention has to go to guitarist Martin McDonald and keyboardist Fraser Clark.
Martin McDonald is one of the most authentic sounding old-blues styled guitarists you will hear this side of the bluesy Atlantic, courtesy of being a bloody good player and a bloody big Leslie cabinet speaker for that thick, McDonald tone (the album’s other slow blues number, 'It’s a Very Lonely Life,' is a particularly notable six-string highlight).
Fraser Clark, for his part, has a musicality that lends itself perfectly to the Redfish repertoire; he can also jazz or funk it up as much as he can blues it out.
Live, Clark has highly animated, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him watchability; on album those traits are obviously posted missing but not his classy piano touches, soloing or keyboard embellishments.
While darker Souls themes dominate (songs titled 'I Miss You So' and 'Shadow on My Soul' are further pointers) there’s up-tempo swing peppered throughout the album, including the soul-jazzy 'For the Love of the Wrong Woman,' the pacey soul-funk of '(Kick Up) Hell’s Delight' and the shuffle sized 'One More Fight.'
There’s also an up-beat ending through barroom piano-led closer, 'Hallelujah Road,' which has more piano endings than a Liberace flourish.
Redfish. Five Souls in one like-minded musical body.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
To wit, an album that needs multiple listens to truly appreciate and hear what it's all about.
Which is strange given that what Redfish do, live (a heady and healthy well-performed mixture of deep soul-blues and R&B), is exactly what the band deliver on album (without the covers; Souls consists of twelve tracks of band-penned material).
But it’s that very Redfish pattern (i.e. there is no musical pattern, just a great mix and match of blues styles) that means the full album picture is only revealed and understood after a few spins.
Only then do you get why the album opens with funky, mid-tempo number 'There’s Nothing Else' (complete with horn section; one of a number of songs to feature bluesy brass), which would more ordinarily be sequenced mid album; it’s followed by more obvious opener 'Don’t Waste the Good Stuff,' which slides, shuffles and blues’s along like a modern day Elmore James.
Such seemingly random but carefully chosen track sequencing is down to a lyrical story-flow theme of a troubled soul, as written and delivered by Redfish front man Brian "Stumblin'" Harris.
Lyrics such as "there’s nothing else I’d rather do, than spend a lifetime loving you" and "don’t waste the good stuff on that clown" set the early themed scene.
While Stumblin’ Harris’ lyrics and, by association, his vocals are central to the Souls story (he may not be the strongest voiced singer on the blues rock circuit but there’s a vulnerability that complements the lyrical themes; slow blues brace 'Hate the Song But Love the Singer' and 'Just Like Peggy Lee' are prime examples) and bassist Rod Mackay and drummer Sandy Sweetman have a locked-down tight rhythm 'n' groove goin' on, special mention has to go to guitarist Martin McDonald and keyboardist Fraser Clark.
Martin McDonald is one of the most authentic sounding old-blues styled guitarists you will hear this side of the bluesy Atlantic, courtesy of being a bloody good player and a bloody big Leslie cabinet speaker for that thick, McDonald tone (the album’s other slow blues number, 'It’s a Very Lonely Life,' is a particularly notable six-string highlight).
Fraser Clark, for his part, has a musicality that lends itself perfectly to the Redfish repertoire; he can also jazz or funk it up as much as he can blues it out.
Live, Clark has highly animated, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him watchability; on album those traits are obviously posted missing but not his classy piano touches, soloing or keyboard embellishments.
While darker Souls themes dominate (songs titled 'I Miss You So' and 'Shadow on My Soul' are further pointers) there’s up-tempo swing peppered throughout the album, including the soul-jazzy 'For the Love of the Wrong Woman,' the pacey soul-funk of '(Kick Up) Hell’s Delight' and the shuffle sized 'One More Fight.'
There’s also an up-beat ending through barroom piano-led closer, 'Hallelujah Road,' which has more piano endings than a Liberace flourish.
Redfish. Five Souls in one like-minded musical body.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Dan Reed - Alchemy
Meditative music isn’t new. In fact in terms of biorhythmic or percussive chants it’s as old as meditation itself.
Ambient soundscapes, natural world music, relax CDs, music to Om to, all and more have since become available to those that need or want to calm themselves physically, mentally or emotionally.
Following that same train of musically meditative thought is Dan Reed of Network fame.
Reed's Alchemy transforms and removes the listener from a world that's going to hell in a hand basket at a fair old socio- political, climate changing pace to a place of programmed, synth-blanketed and grand piano (whose keys, played by Brooke Lizotte, musically cascade like water-drops off forest leaves) inner calmness.
But Alchemy is far bigger than the inner self; it moves outward from the chakras of the body (each of the six instrumental movements is based on a chakra) to the outer limits of time and space, as exemplified by the otherworldly 'Crown,' which musically floats in orbit around the physical, spiritual and galactic.
The warmth and ambience of 'Sacral,' which includes a nod to the track 'Snowy Embankment' by Audio Sculpture (aka ambient and electro-percussive artist Keith Shreiner), embraces love, family and friendships.
'Third Eye' focusses on the very nature of this world; the spaciousness of the piece allows the listener to conjure visions of Mother Earth’s natural beauty (while also contemplating the danger said nature and beauty now find themselves in).
'Heart' is for the planet’s animal life in all its shapes, sizes and guises but musically reaches above land to the flight of the bird (ambient synths and piano) and below to the rippling, aquatic vibrations caused by the movements of sea life (echoing percussion).
Meditatively bookending Alchemy are 'Root,' which creates a sense of stability (the Root chakra’s primary focus) and calmness through its piano sprinkled, atmospheric synth-scape and closing piece 'Solar.'
The latter carries a similar arrangement to 'Root' but with slightly more soundscape body, hinting at inner power (the Solar Plexus chakra is the seat of each individual’s power and self-belief).
Alchemy, which started life as a collection of pieces for Swedish truth sayer and energy worker Leah Allén’s Alchemy of the True Heart meditation CD, has now become a fully-fledged Dan Reed instrumental solo work, enhanced by those beautiful grand piano remarks of Brooke Lizotte.
But Alchemy isn’t just a soundscape for the mind, body, spirit and soul.
It also, in its own sonically structured way, instrumentally orbits around, and complements, the main lyrical themes of Dan Reed’s more intimately framed solo albums – love, humility, hopes and fears for the planet, friendship and family.
Meditate on that ego-driven greed seekers, power mongers, political narcissists and naysayers.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Ambient soundscapes, natural world music, relax CDs, music to Om to, all and more have since become available to those that need or want to calm themselves physically, mentally or emotionally.
Following that same train of musically meditative thought is Dan Reed of Network fame.
Reed's Alchemy transforms and removes the listener from a world that's going to hell in a hand basket at a fair old socio- political, climate changing pace to a place of programmed, synth-blanketed and grand piano (whose keys, played by Brooke Lizotte, musically cascade like water-drops off forest leaves) inner calmness.
But Alchemy is far bigger than the inner self; it moves outward from the chakras of the body (each of the six instrumental movements is based on a chakra) to the outer limits of time and space, as exemplified by the otherworldly 'Crown,' which musically floats in orbit around the physical, spiritual and galactic.
The warmth and ambience of 'Sacral,' which includes a nod to the track 'Snowy Embankment' by Audio Sculpture (aka ambient and electro-percussive artist Keith Shreiner), embraces love, family and friendships.
'Third Eye' focusses on the very nature of this world; the spaciousness of the piece allows the listener to conjure visions of Mother Earth’s natural beauty (while also contemplating the danger said nature and beauty now find themselves in).
'Heart' is for the planet’s animal life in all its shapes, sizes and guises but musically reaches above land to the flight of the bird (ambient synths and piano) and below to the rippling, aquatic vibrations caused by the movements of sea life (echoing percussion).
Meditatively bookending Alchemy are 'Root,' which creates a sense of stability (the Root chakra’s primary focus) and calmness through its piano sprinkled, atmospheric synth-scape and closing piece 'Solar.'
The latter carries a similar arrangement to 'Root' but with slightly more soundscape body, hinting at inner power (the Solar Plexus chakra is the seat of each individual’s power and self-belief).
Alchemy, which started life as a collection of pieces for Swedish truth sayer and energy worker Leah Allén’s Alchemy of the True Heart meditation CD, has now become a fully-fledged Dan Reed instrumental solo work, enhanced by those beautiful grand piano remarks of Brooke Lizotte.
But Alchemy isn’t just a soundscape for the mind, body, spirit and soul.
It also, in its own sonically structured way, instrumentally orbits around, and complements, the main lyrical themes of Dan Reed’s more intimately framed solo albums – love, humility, hopes and fears for the planet, friendship and family.
Meditate on that ego-driven greed seekers, power mongers, political narcissists and naysayers.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Renaissance – Live at Carnegie Hall (3CD Remastered & Expanded Edition)
In 1976 a double live album recorded in 1975 elevated a young Peter Frampton to superstar status almost overnight.
In 1976 another double live album recorded in 1975 didn’t have the same sort of commercial or upper chart impact as Frampton Comes Alive but Live at Carnegie Hall, by symphonic rock and folk progressives Renaissance, would become the band’s finest hour (and a half).
Culled from three performances at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York (Renaissance were the first British band to sell out three consecutive shows at the venue) in the company of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and featuring the band’s classic line-up of Annie Haslam (vocals), Michael Dunford (acoustic guitars, vocals), John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass guitars, vocals) and Terry Sullivan (drums, vocals), this is Renaissance at the top of their performing game.
It's also a band at the peak of their artistic powers – their then forthcoming album, Scheherazade and Other Stories, is arguably their most creative studio statement.
It’s also telling Renaissance were confident enough to perform the entire nine-part conceptual side of that album, 'Song of Scheherazade,' at Carnegie Hall, a full month before the album was released.
Following a short intro John Tout’s classically themed piano lines set up 'Prologue,' the band’s jazz-prog piece that introduced the Annie Haslam led Renaissance on the 1972 album of that name.
Even on the opening number it’s clear the band were tight as the proverbial on the night(s), with Annie Haslam bringing her soaring vocal A game – but then best of luck finding a less than stellar performance from Annie Haslam when at the peak of her powers, as evidenced on the BBC Radio One In Concert bonus disc. (Recorded nine months after Carnegie Hall the London show features a similar, shorter set sans orchestra, making it the perfect companion to this Expanded & Re-mastered Edition of Live at Carnegie Hall).
Following the delicate and beautiful 'Ocean Gypsy' (a then relatively new song that would find a home on Scheherazade and Other Stories) there now sits the previously unreleased 'Kiev,' back in its rightful set-list place (omitted from the original release due to vinyl/ time restraints).
It’s a fitting reinstatement given its Russian counterpart, the Turn of The Cards tour-de-force 'Mother Russia,' closes out the first part of the show, and Disc One, four songs later.
Disc Two showcases the aforementioned 'Song of Scheherazade,' a sweeping, twenty-five minute 1,001 Arabian Nights tale of Scheherazade and her Sultan with band and orchestra in perfect musical rise, fall and story-telling harmony.
Anything trying to follow such a piece would normally be an anti-climax but the band’s perennial show closer, 'Ashes Are Burning,' does its show-stopping damnedest to share Scheherazade’s spotlight.
That said it’s interesting to note Annie Haslam’s comments in a new essay within the accompanying 16 page booklet where the singer makes it clear she felt 'Ashes Are Burning' should have been omitted from the set.
(It’s also worth noting however Haslam is not heavily featured on the extended soloing, twenty-three minute version of the number).
Live at Carnegie Hall might not have set the charts and radio stations alight in the way the more commercially framed Frampton Comes Alive did, but on those three New York (and Arabian) nights and as recorded for the album, Renaissance Came of Age.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
In 1976 another double live album recorded in 1975 didn’t have the same sort of commercial or upper chart impact as Frampton Comes Alive but Live at Carnegie Hall, by symphonic rock and folk progressives Renaissance, would become the band’s finest hour (and a half).
Culled from three performances at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York (Renaissance were the first British band to sell out three consecutive shows at the venue) in the company of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and featuring the band’s classic line-up of Annie Haslam (vocals), Michael Dunford (acoustic guitars, vocals), John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass guitars, vocals) and Terry Sullivan (drums, vocals), this is Renaissance at the top of their performing game.
It's also a band at the peak of their artistic powers – their then forthcoming album, Scheherazade and Other Stories, is arguably their most creative studio statement.
It’s also telling Renaissance were confident enough to perform the entire nine-part conceptual side of that album, 'Song of Scheherazade,' at Carnegie Hall, a full month before the album was released.
Following a short intro John Tout’s classically themed piano lines set up 'Prologue,' the band’s jazz-prog piece that introduced the Annie Haslam led Renaissance on the 1972 album of that name.
Even on the opening number it’s clear the band were tight as the proverbial on the night(s), with Annie Haslam bringing her soaring vocal A game – but then best of luck finding a less than stellar performance from Annie Haslam when at the peak of her powers, as evidenced on the BBC Radio One In Concert bonus disc. (Recorded nine months after Carnegie Hall the London show features a similar, shorter set sans orchestra, making it the perfect companion to this Expanded & Re-mastered Edition of Live at Carnegie Hall).
Following the delicate and beautiful 'Ocean Gypsy' (a then relatively new song that would find a home on Scheherazade and Other Stories) there now sits the previously unreleased 'Kiev,' back in its rightful set-list place (omitted from the original release due to vinyl/ time restraints).
It’s a fitting reinstatement given its Russian counterpart, the Turn of The Cards tour-de-force 'Mother Russia,' closes out the first part of the show, and Disc One, four songs later.
Disc Two showcases the aforementioned 'Song of Scheherazade,' a sweeping, twenty-five minute 1,001 Arabian Nights tale of Scheherazade and her Sultan with band and orchestra in perfect musical rise, fall and story-telling harmony.
Anything trying to follow such a piece would normally be an anti-climax but the band’s perennial show closer, 'Ashes Are Burning,' does its show-stopping damnedest to share Scheherazade’s spotlight.
That said it’s interesting to note Annie Haslam’s comments in a new essay within the accompanying 16 page booklet where the singer makes it clear she felt 'Ashes Are Burning' should have been omitted from the set.
(It’s also worth noting however Haslam is not heavily featured on the extended soloing, twenty-three minute version of the number).
Live at Carnegie Hall might not have set the charts and radio stations alight in the way the more commercially framed Frampton Comes Alive did, but on those three New York (and Arabian) nights and as recorded for the album, Renaissance Came of Age.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Renaissance – Novella (3CD Remastered & Expanded edition)
To say that Novella, the fifth studio album from the Annie Haslam fronted Renaissance, was the forgotten or lesser acknowledged release of the orchestral and symphonic progressives classic era might be a little unfair but it’s a valid observation, given it would go on to sit between their highly acclaimed landmark release Live at Carnegie Hall and biggest ever success, 1978’s Song for All Seasons (which spawned the hit single 'Northern Lights').
But then the original release of Novella in 1977 never have a chance of making any significant impact in the UK – it fared well in the US (their second Top 50 studio album in a row; for a British progressive band in the mid to late 70s that’s seriously impressive Billboard charting) but, hamstrung by label issues, it didn’t see light of day until nine months later in the UK, slap bang in the safety pinned face of punk.
And, with much of the dedicated fan base having already purchased the US import edition, its fate was sealed.
Which is a due-to-unfortunate-circumstances shame because Novella is on par with anything the band did during their critically acclaimed run of six studio and one double live album success in the 70s.
Opening with 'Can You Hear Me?,' an orchestrated Renaissance classic that skips airily over its fourteen minutes with classically themed arrangement and acoustic folk-rock passages, the five song Novella goes on to deliver a beautifully crafted blend of the long-form (the album is book-ended by 'Can You Hear Me?' and the orchestrated, uplifting ten minutes of 'Touching Once (is So Hard to keep),' mid-length movements (the Spanish/ classical themed 'The Sisters,' the semi-acoustic 'Midas Man') and the more concise (piano ballad 'Captive Heart').
Novella is also strong in lyrical storytelling (the band’s featured lyricist, Betty Thatcher, delivered some of her best work) and creative instrumentation – drummer Terry Sullivan made use of interesting and diverse percussion techniques, including shaking a bag of coins on 'Midas Man' (which also features tubular bells), putting a gong through a Flanger for 'Can You Hear Me?' and using castanets on 'The Sisters' to add to the Spanish flavour of the number.
The jewel in the newly remastered and re-issued Novella crown however is the band’s celebrated performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall.
The third of three fully orchestrated Renaissance shows in October of 1977, The Royal Albert Hall show doesn’t just match the Carnegie Hall performances of two years prior (and subsequent live album), it surpasses them – the band were at the absolute top of their creative and performance game while the Royal Philharmonic were in perfect orchestrated sympathy to Renaissance music (exemplified by their orchestral arrangement of opening number 'Prologue').
That orchestra and band never rehearsed together before the show tells you all you need to know about both units’ strengths, musicality and musicianship – it’s a seamless, near perfect display of their respective powers.
It’s also a testament to just how respected Renaissance were on both sides of the Atlantic that they could headline Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert Hall (how many rock based ensembles can claim that honour?)
Add in two Single Edits ('Midas Man,' 'Can You Hear Me?'), an informative illustrated booklet and reproduction album poster, you have a once relatively short but excellent Novella that just got longer, and even better.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But then the original release of Novella in 1977 never have a chance of making any significant impact in the UK – it fared well in the US (their second Top 50 studio album in a row; for a British progressive band in the mid to late 70s that’s seriously impressive Billboard charting) but, hamstrung by label issues, it didn’t see light of day until nine months later in the UK, slap bang in the safety pinned face of punk.
And, with much of the dedicated fan base having already purchased the US import edition, its fate was sealed.
Which is a due-to-unfortunate-circumstances shame because Novella is on par with anything the band did during their critically acclaimed run of six studio and one double live album success in the 70s.
Opening with 'Can You Hear Me?,' an orchestrated Renaissance classic that skips airily over its fourteen minutes with classically themed arrangement and acoustic folk-rock passages, the five song Novella goes on to deliver a beautifully crafted blend of the long-form (the album is book-ended by 'Can You Hear Me?' and the orchestrated, uplifting ten minutes of 'Touching Once (is So Hard to keep),' mid-length movements (the Spanish/ classical themed 'The Sisters,' the semi-acoustic 'Midas Man') and the more concise (piano ballad 'Captive Heart').
Novella is also strong in lyrical storytelling (the band’s featured lyricist, Betty Thatcher, delivered some of her best work) and creative instrumentation – drummer Terry Sullivan made use of interesting and diverse percussion techniques, including shaking a bag of coins on 'Midas Man' (which also features tubular bells), putting a gong through a Flanger for 'Can You Hear Me?' and using castanets on 'The Sisters' to add to the Spanish flavour of the number.
The jewel in the newly remastered and re-issued Novella crown however is the band’s celebrated performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall.
The third of three fully orchestrated Renaissance shows in October of 1977, The Royal Albert Hall show doesn’t just match the Carnegie Hall performances of two years prior (and subsequent live album), it surpasses them – the band were at the absolute top of their creative and performance game while the Royal Philharmonic were in perfect orchestrated sympathy to Renaissance music (exemplified by their orchestral arrangement of opening number 'Prologue').
That orchestra and band never rehearsed together before the show tells you all you need to know about both units’ strengths, musicality and musicianship – it’s a seamless, near perfect display of their respective powers.
It’s also a testament to just how respected Renaissance were on both sides of the Atlantic that they could headline Carnegie Hall and The Royal Albert Hall (how many rock based ensembles can claim that honour?)
Add in two Single Edits ('Midas Man,' 'Can You Hear Me?'), an informative illustrated booklet and reproduction album poster, you have a once relatively short but excellent Novella that just got longer, and even better.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons (3CD Remastered & Expanded Edition)
As is mentioned in the narrative of the excellent 36 page booklet that's included in this new edition of A Song For All Seasons, the highest charting album from symphonic rock & folk-pop progressives Renaissance had a twist behind the tale of its success.
That unexpected twist was a hit single (the only one of the band's career) in the summer of 1978; it brought Renaissance, in their classic line-up of Annie Haslam (vocals), Michael Dunford (guitars), Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion), John Tout (keyboards) and Jon Camp (bass, guitars, lead vocals), wider recognition in their UK homeland (the band had always enjoyed more success in the US).
That single, the infectious and big sounding melodic pop of 'Northern Lights,' was actually a record label request for a song that could be a hit (job done, as a Top 10 UK chart placing and three appearances on Top of The Pops testify to).
On 1978's A Song For All Seasons however 'Northern Lights' was simply one of a number of well-crafted, contrasting but musically complementary songs that conspired to produce what is unarguably one of the best releases of the band's entire career.
Nor did it hurt that the album featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on a number of the songs, the return of electric guitar after a number of years/ albums and a big, expansive sound from then Genesis producer, David Hentschel.
The rising in volume intro of 'Opening Out' gives way to the beautiful melodic theme of the song before Annie Haslam’s equally beautiful vocal takes centre stage on one of Renaissance’s finest short-form songs.
By contrast the near ten-minute 'Day of the Dreamer' uses all of that length to make it’s fittingly dreamy and primarily up-tempo statement.
As much orchestrated score as progressive rock and featuring a revisit of the 'Opening Out' intro, Annie Haslam’s joyous and expressive vocal book-ends the rhythmic, instrumental core of the number (tempered by a delicate vocal, guitar and piano mid section).
The acoustically framed charm of 'Closer Than Yesterday' and 'Back Home Once Again' (written for the short-lived Children’s TV series The Paper Lads) sit comfortably alongside the mellower 'Kindness (at the End)' and orchestrated ballad 'She is Love,' the latter pairing sung by Jon Camp.
While Camp delivers a confident vocal on 'Kindness' (which he wrote) his vocal on 'She is Love' brings with it the only weak point of the album (Annie Haslam, who was always supposed to sing on the track, couldn’t make the must-be-recorded-today session).
The melodic pop craft of 'Northern Lights' is followed by the title track, a fully orchestrated, eleven minute tour-de-force that, as its title suggests, lyrically and musically depicts the changing seasons though fairly complex but perfectly executed rise and fall.
The results are the perfect album closer and one of the finest ever Renaissance compositions.
While a remastered re-release of A Song For All Seasons is welcome, the accompanying 2CDs of the band’s complete 1978 performance at The Tower Theater in Philadelphia (with four previously unreleased tracks including their show stopping/closing twenty-seven minute rendition of 'Ashes Are Burning') is the icing on the seasonal cake.
Add to that a reproduction of original album poster, illustrated booklet, a three song BBC Radio One Session and alternative versions of 'Northern Lights' (single edit, and as recorded for Top of the Pops) and you have a 23 song Renaissance Album For All Seasons.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That unexpected twist was a hit single (the only one of the band's career) in the summer of 1978; it brought Renaissance, in their classic line-up of Annie Haslam (vocals), Michael Dunford (guitars), Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion), John Tout (keyboards) and Jon Camp (bass, guitars, lead vocals), wider recognition in their UK homeland (the band had always enjoyed more success in the US).
That single, the infectious and big sounding melodic pop of 'Northern Lights,' was actually a record label request for a song that could be a hit (job done, as a Top 10 UK chart placing and three appearances on Top of The Pops testify to).
On 1978's A Song For All Seasons however 'Northern Lights' was simply one of a number of well-crafted, contrasting but musically complementary songs that conspired to produce what is unarguably one of the best releases of the band's entire career.
Nor did it hurt that the album featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on a number of the songs, the return of electric guitar after a number of years/ albums and a big, expansive sound from then Genesis producer, David Hentschel.
The rising in volume intro of 'Opening Out' gives way to the beautiful melodic theme of the song before Annie Haslam’s equally beautiful vocal takes centre stage on one of Renaissance’s finest short-form songs.
By contrast the near ten-minute 'Day of the Dreamer' uses all of that length to make it’s fittingly dreamy and primarily up-tempo statement.
As much orchestrated score as progressive rock and featuring a revisit of the 'Opening Out' intro, Annie Haslam’s joyous and expressive vocal book-ends the rhythmic, instrumental core of the number (tempered by a delicate vocal, guitar and piano mid section).
The acoustically framed charm of 'Closer Than Yesterday' and 'Back Home Once Again' (written for the short-lived Children’s TV series The Paper Lads) sit comfortably alongside the mellower 'Kindness (at the End)' and orchestrated ballad 'She is Love,' the latter pairing sung by Jon Camp.
While Camp delivers a confident vocal on 'Kindness' (which he wrote) his vocal on 'She is Love' brings with it the only weak point of the album (Annie Haslam, who was always supposed to sing on the track, couldn’t make the must-be-recorded-today session).
The melodic pop craft of 'Northern Lights' is followed by the title track, a fully orchestrated, eleven minute tour-de-force that, as its title suggests, lyrically and musically depicts the changing seasons though fairly complex but perfectly executed rise and fall.
The results are the perfect album closer and one of the finest ever Renaissance compositions.
While a remastered re-release of A Song For All Seasons is welcome, the accompanying 2CDs of the band’s complete 1978 performance at The Tower Theater in Philadelphia (with four previously unreleased tracks including their show stopping/closing twenty-seven minute rendition of 'Ashes Are Burning') is the icing on the seasonal cake.
Add to that a reproduction of original album poster, illustrated booklet, a three song BBC Radio One Session and alternative versions of 'Northern Lights' (single edit, and as recorded for Top of the Pops) and you have a 23 song Renaissance Album For All Seasons.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Savoy Brown - City Night
There’s something blues-comforting and rockingly familiar about Savoy Brown and their fortieth album, City Night.
That’s because as one of the founding figures of the British Blues explosion/ scene of the late 60s (The Blues Breakers & Clapton, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Free et al) Savoy Brown have been doing what they do so well for more than fifty years, through ever-present guitarist (and lead vocalist these last seven years) Kim Simmonds and, for the last decade, Pat DeSalvo (bass) and Garnet Grimm (drums).
Collectively the trio are also the band’s most consistent line-up (DeSalvo and Grimm are now eight album veterans of Savoy Brown).
In short, why reinvent a British blues coloured and rock solid wheel you helped invent in the first place, as musically underlined by the gritty and neo swampy opener 'Walking on Hot Stones' (featuring some howlin' slide work from Kim Simmonds and his now trademark spoken-vocal style) and following number 'Don’t Hang Me Out to Dry,' a tasty rhythm 'n' bluesy offering with a Mark Knopfler-esque vocal.
The fact that it could be a remastered and sonically broader 1969 as much as 2019 is the If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It timelessness of such songs and Savoy Brown, a blues rock band for (all) the ages.
And don’t think they’re not still relevant – previous album, 2017’s Witchy Feelin', was a #1 US Billboard Blues album (one of many US chart entries; rigorous US touring in earlier decades paid dividends across the pond).
That Witchy Feelin' was so well received Stateside is particularly fitting given its mix of Memphis and Bayou blues influences (as were its predecessors, The Devil to Pay and Goin' to the Delta).
City Night however is a return that "high energy blues rock" label that’s been attached to Savoy Brown almost from the get-go – the simple beat and repeating riff that drives 'Red Light Mama,' the choppy stop-time chords that back the lead guitar licks permeating 'Payback Time,' the six-minute title track (built on Garnet Grimm’s shufflin' rhythm and Pat DeSalvo’s walking bass line) and the Bo Diddley affected 'Hang In Tough' (with splashes of Kim Simmonds slide) all stand up to be counted as Savoy showcases.
But there’s more than one gear to Savoy Brown; the mid-tempo 'Neighbourhood Blues' allows Kim Simmonds to express his "I wanna get out" lyrics through his guitar while the delicate and well-phrased six-string lines of slow blues number, 'Selfish World,' reinforce that Simmonds is a player, not just a guitarist.
'Ain’t Gonna Worry,' a boogie that doubles as a calling card to any of Savoy Brown’s previous decades, closes out another Savoy smack to the boundaries and a call of forty (albums) and not out.
The best blues rock album you’ll hear this year?
That’s very much open to debate, personal taste and whether you want a more contemporary blues groove to your beat – but what is undeniable is that Savoy Brown can deliver quality old-school British blues any 21st century day or City Night of the week.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That’s because as one of the founding figures of the British Blues explosion/ scene of the late 60s (The Blues Breakers & Clapton, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Free et al) Savoy Brown have been doing what they do so well for more than fifty years, through ever-present guitarist (and lead vocalist these last seven years) Kim Simmonds and, for the last decade, Pat DeSalvo (bass) and Garnet Grimm (drums).
Collectively the trio are also the band’s most consistent line-up (DeSalvo and Grimm are now eight album veterans of Savoy Brown).
In short, why reinvent a British blues coloured and rock solid wheel you helped invent in the first place, as musically underlined by the gritty and neo swampy opener 'Walking on Hot Stones' (featuring some howlin' slide work from Kim Simmonds and his now trademark spoken-vocal style) and following number 'Don’t Hang Me Out to Dry,' a tasty rhythm 'n' bluesy offering with a Mark Knopfler-esque vocal.
The fact that it could be a remastered and sonically broader 1969 as much as 2019 is the If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It timelessness of such songs and Savoy Brown, a blues rock band for (all) the ages.
And don’t think they’re not still relevant – previous album, 2017’s Witchy Feelin', was a #1 US Billboard Blues album (one of many US chart entries; rigorous US touring in earlier decades paid dividends across the pond).
That Witchy Feelin' was so well received Stateside is particularly fitting given its mix of Memphis and Bayou blues influences (as were its predecessors, The Devil to Pay and Goin' to the Delta).
City Night however is a return that "high energy blues rock" label that’s been attached to Savoy Brown almost from the get-go – the simple beat and repeating riff that drives 'Red Light Mama,' the choppy stop-time chords that back the lead guitar licks permeating 'Payback Time,' the six-minute title track (built on Garnet Grimm’s shufflin' rhythm and Pat DeSalvo’s walking bass line) and the Bo Diddley affected 'Hang In Tough' (with splashes of Kim Simmonds slide) all stand up to be counted as Savoy showcases.
But there’s more than one gear to Savoy Brown; the mid-tempo 'Neighbourhood Blues' allows Kim Simmonds to express his "I wanna get out" lyrics through his guitar while the delicate and well-phrased six-string lines of slow blues number, 'Selfish World,' reinforce that Simmonds is a player, not just a guitarist.
'Ain’t Gonna Worry,' a boogie that doubles as a calling card to any of Savoy Brown’s previous decades, closes out another Savoy smack to the boundaries and a call of forty (albums) and not out.
The best blues rock album you’ll hear this year?
That’s very much open to debate, personal taste and whether you want a more contemporary blues groove to your beat – but what is undeniable is that Savoy Brown can deliver quality old-school British blues any 21st century day or City Night of the week.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
JD Simo – Off At 11
Chicago born Nashville based guitarist and singer JD Simo, the front man behind free-flowing psychedelic soul-blues outfit SIMO, has gone a step further with debut solo offering Off At 11, an album that stretches even further to become an adventurous amalgamation of psychedelic blues, Acid rock and spacier, free-form jazz passages.
That’s quite the mix but tying the whole psychedelia deal together is an underlying theme of love in all its forms – to wit, JD Simo’s acid blues and psychedelically coated antidote to the ever growing global concerns and political heaviness that surround us (man).
On a more serious note there are, indeed, a flurry of those more serious notes on Off At 11 as delivered by JD Simo, drummer Adam Abrashoff and bassist Luke Easterling, across eight tracks and an ensuing fifty-two minutes.
All the aforementioned musical traits are present and correct on album opener 'Boom Boom Out Go the Lights,' a song first made famous by Little Walter and a number that became a signature tune for Pat Travers.
Here however the song becomes a thick sounding slice of psychedelia and blues that declares loudly and guitar howlingly clearly where JD Simo is coming from, and heading to, on Off At 11.
The title track, which follows, is a jazzy instrumental blues that sounds like it was conceived in the late 60s or early 70s while 'You Need Love' is a big, balshy shuffle (with rockin’ fade out finish) that features some nifty and tasty slide work from JD Simo.
Slim Harpo’s 'I Got Love If You Want It' then gets the JD treatment before the slower, psychedelic soul-blues of 'Temptation' and the rhythmically funky 'Mind Trouble' take centre stage.
Given that JD Simo’s influences range from Jimi Hendrix to Lightnin’ Hopkins and Captain Beefheart to BB King, plus the expansive jam creations of the Allman Brothers (the latter to the fore on sixteen minute plus album closer 'Accept,' featuring Simo at his most expressive and improvisational) it’s no wonder Off At 11 is such a 60s and 70s influenced blues stew.
But that JD Simo can also deliver in a purer blues sense is proven on the near nine minute cover of BB King’s 'Sweet Little Angel' where, for the most part, less JD Simo is more, allowing Adam Abrashoff and Luke Easterling to fill the space between Simo’s crying notes.
If Off At 11 sounds very much like a live in the studio affair (which only enhances the spacey grooves, psychedelically shaped echoes and reverb) that’s because it most assuredly is – the album was recorded across a three day period in the summer of 2018 during a brief break in JD Simo’s first touring stint with (Grateful Dead bassist) Phil Lesh and Friends, of whom Simo had recently become a member.
Nor are there any edits, studio trickery or post-production tweaks – "Just honesty and a tape machine" as JD Simo said in press pre-release.
And a whole lotta big, bluesy psychedelia coloured love, JD.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
That’s quite the mix but tying the whole psychedelia deal together is an underlying theme of love in all its forms – to wit, JD Simo’s acid blues and psychedelically coated antidote to the ever growing global concerns and political heaviness that surround us (man).
On a more serious note there are, indeed, a flurry of those more serious notes on Off At 11 as delivered by JD Simo, drummer Adam Abrashoff and bassist Luke Easterling, across eight tracks and an ensuing fifty-two minutes.
All the aforementioned musical traits are present and correct on album opener 'Boom Boom Out Go the Lights,' a song first made famous by Little Walter and a number that became a signature tune for Pat Travers.
Here however the song becomes a thick sounding slice of psychedelia and blues that declares loudly and guitar howlingly clearly where JD Simo is coming from, and heading to, on Off At 11.
The title track, which follows, is a jazzy instrumental blues that sounds like it was conceived in the late 60s or early 70s while 'You Need Love' is a big, balshy shuffle (with rockin’ fade out finish) that features some nifty and tasty slide work from JD Simo.
Slim Harpo’s 'I Got Love If You Want It' then gets the JD treatment before the slower, psychedelic soul-blues of 'Temptation' and the rhythmically funky 'Mind Trouble' take centre stage.
Given that JD Simo’s influences range from Jimi Hendrix to Lightnin’ Hopkins and Captain Beefheart to BB King, plus the expansive jam creations of the Allman Brothers (the latter to the fore on sixteen minute plus album closer 'Accept,' featuring Simo at his most expressive and improvisational) it’s no wonder Off At 11 is such a 60s and 70s influenced blues stew.
But that JD Simo can also deliver in a purer blues sense is proven on the near nine minute cover of BB King’s 'Sweet Little Angel' where, for the most part, less JD Simo is more, allowing Adam Abrashoff and Luke Easterling to fill the space between Simo’s crying notes.
If Off At 11 sounds very much like a live in the studio affair (which only enhances the spacey grooves, psychedelically shaped echoes and reverb) that’s because it most assuredly is – the album was recorded across a three day period in the summer of 2018 during a brief break in JD Simo’s first touring stint with (Grateful Dead bassist) Phil Lesh and Friends, of whom Simo had recently become a member.
Nor are there any edits, studio trickery or post-production tweaks – "Just honesty and a tape machine" as JD Simo said in press pre-release.
And a whole lotta big, bluesy psychedelia coloured love, JD.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
61 Ghosts – Mercy
Maine based 61 Ghosts – collectively the talents of singer-guitarist-songwriter Joe Mazzari and drummer Dixie Deadwood – have individually performed in a number of bands (Dixie, as she prefers to be more simply known, has played with Leo "Bud" Welch, among others; Joe Mazzari is perhaps still best known as a member of Johnny Thunders solo band back in the rock-punk day).
Together however, and as heard on Mercy, they combine to deliver what is best described as raw, earthy American rock and roll / Americana blues that can be high-energy one minute and tapping in to Bob Dylan the next.
Opening number 'Black Cadillac,' a ZZ Top-ified dirty-blues that drives not on a smooth highway but a sand blasted desert road, has a bit of Blue Coupe in its darker coloured Cadillac.
Anyone familiar with that particular supergroup trio of Albert & Joe Bouchard and Dennis Dunaway will instantly recognise a similar no nonsense approach to both bands’ brand of rock and roll (similarly the slower, riff ‘n’ beat rawness of following number 'Just For You').
Interestingly, there’s also a lot of similarity in the vocal timbre (and sometimes almost narrated deliveries) of Joe Mazzari and Albert Bouchard, to the degree they would be an excellent vocal fit for each other’s bands.
'Glimpse of You' and 'Dirt On Your Regrets' are rawer, Americana styled Tom Waits and a sonically sparser Neil Young respectively; the latter also highlights that 61 Ghosts are not just one, sorry, two trick (guitar and drums) dirty blues ponies.
The folksier 'Clarksdale,' featuring Henry & Conrad Gluch on saxophones, offers up a forlorn change of pace as does the equally forlorn and acoustic 'Don’t Fade Away.'
Another acoustic-folk number, 'Thoughts Come Back to You,' has a Dylan-esque quality and charm to it
("If I could write a song so pure, to capture your essence, the chords would ring and the words I’d sing, could be as blissful as silence”).
The closing quartet of tracks return to the raw, electric guitar and drums sound of 61 Ghosts.
The simple but purposeful 'Go On Home' makes its big beat mark, contrasting with the sparser versed 'Don’t Hold Back;' the punkier 'New York Coattails' and feedback fuelled 'Fayetteville' make for a raucous and cacophonous conclusion.
American blues singer-guitarist Albert Castiglia, on Masterpiece (recorded in collaboration with fellow blues countryman Mike Zito), delivered an equally raw yet ear catching offering in 2019, albeit a more blues focussed one.
61 Ghosts and Mercy are built upon a similarly earthy foundation but band and album are harder to categorise.
Indie blues? Rawk and Roll? Nu-Americana?
All the above. And, when the amps are up, a whole dose of attitude, energy and musical gusto.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Together however, and as heard on Mercy, they combine to deliver what is best described as raw, earthy American rock and roll / Americana blues that can be high-energy one minute and tapping in to Bob Dylan the next.
Opening number 'Black Cadillac,' a ZZ Top-ified dirty-blues that drives not on a smooth highway but a sand blasted desert road, has a bit of Blue Coupe in its darker coloured Cadillac.
Anyone familiar with that particular supergroup trio of Albert & Joe Bouchard and Dennis Dunaway will instantly recognise a similar no nonsense approach to both bands’ brand of rock and roll (similarly the slower, riff ‘n’ beat rawness of following number 'Just For You').
Interestingly, there’s also a lot of similarity in the vocal timbre (and sometimes almost narrated deliveries) of Joe Mazzari and Albert Bouchard, to the degree they would be an excellent vocal fit for each other’s bands.
'Glimpse of You' and 'Dirt On Your Regrets' are rawer, Americana styled Tom Waits and a sonically sparser Neil Young respectively; the latter also highlights that 61 Ghosts are not just one, sorry, two trick (guitar and drums) dirty blues ponies.
The folksier 'Clarksdale,' featuring Henry & Conrad Gluch on saxophones, offers up a forlorn change of pace as does the equally forlorn and acoustic 'Don’t Fade Away.'
Another acoustic-folk number, 'Thoughts Come Back to You,' has a Dylan-esque quality and charm to it
("If I could write a song so pure, to capture your essence, the chords would ring and the words I’d sing, could be as blissful as silence”).
The closing quartet of tracks return to the raw, electric guitar and drums sound of 61 Ghosts.
The simple but purposeful 'Go On Home' makes its big beat mark, contrasting with the sparser versed 'Don’t Hold Back;' the punkier 'New York Coattails' and feedback fuelled 'Fayetteville' make for a raucous and cacophonous conclusion.
American blues singer-guitarist Albert Castiglia, on Masterpiece (recorded in collaboration with fellow blues countryman Mike Zito), delivered an equally raw yet ear catching offering in 2019, albeit a more blues focussed one.
61 Ghosts and Mercy are built upon a similarly earthy foundation but band and album are harder to categorise.
Indie blues? Rawk and Roll? Nu-Americana?
All the above. And, when the amps are up, a whole dose of attitude, energy and musical gusto.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Ringo Starr – What’s My Name
Let’s get something straight right from the Ringo get go.
Mr Starkey isn’t the greatest singer in the world, nor is he ever likely to deliver an album that’s in the running for best solo album of the year.
However, what he and his buddies (a dozen revered and highly notable musicians play on What’s My Name including Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Dave Stewart, Benmont Tench, Steve Lukather, Nathan East and Colin Hay) do is deliver some bloody good, fun filled, foot-tapping melodic pop-rock 'n' roll based tunes for your can’t-help-but-smile listening pleasure.
That grin while listening effect is to the fore on opening number 'Gotta Get Up To Get Down.'
A big-beat, funky slice of nonsense, it features a lyric that concentrates on repeating the title and social media rapping from the unmistakable voice of Joe Walsh:
"Everybody’s on the Internet, what’s up with that? Your body keeps waitin’ for your brain to come back."
It’s kinda ridiculous but it’s also a ridiculously fun.
'It’s Not Love That You Want' is probably more akin to what you might expect – uptempo, throwback rock 'n' roll with a simple chorus hook that’s geared for rock and pop airplay.
Similarly upbeat are 'Magic' (lightly rockin’ AOR with a Steve Lukather/ Toto touch) and the positivity that permeates through 60s soul-beat number 'Better Days,' the sing-a-long pop of 'Life is Good' and the rockier roll of 'Thank God for Radio,' each of which also cleverly nods to the past in their lyricism.
But it wouldn’t be a Ringo album without his message of peace and love; here he covers both bases on the countrified pop ballad, 'Send Love Spread Peace.'
A couple of covers are also included, both with Beatles links.
John Lennon’s sentimental ballad 'Grow Old With Me' features Paul McCartney on bass and a harmony vocal line (the string arrangement also, very subtly, uses a line from 'Here Comes the Sun;' nice touch) while the
oft-covered Motown song 'Money' (here both funky and quirky, with auto-tune vocal effect) was also performed by the Beatles.
The album closes with the most fun-filled track of them all, the semi-autobiographical country rock 'n' rolling title track ("you came tonight, so I’m doing something right; it’s not my first rodeo, what’s my name? Ringo!")
Short and sharp (ten tracks in 35 minutes), quirky and fun, 60s nostalgia mixing with more contemporary melodic pop and roll and a genuinely All-Starr cast of musicians.
What’s his name? Ringo!
Peace Out.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Mr Starkey isn’t the greatest singer in the world, nor is he ever likely to deliver an album that’s in the running for best solo album of the year.
However, what he and his buddies (a dozen revered and highly notable musicians play on What’s My Name including Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Dave Stewart, Benmont Tench, Steve Lukather, Nathan East and Colin Hay) do is deliver some bloody good, fun filled, foot-tapping melodic pop-rock 'n' roll based tunes for your can’t-help-but-smile listening pleasure.
That grin while listening effect is to the fore on opening number 'Gotta Get Up To Get Down.'
A big-beat, funky slice of nonsense, it features a lyric that concentrates on repeating the title and social media rapping from the unmistakable voice of Joe Walsh:
"Everybody’s on the Internet, what’s up with that? Your body keeps waitin’ for your brain to come back."
It’s kinda ridiculous but it’s also a ridiculously fun.
'It’s Not Love That You Want' is probably more akin to what you might expect – uptempo, throwback rock 'n' roll with a simple chorus hook that’s geared for rock and pop airplay.
Similarly upbeat are 'Magic' (lightly rockin’ AOR with a Steve Lukather/ Toto touch) and the positivity that permeates through 60s soul-beat number 'Better Days,' the sing-a-long pop of 'Life is Good' and the rockier roll of 'Thank God for Radio,' each of which also cleverly nods to the past in their lyricism.
But it wouldn’t be a Ringo album without his message of peace and love; here he covers both bases on the countrified pop ballad, 'Send Love Spread Peace.'
A couple of covers are also included, both with Beatles links.
John Lennon’s sentimental ballad 'Grow Old With Me' features Paul McCartney on bass and a harmony vocal line (the string arrangement also, very subtly, uses a line from 'Here Comes the Sun;' nice touch) while the
oft-covered Motown song 'Money' (here both funky and quirky, with auto-tune vocal effect) was also performed by the Beatles.
The album closes with the most fun-filled track of them all, the semi-autobiographical country rock 'n' rolling title track ("you came tonight, so I’m doing something right; it’s not my first rodeo, what’s my name? Ringo!")
Short and sharp (ten tracks in 35 minutes), quirky and fun, 60s nostalgia mixing with more contemporary melodic pop and roll and a genuinely All-Starr cast of musicians.
What’s his name? Ringo!
Peace Out.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Status Quo - Backbone; Rossi & Rickard – We Talk Too Much
Given their release within six months of each other, Francis Rossi’s distinct vocal style, trademark guitar jig-licks and penchant for country influenced rock and roll there’s more reason to couple We Talk Too Much (a collaborative project featuring Rossi and Hannah Rickard) and Status Quo’s Backbone together in review than there is reason to separate them.
Status Quo have now joined the ranks of legacy acts that split fans and critics between those that feel such acts should call it a day (or change their name) when musicians critical to the band’s history, sound or success have departed or sadly passed, and those that champion the name, no matter who is in the line-up (continuing to celebrate said legacy, in effect).
Which means Backbone, in songwriting style, sound and approach could as well be another Francis Rossi solo album as a Status Quo release, especially as Rossi takes all the lead vocals and is missing his boogie buddy and only other Quo ever-present (up until his sad passing in 2016), guitarist and vocalist Rick Parfitt.
But with keyboardist Andy Bown in the line-up ranks since 1982 (having worked with the band since 1973) and bassist John "Rhino" Edwards a Quo stalwart since 1985 (drummer Leon Cave joined in 2013; rhythm guitarist Richie Malone replaced Rick Parfitt in 2016), it’s the same old (but well loved) three chord song and dance to the new single.
Outside of a few notable exceptions (including the brilliantly titled In Search of the Fourth Chord and the return to form that was Quid Quo Pro), Backbone is typical of the majority of Status Quo studio albums over the last twenty-five years or so – it sits safely in the middle of the road ('Waiting For a Woman') offering 12 bar boogie that runs comfortably in second or third gear ('I Wanna Run Away With You,' 'Cut Me Some Slack') or proffers foot-tapping but limited in substance pop-rock ('I See You’re in Some Trouble,' 'Backbone').
The 60s-meets-70s tinged rock-pop nostalgia of 'Liberty Lane' is a highlight however, as is the pacier, 80s styled Quo boogie of 'Get Out of My Head.'
Status Quo have now joined the ranks of legacy acts that split fans and critics between those that feel such acts should call it a day (or change their name) when musicians critical to the band’s history, sound or success have departed or sadly passed, and those that champion the name, no matter who is in the line-up (continuing to celebrate said legacy, in effect).
Which means Backbone, in songwriting style, sound and approach could as well be another Francis Rossi solo album as a Status Quo release, especially as Rossi takes all the lead vocals and is missing his boogie buddy and only other Quo ever-present (up until his sad passing in 2016), guitarist and vocalist Rick Parfitt.
But with keyboardist Andy Bown in the line-up ranks since 1982 (having worked with the band since 1973) and bassist John "Rhino" Edwards a Quo stalwart since 1985 (drummer Leon Cave joined in 2013; rhythm guitarist Richie Malone replaced Rick Parfitt in 2016), it’s the same old (but well loved) three chord song and dance to the new single.
Outside of a few notable exceptions (including the brilliantly titled In Search of the Fourth Chord and the return to form that was Quid Quo Pro), Backbone is typical of the majority of Status Quo studio albums over the last twenty-five years or so – it sits safely in the middle of the road ('Waiting For a Woman') offering 12 bar boogie that runs comfortably in second or third gear ('I Wanna Run Away With You,' 'Cut Me Some Slack') or proffers foot-tapping but limited in substance pop-rock ('I See You’re in Some Trouble,' 'Backbone').
The 60s-meets-70s tinged rock-pop nostalgia of 'Liberty Lane' is a highlight however, as is the pacier, 80s styled Quo boogie of 'Get Out of My Head.'
More interesting is We Talk Too Much by Francis Rossi and singer, fiddle and violin player Hannah Rickard.
It’s an album that allows Rossi to truly express his soft spot for the genres of country, folk and Americana, sometimes dressed in poppier Status Quo clothing (country-Quo opener 'I’ll Take You Home,' country-jig rocker 'But I Just Said Goodbye').
However it’s the pair’s blend of harmonies, particularly when in lead vocal duet (folk-pop number 'I’ve Tried Letting it Go,' the Nashville pop of 'Rearrange') that really make this album sing (pun intended), scuppered only when country’s worst traits come calling ('Heartbreaker' – too country pickin’, y'all; 'Waiting for Jesus' – too self pitying).
There's also a nice blend of the more individualistic – Francis Rossi takes lead on the Jeff Lynne-esque 'I Talk Too Much' (also the name of his recent autobiography) while Hannah Rickard features more prominently on country-blues ballad 'Good Times, Bad Times'.
Two Francis Rossi solo albums under different names or a bona fide Status Quo album to accompany, and play musical contrast, to Rossi and Hannah Rickard’s country pop-rock offering?
Actually it matters not a jot – what’s beyond the name on the cover to sonically emerge from the disc, vinyl or digital playback should be the defining factor.
In that regard We Talk Too Much is a country-pop winner while Backbone is the relatively safe but guaranteed to be successful proof the post-Parfitt line-up have, musically, maintained the Status Quo.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
It’s an album that allows Rossi to truly express his soft spot for the genres of country, folk and Americana, sometimes dressed in poppier Status Quo clothing (country-Quo opener 'I’ll Take You Home,' country-jig rocker 'But I Just Said Goodbye').
However it’s the pair’s blend of harmonies, particularly when in lead vocal duet (folk-pop number 'I’ve Tried Letting it Go,' the Nashville pop of 'Rearrange') that really make this album sing (pun intended), scuppered only when country’s worst traits come calling ('Heartbreaker' – too country pickin’, y'all; 'Waiting for Jesus' – too self pitying).
There's also a nice blend of the more individualistic – Francis Rossi takes lead on the Jeff Lynne-esque 'I Talk Too Much' (also the name of his recent autobiography) while Hannah Rickard features more prominently on country-blues ballad 'Good Times, Bad Times'.
Two Francis Rossi solo albums under different names or a bona fide Status Quo album to accompany, and play musical contrast, to Rossi and Hannah Rickard’s country pop-rock offering?
Actually it matters not a jot – what’s beyond the name on the cover to sonically emerge from the disc, vinyl or digital playback should be the defining factor.
In that regard We Talk Too Much is a country-pop winner while Backbone is the relatively safe but guaranteed to be successful proof the post-Parfitt line-up have, musically, maintained the Status Quo.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Jamie Thyer – Meets the Dominators … At the Dyed Roots of Blues Rock
It’s fair to say you know what you’re going to get with Jamie Thyer (usually billed as, or with, the Worried Men and always in favoured trio format).
In that respect Jamie Thyer Meets the Dominators... At the Dyed Roots of Blues Rock doesn’t disappoint, nor surprise.
Album number nine (following in the 2018 tracks of the sleek, short and muscly Cafe Racer) is another fine example of Jamie Thyer’s earthy, raw (but never rough – this is one slick six-stringer) and high-energy blues rock, sprinkled with some Dr Feelgood Pub Rock R&B and George Thorogood styled boogie.
There’s an element of both those artists in opener '3D Jones,' a pacey little rhythm and boogie blues that features the trademark, narrative vocal style of Jamie Thyer and some seriously fast 'n' fiery guitar licks; following number, the short, sharp and gritty 'Might Have Been' is, simply, classic Jamie Thyer.
The guitarist also has a penchant and successful template for instrumentals.
As with Cafe Racer, three feature on Meets the Dominators – 'Frigid Air' (with keyboard accompaniment), allows Jamie Thyer to melodically express before hitting full howling cry while 'Wicked City' flits between spaghetti western themed moments and weightier rock guitar remarks.
The fast fretboard fingered 'Rattletake Snail' takes its lead (guitar riff) from Bobby Parker’s 'Watch Your Step' but if you’re going to borrow or nod to, that’s a pretty damn good 'un to choose.
Elsewhere you’ll find the rumbling bass line and bluesy swagger of 'My Own Company,' the Bo Diddley sounding 'On My Way' (not dissimilar to the great man’s 'Who Do You Love' but in George Thorogood covered clothing) and slow blues album highlight 'Can You Hear' (if there be any doubt that Jamie Thyer can play the blues as well as he can rock the boogie, 'Can You Hear' dispels those doubts in a flurry of tasty six-string cries).
The ghost of classic Dr Feelgood can be heard in 'Put Your Guitar Down' while closing number, 'Rough Rider,' is Status Quo meets blues boogie, Jamie Thyer style.
Jamie Thyer will never win any best vocalist awards nor will his albums ever scare the blues-fuelled bejesus out of the likes of Joe Bonamassa in terms of commercial success or wider acclaim – but that’s not Mr Thyer's musical modus operandi.
Jamie Thyer remains one of the music pub and rock club performers with a straightforward, no nonsense approach and an earthy, musical honesty that puts him at the Dyed Roots of Blues Rock.
I very much doubt he’d want to be anywhere else.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
In that respect Jamie Thyer Meets the Dominators... At the Dyed Roots of Blues Rock doesn’t disappoint, nor surprise.
Album number nine (following in the 2018 tracks of the sleek, short and muscly Cafe Racer) is another fine example of Jamie Thyer’s earthy, raw (but never rough – this is one slick six-stringer) and high-energy blues rock, sprinkled with some Dr Feelgood Pub Rock R&B and George Thorogood styled boogie.
There’s an element of both those artists in opener '3D Jones,' a pacey little rhythm and boogie blues that features the trademark, narrative vocal style of Jamie Thyer and some seriously fast 'n' fiery guitar licks; following number, the short, sharp and gritty 'Might Have Been' is, simply, classic Jamie Thyer.
The guitarist also has a penchant and successful template for instrumentals.
As with Cafe Racer, three feature on Meets the Dominators – 'Frigid Air' (with keyboard accompaniment), allows Jamie Thyer to melodically express before hitting full howling cry while 'Wicked City' flits between spaghetti western themed moments and weightier rock guitar remarks.
The fast fretboard fingered 'Rattletake Snail' takes its lead (guitar riff) from Bobby Parker’s 'Watch Your Step' but if you’re going to borrow or nod to, that’s a pretty damn good 'un to choose.
Elsewhere you’ll find the rumbling bass line and bluesy swagger of 'My Own Company,' the Bo Diddley sounding 'On My Way' (not dissimilar to the great man’s 'Who Do You Love' but in George Thorogood covered clothing) and slow blues album highlight 'Can You Hear' (if there be any doubt that Jamie Thyer can play the blues as well as he can rock the boogie, 'Can You Hear' dispels those doubts in a flurry of tasty six-string cries).
The ghost of classic Dr Feelgood can be heard in 'Put Your Guitar Down' while closing number, 'Rough Rider,' is Status Quo meets blues boogie, Jamie Thyer style.
Jamie Thyer will never win any best vocalist awards nor will his albums ever scare the blues-fuelled bejesus out of the likes of Joe Bonamassa in terms of commercial success or wider acclaim – but that’s not Mr Thyer's musical modus operandi.
Jamie Thyer remains one of the music pub and rock club performers with a straightforward, no nonsense approach and an earthy, musical honesty that puts him at the Dyed Roots of Blues Rock.
I very much doubt he’d want to be anywhere else.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Pat Travers – Swing!
Wait, what? A swing album? From that Pat Travers?
The Boom Boom, Whisky Snortin’, blues rockin’ Patrick Henry Travers who is still Makin’ Magic with the latest line-up of the Pat Travers Band coast to stateside coast?
Yep. And why not.
Given that many a rock musician of an age were brought up on everything from Hendrix and the Beatles to crooners and jazz-swingin’ dance bands it’s not that big a jive-jump from rock and roll to swing (the latter had a transformative part to play in the emergence of the former).
The upshot being that an opportunity to Take the 40s and 50s era ‘A’ Train (and yes, that Duke Ellington classic is on here) to Swingtown was too good to ignore.
Album wise it’s a short and sharp Swing! of eight songs across 32 minutes, making it more of a mini-album, but that doesn’t stop it being one of the more fun releases you’ll hear this year (keeping it musically concise and good times tight also works in its favour).
Opening with a guitar rocking instrumental version of 'Sing Sing Sing' arranged around the iconic Benny Goodman version and Gene Krupa’s rolling tribal drums, the PT rendition of the swing standard then takes a funky Off Beat Ride (nice Putting It Straight touch) before returning to the main theme.
Swing! goes on to do exactly what it says on the tin, through the performance of Pat Travers and band mates, drummer Tommy Craig and bassist David Pastorious (drummer Eddie Metz and upright bass player Tom Franklin are also on rhythm section duty), Michael Franklin on piano and a swinging horn quartet that feature on 'Opus One' (one of the swing-jazz / big band standards), 'Apple Honey' and the aforementioned 'Take the ‘A’ Train.'
It’s probably no surprise that 'In The Mood' also features (in rock and roll swing arrangement) but what is surprising, given the album’s title and raison d'être, is that there’s no sign of 'It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it Ain’t Got That Swing'); if there’s ever any talk of a Swing! 2 project, that has to be first song on the list.
It's also a number that, if fully sassed up, would be a perfect fit for the Pat Travers vocality.
On the subject of vocals Pat Travers steps up to the microphone for 'Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby' (another great vocal fit) and 'Let the Good Times Roll,' the latter sliding close to slow honky-tonk blues territory.
Ending on an instrumental arrangement of the Walter Gross piano number 'Tenderly' (featuring a cool little melodica solo from Michael Franklin and horns on the finale) reflects back to Pat Travers’ back in the day penchant of dropping in an instrumental (the comparison here, in terms of mood setting and sign-off styling, is with 'What You Mean to Me,' which closed out fan favourite album Makin’ Magic).
It also reminds that, whether generating Heat in the Street in the 70s, being a Hot Shot in the 80s or blues rockin’ through the 90s and early millennium, Pat Travers is still swingin’.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Boom Boom, Whisky Snortin’, blues rockin’ Patrick Henry Travers who is still Makin’ Magic with the latest line-up of the Pat Travers Band coast to stateside coast?
Yep. And why not.
Given that many a rock musician of an age were brought up on everything from Hendrix and the Beatles to crooners and jazz-swingin’ dance bands it’s not that big a jive-jump from rock and roll to swing (the latter had a transformative part to play in the emergence of the former).
The upshot being that an opportunity to Take the 40s and 50s era ‘A’ Train (and yes, that Duke Ellington classic is on here) to Swingtown was too good to ignore.
Album wise it’s a short and sharp Swing! of eight songs across 32 minutes, making it more of a mini-album, but that doesn’t stop it being one of the more fun releases you’ll hear this year (keeping it musically concise and good times tight also works in its favour).
Opening with a guitar rocking instrumental version of 'Sing Sing Sing' arranged around the iconic Benny Goodman version and Gene Krupa’s rolling tribal drums, the PT rendition of the swing standard then takes a funky Off Beat Ride (nice Putting It Straight touch) before returning to the main theme.
Swing! goes on to do exactly what it says on the tin, through the performance of Pat Travers and band mates, drummer Tommy Craig and bassist David Pastorious (drummer Eddie Metz and upright bass player Tom Franklin are also on rhythm section duty), Michael Franklin on piano and a swinging horn quartet that feature on 'Opus One' (one of the swing-jazz / big band standards), 'Apple Honey' and the aforementioned 'Take the ‘A’ Train.'
It’s probably no surprise that 'In The Mood' also features (in rock and roll swing arrangement) but what is surprising, given the album’s title and raison d'être, is that there’s no sign of 'It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it Ain’t Got That Swing'); if there’s ever any talk of a Swing! 2 project, that has to be first song on the list.
It's also a number that, if fully sassed up, would be a perfect fit for the Pat Travers vocality.
On the subject of vocals Pat Travers steps up to the microphone for 'Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby' (another great vocal fit) and 'Let the Good Times Roll,' the latter sliding close to slow honky-tonk blues territory.
Ending on an instrumental arrangement of the Walter Gross piano number 'Tenderly' (featuring a cool little melodica solo from Michael Franklin and horns on the finale) reflects back to Pat Travers’ back in the day penchant of dropping in an instrumental (the comparison here, in terms of mood setting and sign-off styling, is with 'What You Mean to Me,' which closed out fan favourite album Makin’ Magic).
It also reminds that, whether generating Heat in the Street in the 70s, being a Hot Shot in the 80s or blues rockin’ through the 90s and early millennium, Pat Travers is still swingin’.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Sean Webster Band – Three Nights Live
It’s been said many times of the best blues players that it’s not just about the notes played but the space between those notes – or an atmospheric spaciousness within the songs that allows the notes to breathe.
The latter remark could also have been written for British blues artist Sean Webster.
Webster’s soul-blues stylings and use of space to create bigger blues pictures can be heard to good effect on studio album’s such as See it Through (2015) and Leave Your Heart at the Door (2017) but they are also captured, in fine extended fashion, on Three Nights Live.
Most of the songs on Three Nights Live (recorded and selected from three shows performed in March 2019) are lifted from the aforementioned studio albums, with Leave Your Heart at the Door offering up the opening brace of 'Give Me the Truth' and 'Hands of Time.'
A soul-crying, mid-tempo "woah-oh" melodic blues with a seriously tasty solo, 'Give Me the Truth' also highlights Sean Webster’s blues-impassioned, Joe Cocker-esque vocal (Webster’s prominent vibrato adds a little something extra to his vocality and delivery).
The slower paced 'Hands of Time' is more about the beat and rhythmic pulse created by drummer Ruud Gielen and bassist Floris Poesse while the organ keys of Hilbrand Bos fill the sound behind two beautifully smooth solos from Sean Webster.
Webster’s penchant for extending and exploring the space in live performance are showcased on the ten and a half minute rendition of John Mayer’s 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,' featuring introductory guitar work that’s as captivating as the highly impacting solos (one of which includes a delightful little burst of Stevie Wonder’s 'Isn’t She Lovely').
The weightier soul-blues of 'Heart Still Bleeds' carries a vocal that’s more forceful than the spray of notes on Sean Webster’s solo (given the "my heart still bleeds for you" love lost lyric that’s perhaps no surprise) while 'Hear Me Now' and 'Don’t Feel the Same' are the slow blues heartache moments of the album.
Both feature highly emotive solos from Webster.
The brooding blues-rock of 'The Mayor' adds a little mid-tempo muscle to proceedings before Keith Urban’s
''Til Summer Comes Around' takes centre stage.
At nearly twice its Leave Your Heart at the Door studio length, with extended introduction and a melodically charged closing guitar solo, ''Til Summer Comes Around' is such a good fit for Sean Webster you’re double checking to make sure he didn’t actually write it.
Main set closer, the funky and grooving 'Highway Man,' rides out for nine and a half minutes before encore number 'You Got To Know,' which swings as much as it shuffles, brings the album to a fitting close.
It’s also fitting that, for a set of songs where the space is as important as the notes, Wayne Proctor’s House of Tone mix (from Andy Banfield’s well engineered recordings) is a clear and uncluttered affair that lends itself perfectly to the instrumentation, performance and the consummate player that Sean Webster is.
Three Nights Live, delivering one seventy-three minute, ten song album of soulful Sean Webster blues quality.
And that all important space for the notes to breathe.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The latter remark could also have been written for British blues artist Sean Webster.
Webster’s soul-blues stylings and use of space to create bigger blues pictures can be heard to good effect on studio album’s such as See it Through (2015) and Leave Your Heart at the Door (2017) but they are also captured, in fine extended fashion, on Three Nights Live.
Most of the songs on Three Nights Live (recorded and selected from three shows performed in March 2019) are lifted from the aforementioned studio albums, with Leave Your Heart at the Door offering up the opening brace of 'Give Me the Truth' and 'Hands of Time.'
A soul-crying, mid-tempo "woah-oh" melodic blues with a seriously tasty solo, 'Give Me the Truth' also highlights Sean Webster’s blues-impassioned, Joe Cocker-esque vocal (Webster’s prominent vibrato adds a little something extra to his vocality and delivery).
The slower paced 'Hands of Time' is more about the beat and rhythmic pulse created by drummer Ruud Gielen and bassist Floris Poesse while the organ keys of Hilbrand Bos fill the sound behind two beautifully smooth solos from Sean Webster.
Webster’s penchant for extending and exploring the space in live performance are showcased on the ten and a half minute rendition of John Mayer’s 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,' featuring introductory guitar work that’s as captivating as the highly impacting solos (one of which includes a delightful little burst of Stevie Wonder’s 'Isn’t She Lovely').
The weightier soul-blues of 'Heart Still Bleeds' carries a vocal that’s more forceful than the spray of notes on Sean Webster’s solo (given the "my heart still bleeds for you" love lost lyric that’s perhaps no surprise) while 'Hear Me Now' and 'Don’t Feel the Same' are the slow blues heartache moments of the album.
Both feature highly emotive solos from Webster.
The brooding blues-rock of 'The Mayor' adds a little mid-tempo muscle to proceedings before Keith Urban’s
''Til Summer Comes Around' takes centre stage.
At nearly twice its Leave Your Heart at the Door studio length, with extended introduction and a melodically charged closing guitar solo, ''Til Summer Comes Around' is such a good fit for Sean Webster you’re double checking to make sure he didn’t actually write it.
Main set closer, the funky and grooving 'Highway Man,' rides out for nine and a half minutes before encore number 'You Got To Know,' which swings as much as it shuffles, brings the album to a fitting close.
It’s also fitting that, for a set of songs where the space is as important as the notes, Wayne Proctor’s House of Tone mix (from Andy Banfield’s well engineered recordings) is a clear and uncluttered affair that lends itself perfectly to the instrumentation, performance and the consummate player that Sean Webster is.
Three Nights Live, delivering one seventy-three minute, ten song album of soulful Sean Webster blues quality.
And that all important space for the notes to breathe.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones
Should there be any "who’s Hannah Wicklund and what is she musically about?" questions still to answer in the UK and Europe (the South Carolina born and blues rockin' singer-guitarist’s place of business up until 2019 has, primarily, been Stateside) they are answered emphatically through 'Bomb Through the Breeze,' opening number of the self-titled, third album by Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones.
Weighty, swaggering, bruising and bluesy (with a 70s rooted vibe, crying wah guitar and a Zeppelin-esque middle eight) 'Bomb Through the Breeze,' led by Hannah Wicklund’s big belt of a voice, stakes a claim as the ear catching, take notice and grab a gig ticket statement of 2019.
Or at least it does in old Blighty; the album had its US release in 2018 but is now seeing the light of day in the UK to dovetail with the move by Hannah Wicklund and her Steppin Stones rhythm partners, Julian Dorio (drums) and Reno Bo (bass), to grab a foothold in the UK and European blues rock circuits in 2019 (her first foray and only second trip, respectively).
But Hannah Wicklund, whose influences range from Hendrix, Joplin and the blues to Tom Petty, Neil Young and 80s guitar rock, is not all about the breezy bombast of the opening track.
The musical spaciousness and lyrical loneliness of 'Ghost' is a bluesier Stevie Nicks; following number, the melodic blues 'Looking Glass,' is one of Hannah Wicklund's strongest and earliest, songs.
Originally the title track of the 2014 debut album, 'Looking Glass,' much like Hannah Wicklund, has musically matured over the last few years; it mixes and matches Nashville blues and organ keyboard swells with 70s rock and a lyrically impacting, hook chorus ("we all get our point of view from the looking glass, we look through but your lens is cracked – and it’s bleeding shades of blue").
There's also a reprise for the catchy, and ever-so-slightly reggae tinged 'Mama Said,' which featured on 2015 album Steppin Stones, featuring here in similar, repeating chorus refrain but with a fuller and bigger sound.
(Producer Sadler Vaden, guitarist with Jason Isbell and The 400 unit, has brought a real sonic vibrancy to proceedings, much as the band deliver live and heard to fine effect on their Audiotree Live EP, recorded and released earlier in the year).
'On the Road' is funky, rocking affair (with some equally funky bass lines from Reno Bo weaving between Julian Doro’s percussive rhythm) while 'Crushin' has a 60s psychedelic blues-rock trio vibe about it.
Slow burn, build to big finish number 'Strawberry Moon' (which blends flavours of Nashville blues and heavy Americana) allows Hannah Wicklund to vocally give it plenty before complementary contrast is provided by nifty riffed rocker, 'Too Close to You.'
Hannah Wicklund then gets her Joplin on for the slow and purposeful 'Meet You Again.'
It's also one of many songs on the album that makes it hard to vocally and musically grasp Hannah Wicklund is still only in her early twenties; but then we are talking guitar and vocal prodigy, young Miss Wicklund having formed the first version of the band when she was eight years old (yep, eight).
Closing out with delicate acoustic number 'Shadow Boxes and Porcelain Faces' (lyrically influenced by those who spend a disproportionate amount of their lives with a screen in front of their eyes; Hannah Wicklund giving herself a detox from screen-addiction during a recent trip to Cuba) Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones is a shimmering and shaking release from a shimmerin' and shakin' band.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Weighty, swaggering, bruising and bluesy (with a 70s rooted vibe, crying wah guitar and a Zeppelin-esque middle eight) 'Bomb Through the Breeze,' led by Hannah Wicklund’s big belt of a voice, stakes a claim as the ear catching, take notice and grab a gig ticket statement of 2019.
Or at least it does in old Blighty; the album had its US release in 2018 but is now seeing the light of day in the UK to dovetail with the move by Hannah Wicklund and her Steppin Stones rhythm partners, Julian Dorio (drums) and Reno Bo (bass), to grab a foothold in the UK and European blues rock circuits in 2019 (her first foray and only second trip, respectively).
But Hannah Wicklund, whose influences range from Hendrix, Joplin and the blues to Tom Petty, Neil Young and 80s guitar rock, is not all about the breezy bombast of the opening track.
The musical spaciousness and lyrical loneliness of 'Ghost' is a bluesier Stevie Nicks; following number, the melodic blues 'Looking Glass,' is one of Hannah Wicklund's strongest and earliest, songs.
Originally the title track of the 2014 debut album, 'Looking Glass,' much like Hannah Wicklund, has musically matured over the last few years; it mixes and matches Nashville blues and organ keyboard swells with 70s rock and a lyrically impacting, hook chorus ("we all get our point of view from the looking glass, we look through but your lens is cracked – and it’s bleeding shades of blue").
There's also a reprise for the catchy, and ever-so-slightly reggae tinged 'Mama Said,' which featured on 2015 album Steppin Stones, featuring here in similar, repeating chorus refrain but with a fuller and bigger sound.
(Producer Sadler Vaden, guitarist with Jason Isbell and The 400 unit, has brought a real sonic vibrancy to proceedings, much as the band deliver live and heard to fine effect on their Audiotree Live EP, recorded and released earlier in the year).
'On the Road' is funky, rocking affair (with some equally funky bass lines from Reno Bo weaving between Julian Doro’s percussive rhythm) while 'Crushin' has a 60s psychedelic blues-rock trio vibe about it.
Slow burn, build to big finish number 'Strawberry Moon' (which blends flavours of Nashville blues and heavy Americana) allows Hannah Wicklund to vocally give it plenty before complementary contrast is provided by nifty riffed rocker, 'Too Close to You.'
Hannah Wicklund then gets her Joplin on for the slow and purposeful 'Meet You Again.'
It's also one of many songs on the album that makes it hard to vocally and musically grasp Hannah Wicklund is still only in her early twenties; but then we are talking guitar and vocal prodigy, young Miss Wicklund having formed the first version of the band when she was eight years old (yep, eight).
Closing out with delicate acoustic number 'Shadow Boxes and Porcelain Faces' (lyrically influenced by those who spend a disproportionate amount of their lives with a screen in front of their eyes; Hannah Wicklund giving herself a detox from screen-addiction during a recent trip to Cuba) Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones is a shimmering and shaking release from a shimmerin' and shakin' band.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Wille & The Bandits – Paths
Cornwall based trio Wille & The Bandits, who mix 60s and 70s blues rock with more modern grooves and tribal percussion have, due to all the aforementioned, created a distinct and ear catching sound as heard to good effect on releases such as previous studio album Steal and 2018’s live album, Living Free.
But Paths is a serious step up from all previous endeavours. Not only does it feature their strongest set of songs to date, it manages to capture every facet of the band, including their live energy.
And there’s a lot to capture – singer and guitarist Wille Edwards is also an impressive lap steel and bottleneck slide player; six-string bassist and backing vocalist Matt Brooks is equally adept on double bass, cello and string arrangements; drummer and backing vocalist Andrew Naumann brings tribal rhythms to blues Bandit territory through a liberal use of percussion including tongue drum, djembe, hang drum and udu.
Opening track 'One Way' makes a statement both musically and lyrically.
A foot-stomping slice of bottleneck guitar blues, the lyric questions the west’s current propaganda and policies while giving a name-check nod (Mandela Ghandi, Tutu) to those who advocated the "one way" of peace.
The band’s retro style is shown to full effect on the big groove and funky guitar and bass lines of 'Make Love,' featuring guitars recorded using 1950’s valve amps and vocals recorded through a tape machine.
Another string to the band’s bow is fired via 'Victim of the Night,' a bluesy AOR affair that includes sweeping Hammond, a tasty solo from Wille Edwards and guest vocalist Alex Hart giving it large on the outro.
The band can also dial it down while retaining their distinct and stylised musicality – 'Four Million Days' intros with cello and acoustic guitar before building to a string backed, Floyd-esque atmosphere that features an impressive vocal (and sweetly crying lap steel solo) from Wille Edwards.
The importance of the natural world is then emphasised through the natural tribal rhythms of 'Chakra,' with Wille Edwards once again on lap steel (Edwards' talents on his electric Weissenborn have become part of the band’s signature sound).
Funky, hip hop rap blues meets bottleneck guitar on 'Keep it on the Down-low' before a soul bluesy 'Judgement Day' (inspired by the TV series The Wire) comes calling.
The spacious but sonically weighty 'How Long,' written and recorded in vocal and musical tribute to Chris Cornell, takes on the difficult topic of mental health and depression before 'Find My Way' cranks up the fuzzed guitar and blues rock amps; the latter is creatively tempered by a short bridge that features Wille Edwards’ space echoed dobro floating over Matt Brooks’ bass line and Andrew Naumann’s tribal percussion.
'Watch You Grow,' a rhythmic, mellow pop-blues to the joys and trials of parenthood, features a clever and interesting combination of tongue drum and lap slide over repeating bass line.
Album closer 'Retribution,' a southern affected rock ballad that has the trio getting their Skynyrd on for the pacier, lap-slide in full cry second half, thematically bookends with opener 'How Long;' here the lyric bemoans how government and people in power are more content to maximise profit than protect the planet.
Previous "on tour with" credentials (Deep Purple, Joe Bonamassa, Status Quo, the Jon Butler Trio, Warren Haynes) and some seriously noteworthy appearances (including Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and the London Olympics) testify to Wille & The Bandits being one of the most entertaining and musically diverse blues bands out there.
Further, the Paths now laid by Messrs Edwards, Brooks and Naumann should lead to these blues Bandits paving their way to further success.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But Paths is a serious step up from all previous endeavours. Not only does it feature their strongest set of songs to date, it manages to capture every facet of the band, including their live energy.
And there’s a lot to capture – singer and guitarist Wille Edwards is also an impressive lap steel and bottleneck slide player; six-string bassist and backing vocalist Matt Brooks is equally adept on double bass, cello and string arrangements; drummer and backing vocalist Andrew Naumann brings tribal rhythms to blues Bandit territory through a liberal use of percussion including tongue drum, djembe, hang drum and udu.
Opening track 'One Way' makes a statement both musically and lyrically.
A foot-stomping slice of bottleneck guitar blues, the lyric questions the west’s current propaganda and policies while giving a name-check nod (Mandela Ghandi, Tutu) to those who advocated the "one way" of peace.
The band’s retro style is shown to full effect on the big groove and funky guitar and bass lines of 'Make Love,' featuring guitars recorded using 1950’s valve amps and vocals recorded through a tape machine.
Another string to the band’s bow is fired via 'Victim of the Night,' a bluesy AOR affair that includes sweeping Hammond, a tasty solo from Wille Edwards and guest vocalist Alex Hart giving it large on the outro.
The band can also dial it down while retaining their distinct and stylised musicality – 'Four Million Days' intros with cello and acoustic guitar before building to a string backed, Floyd-esque atmosphere that features an impressive vocal (and sweetly crying lap steel solo) from Wille Edwards.
The importance of the natural world is then emphasised through the natural tribal rhythms of 'Chakra,' with Wille Edwards once again on lap steel (Edwards' talents on his electric Weissenborn have become part of the band’s signature sound).
Funky, hip hop rap blues meets bottleneck guitar on 'Keep it on the Down-low' before a soul bluesy 'Judgement Day' (inspired by the TV series The Wire) comes calling.
The spacious but sonically weighty 'How Long,' written and recorded in vocal and musical tribute to Chris Cornell, takes on the difficult topic of mental health and depression before 'Find My Way' cranks up the fuzzed guitar and blues rock amps; the latter is creatively tempered by a short bridge that features Wille Edwards’ space echoed dobro floating over Matt Brooks’ bass line and Andrew Naumann’s tribal percussion.
'Watch You Grow,' a rhythmic, mellow pop-blues to the joys and trials of parenthood, features a clever and interesting combination of tongue drum and lap slide over repeating bass line.
Album closer 'Retribution,' a southern affected rock ballad that has the trio getting their Skynyrd on for the pacier, lap-slide in full cry second half, thematically bookends with opener 'How Long;' here the lyric bemoans how government and people in power are more content to maximise profit than protect the planet.
Previous "on tour with" credentials (Deep Purple, Joe Bonamassa, Status Quo, the Jon Butler Trio, Warren Haynes) and some seriously noteworthy appearances (including Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and the London Olympics) testify to Wille & The Bandits being one of the most entertaining and musically diverse blues bands out there.
Further, the Paths now laid by Messrs Edwards, Brooks and Naumann should lead to these blues Bandits paving their way to further success.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Chris Wragg & Greg Copeland – Deep in the Blood
Whether through right place right time luck, sit-in invites or meeting of musical minds there’s a few partnerships paying dividends in the British blues rock scene in 2019.
Big Wolf Band’s second album, Be Free, featuring the soul-sassed voice of Zoe Green is quite the dynamic dovetailing.
Exuberant and noted six-stringer Innes Sibun’s hook-up with singer-guitarist Marcus Malone (who have caught serious attention through a slew of Malone Sibun Band gigs) should reap similarly strong rewards when the forthcoming debut album is released.
Ann now Chris Wragg and Greg Copeland with their album Deep in the Blood.
That "British blues rock scene" tag is more a reference to where the aforementioned acts ply the majority of their trade than it is homeland accuracy, in a couple of cases – The UK based Marcus Malone is Detroit born while German based American singer Greg Copeland has made himself a fixture of the European blues scene through live performance and albums such as the recently released Brown-Eyed Handsome Man.
Now, with guitarist and songwriter Chris Wragg (of Mudcats Blues Trio fame and who penned eleven of the twelve songs on Deep in the Blood) Greg Copeland should make a bigger British blues mark.
Or at least will if there’s any justice because Deep in the Blood isn’t just well named (blues is in the DNA of both musicians – Copeland through deep voiced empathy with the cryin’ blues of post-war and 50s America; Wragg through a love for, and the influences of, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan) it’s also an outstanding blues album.
Opening with 'Howlin' for Your Love,' a song that does just that through its obvious homage to one Chester Arthur Burnett, Greg Copeland’s 'Smokestack' styled howls and some tasty harmonica from guest player Marcos Coll, Deep in the Blood goes on to deliver as authentic and well-crafted an old-school blues showcase as you’ll hear this year, from following number 'Five Long Years' (Eddie Boyd’s oft-covered post-war blues standard is a great fit for Wragg’s blues sensibilities and Copeland’s impassioned delivery) through to short, acoustically arranged album closer, 'Trouble.'
Other highlights include Chris Wragg’s blistering blues licks on the brooding 12 Bar 'I’ll Cut You Down,' the B.B. King inspired 'If You Ever Leave Me' which, fittingly, features B.B. King’s daughter Shirley King sharing vocals with Greg Copeland (King also features on the Gospel grooving 'House of Prayer') and the simply arranged but absolutely captivating 'My Home is the Horizon.'
The latter number will have you not only scurrying to see if the pair have uncovered a previously unreleased Deep South/ Muddy Waters gem but looking for somewhere you can vote this in as Best Blues Vocal of the Year.
Backed by a tight and uncluttered rhythm section of Rufus Lockwood (drums) and Marty Johnson (bass), some well-placed Hammond and saxophone from Joel White and Saxbob Swift respectively and a guest appearance from Greg Guy (the son of Buddy Guy trades six-string licks with Chris Wragg on funky blues instrumental 'Soho Shakedown'), Messrs Wragg & Copeland have delivered a work that’s deep in the blood, sweat and tears of the blues.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Big Wolf Band’s second album, Be Free, featuring the soul-sassed voice of Zoe Green is quite the dynamic dovetailing.
Exuberant and noted six-stringer Innes Sibun’s hook-up with singer-guitarist Marcus Malone (who have caught serious attention through a slew of Malone Sibun Band gigs) should reap similarly strong rewards when the forthcoming debut album is released.
Ann now Chris Wragg and Greg Copeland with their album Deep in the Blood.
That "British blues rock scene" tag is more a reference to where the aforementioned acts ply the majority of their trade than it is homeland accuracy, in a couple of cases – The UK based Marcus Malone is Detroit born while German based American singer Greg Copeland has made himself a fixture of the European blues scene through live performance and albums such as the recently released Brown-Eyed Handsome Man.
Now, with guitarist and songwriter Chris Wragg (of Mudcats Blues Trio fame and who penned eleven of the twelve songs on Deep in the Blood) Greg Copeland should make a bigger British blues mark.
Or at least will if there’s any justice because Deep in the Blood isn’t just well named (blues is in the DNA of both musicians – Copeland through deep voiced empathy with the cryin’ blues of post-war and 50s America; Wragg through a love for, and the influences of, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan) it’s also an outstanding blues album.
Opening with 'Howlin' for Your Love,' a song that does just that through its obvious homage to one Chester Arthur Burnett, Greg Copeland’s 'Smokestack' styled howls and some tasty harmonica from guest player Marcos Coll, Deep in the Blood goes on to deliver as authentic and well-crafted an old-school blues showcase as you’ll hear this year, from following number 'Five Long Years' (Eddie Boyd’s oft-covered post-war blues standard is a great fit for Wragg’s blues sensibilities and Copeland’s impassioned delivery) through to short, acoustically arranged album closer, 'Trouble.'
Other highlights include Chris Wragg’s blistering blues licks on the brooding 12 Bar 'I’ll Cut You Down,' the B.B. King inspired 'If You Ever Leave Me' which, fittingly, features B.B. King’s daughter Shirley King sharing vocals with Greg Copeland (King also features on the Gospel grooving 'House of Prayer') and the simply arranged but absolutely captivating 'My Home is the Horizon.'
The latter number will have you not only scurrying to see if the pair have uncovered a previously unreleased Deep South/ Muddy Waters gem but looking for somewhere you can vote this in as Best Blues Vocal of the Year.
Backed by a tight and uncluttered rhythm section of Rufus Lockwood (drums) and Marty Johnson (bass), some well-placed Hammond and saxophone from Joel White and Saxbob Swift respectively and a guest appearance from Greg Guy (the son of Buddy Guy trades six-string licks with Chris Wragg on funky blues instrumental 'Soho Shakedown'), Messrs Wragg & Copeland have delivered a work that’s deep in the blood, sweat and tears of the blues.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Mike Zito & Friends – Rock 'n' Roll: A tribute to Chuck Berry
It would be easy to see and hear Rock ‘n’ Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry as yet another insert-name-of-artist here in tribute to insert-name-of-legend here with a host of said artist’s mates, but what sets this particular Tribute To album apart is Mike Zito’s honest and obvious enthusiasm for such a project.
In other words what we have here is an album Mike Zito wanted to make rather than needed to make (work with the Royal Southern Brotherhood and acclaimed solo albums such as #1 Billboard Blues Chart brace Make Blues Not War and First Class Life are proof the highly respected musician and producer doesn’t need to be doing cover albums unless it’s for the genuine love of it).
Mike Zito is also one of the many musicians to be heavily influenced by Chuck Berry; he also lived in Berry’s hometown of St Louis for thirty-two years (by the time he hit his late teens was part of the city’s music scene).
That he would choose to pay and play tribute the pioneering rock 'n' roller’s work at some point is therefore a no brainer; that he would do it with so much zeal and fun is the added bonus.
The & Friends side of the project came by way of Mike Zito (vocals, guitar) and his recording band of Matthew Johnson (drums, percussion, vocals), Terry Dry (bass, percussion, vocals) and Lewis Stephens (piano, organ, Wurlitzer) laying down the tracks in the studio before sending them out to a host of notable guest players.
That being the case you're no doubt already asking yourself, "right, what songs do Joe Bonamassa and Walter Trout feature on, then?" The answer to which is a classy take of slow blues number 'Wee Wee Hours' (Bonamassa) and Berry’s iconic rock 'n' roll song, 'Johnny B Goode' (Trout).
They are far from the only big name musicians to contribute however – Sonny Landreth brings some slick slide to 'Havana Moon;' 'Down Bound Train,' featuring Alex Skolnick, is given a more contemporary makeover; 'You Never Can Tell,' 'Back in the USA' and 'Promised Land' feature the redoubtable talents of Robben Ford, the excellent Tinsley Ellis and the smooth, six-string remarks of Eric Gales, respectively.
You’ll also find a fine rendition of 'St. Louis Blues' featuring Chuck Berry’s grandson, Charlie Berry III, along with a clutch of classic Berry cuts including 'No Particular Place to Go' (feat. Jeremiah Johnson), 'Too Much Monkey Business' (feat. Luther Dickinson), 'Maybellene' (feat. Richard Fortus) and 'Thirty Days,' the latter featuring raw blues specialist Albert Castiglia (Mike Zito produced, and features on, Castiglia’s latest album, Masterpiece).
The one failing, given the rock and roll heritage of the songs on display, is the inclusion of Dave Bartholomew’s 'My Ding-a-Ling.'
Chuck Berry’s cover of the novelty-song may have been a massive school kids sniggering hit back in 1972 but the funny-the-first-time-but-that’s-about-it number has no place in such stellar rock and roll company.
Fortunately every other song, and Mike Zito, does.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
In other words what we have here is an album Mike Zito wanted to make rather than needed to make (work with the Royal Southern Brotherhood and acclaimed solo albums such as #1 Billboard Blues Chart brace Make Blues Not War and First Class Life are proof the highly respected musician and producer doesn’t need to be doing cover albums unless it’s for the genuine love of it).
Mike Zito is also one of the many musicians to be heavily influenced by Chuck Berry; he also lived in Berry’s hometown of St Louis for thirty-two years (by the time he hit his late teens was part of the city’s music scene).
That he would choose to pay and play tribute the pioneering rock 'n' roller’s work at some point is therefore a no brainer; that he would do it with so much zeal and fun is the added bonus.
The & Friends side of the project came by way of Mike Zito (vocals, guitar) and his recording band of Matthew Johnson (drums, percussion, vocals), Terry Dry (bass, percussion, vocals) and Lewis Stephens (piano, organ, Wurlitzer) laying down the tracks in the studio before sending them out to a host of notable guest players.
That being the case you're no doubt already asking yourself, "right, what songs do Joe Bonamassa and Walter Trout feature on, then?" The answer to which is a classy take of slow blues number 'Wee Wee Hours' (Bonamassa) and Berry’s iconic rock 'n' roll song, 'Johnny B Goode' (Trout).
They are far from the only big name musicians to contribute however – Sonny Landreth brings some slick slide to 'Havana Moon;' 'Down Bound Train,' featuring Alex Skolnick, is given a more contemporary makeover; 'You Never Can Tell,' 'Back in the USA' and 'Promised Land' feature the redoubtable talents of Robben Ford, the excellent Tinsley Ellis and the smooth, six-string remarks of Eric Gales, respectively.
You’ll also find a fine rendition of 'St. Louis Blues' featuring Chuck Berry’s grandson, Charlie Berry III, along with a clutch of classic Berry cuts including 'No Particular Place to Go' (feat. Jeremiah Johnson), 'Too Much Monkey Business' (feat. Luther Dickinson), 'Maybellene' (feat. Richard Fortus) and 'Thirty Days,' the latter featuring raw blues specialist Albert Castiglia (Mike Zito produced, and features on, Castiglia’s latest album, Masterpiece).
The one failing, given the rock and roll heritage of the songs on display, is the inclusion of Dave Bartholomew’s 'My Ding-a-Ling.'
Chuck Berry’s cover of the novelty-song may have been a massive school kids sniggering hit back in 1972 but the funny-the-first-time-but-that’s-about-it number has no place in such stellar rock and roll company.
Fortunately every other song, and Mike Zito, does.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
ZZM – 2008-2018
If you manage to capture elements of Celtic, blues rock, folk, world and even classical (the latter in terms of compositional arrangement) in your guitar-led instrumental work you’ve clearly got compositional skills but also, probably, a very small piece of the musical pie, given that the wider and popular music audiences tend to want their music accessible, suitably labelled, genre specific or to come with a "sounds like…" guarantee.
ZZM (aka guitarist - composer - producer ZiZi Martins) spent a number of musically productive years in Ireland; his time in the Emerald Isle included the release of his Celtic influenced and Irish award winning (Best Composer/ Soundtrack) Mad Hatter EP in 2012.
The following year’s mini-album 333 was both an extension of the EP (it was released under the name Mad Hatter) and a release that ticked more of those Rock Guitar meets World Music boxes.
Working as both a chronological best of and an excellent introduction to the instrumental stylings of ZiZi Martins comes 2008-2019, a a concise compilation of nine tracks running to just over thirty minutes total time
(and hot favourite for simplest/ sparsest album cover of 2019).
The intentional less is more approach, however, allows each track to stand on its own instrumental feet.
The Mad Hatter tracks featured, the Iberian flavoured 'Eagle Fly' (the Benfica football team's "Eagle Flight" anthem and Golden Lion award winner at the Cannes Film Festival) and Irish / Celtic themed 'Evolet,' are both under two-and-a-half minutes; the four tracks lifted from 333 (the folk-jazz styled title track, the funkier 'Eriu,' the eerie Christmas tidings of 'Nollaig' and quirky, folk-jaunt nod to mythical Irish hero 'Cu Chulainn') average out at four minutes apiece.
Newer numbers, the harder edged rock instrumental 'ZiZi’s Wolf' and 'Love’s Soft Voice' (a Native American rhythmic narrative featuring the voice of Georgia Paris) also feature, as does recent single 'The Loup-Garou.'
The latter, which opens and closes with a discernible howl either side of the darker Celtic rhythm that sits behind the guitar melody (all of which fit the title if you know the connotation and / or myth-belief favoured by many a French Canadian or Louisiana Cajun) makes for a fine finish.
Part experimentalist (ZiZi Martins loves (and continues to learn from) music theory but clearly also loves to push those theoretical boundaries), part composer (a Graduate of Music Composition) and part guitar instrumentalist (and a very good one), ZiZi Martins may be destined never to have a larger slice of that musical pie (he has however played around the world and made many a live TV appearance).
But he’s certainly got one of the more satisfying pieces.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Listen to and purchase the album here: zzmartins.bandcamp.com/album/2008-2018
ZZM (aka guitarist - composer - producer ZiZi Martins) spent a number of musically productive years in Ireland; his time in the Emerald Isle included the release of his Celtic influenced and Irish award winning (Best Composer/ Soundtrack) Mad Hatter EP in 2012.
The following year’s mini-album 333 was both an extension of the EP (it was released under the name Mad Hatter) and a release that ticked more of those Rock Guitar meets World Music boxes.
Working as both a chronological best of and an excellent introduction to the instrumental stylings of ZiZi Martins comes 2008-2019, a a concise compilation of nine tracks running to just over thirty minutes total time
(and hot favourite for simplest/ sparsest album cover of 2019).
The intentional less is more approach, however, allows each track to stand on its own instrumental feet.
The Mad Hatter tracks featured, the Iberian flavoured 'Eagle Fly' (the Benfica football team's "Eagle Flight" anthem and Golden Lion award winner at the Cannes Film Festival) and Irish / Celtic themed 'Evolet,' are both under two-and-a-half minutes; the four tracks lifted from 333 (the folk-jazz styled title track, the funkier 'Eriu,' the eerie Christmas tidings of 'Nollaig' and quirky, folk-jaunt nod to mythical Irish hero 'Cu Chulainn') average out at four minutes apiece.
Newer numbers, the harder edged rock instrumental 'ZiZi’s Wolf' and 'Love’s Soft Voice' (a Native American rhythmic narrative featuring the voice of Georgia Paris) also feature, as does recent single 'The Loup-Garou.'
The latter, which opens and closes with a discernible howl either side of the darker Celtic rhythm that sits behind the guitar melody (all of which fit the title if you know the connotation and / or myth-belief favoured by many a French Canadian or Louisiana Cajun) makes for a fine finish.
Part experimentalist (ZiZi Martins loves (and continues to learn from) music theory but clearly also loves to push those theoretical boundaries), part composer (a Graduate of Music Composition) and part guitar instrumentalist (and a very good one), ZiZi Martins may be destined never to have a larger slice of that musical pie (he has however played around the world and made many a live TV appearance).
But he’s certainly got one of the more satisfying pieces.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Listen to and purchase the album here: zzmartins.bandcamp.com/album/2008-2018