Monday, February 17, 2025
Archive Review: Various Artists - Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary box set (1995)
By the time my short stint in the military had ended, mid-decade, rap was beginning to make waves in even the timid capital of country music and I was a big fan. “Big City” friends made during basic training turned me onto a whole slew of artists. About this same time, 1985 or so, Rick Rubin, along with local N.Y.C. music promoter Russell Simmons, formed Def Jam Records in order to promote their favorite rappers. A handful of successful single releases led to a distribution deal with Columbia Records. What has happened in the ten years since is a major part of rap and rock history.
Def Jam’s first national release was from James Todd Smith, a personable seventeen year old rapper with the street name LL Cool J. Hailing from Run DMC’s hometown of Hollis, Queens, Smith was part of Simmons’ Rush Productions stable of artists. LL Cool J’s “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” was an enormous success, the first major rap song to break through to a mainstream audience and the foundation upon which Def Jam’s success would be built, the label becoming a major music industry player and one of a handful of indie labels to bring rap to the mainstream masses.
The Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary collection chronicles the label’s history, culling material from throughout their decade of hits. The artists represented on the disc have helped shape rap into the commercial and critical force that it is today, stretching the genre’s musical boundaries, influencing subsequent generations of rappers and retaining rap’s popularity in the face of the ever-changing nature of popular music. The collection draws heavily from the works of its most popular and successful artists, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys, stretching 28 cuts from the trio across the 59-song, four CD collection. Other performers featured include Slick Rick, 3rd Bass, Onyx, EPMD, and Method Man, among others.
Some powerful moments from the history of rap are gathered together on the Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary set. LL Cool J’s hits “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” and “Rock the Bells” are joined with influential, ground-breaking cuts like Public Enemy’s “Welcome To the Terrordome,” “Bring Tha Noize” (with Anthrax), and “Fight the Power.” The Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party,” along with its accompanying video, made the trio MTV favorites and successfully crossed hip-hop lyrics and style with punk attitude and a heavy metal soundtrack. More than just a mere rap label, Def Jam has also spawned hits from more soulful, R & B oriented artists like Montell Jordan, Warren G. and Oran “Juice” Jones, all of whom are also represented here.
With almost five dozen songs and over four hours of classic music (including a handful of bonus tracks recorded in 1995 exclusively for this collection), Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary is a marvelous document of the label’s history, and quite deserving of space on the shelf of any music lover or fan of rap. (While you’re out buying this set, you may want to drop by a bookstore and seek out a copy of Havelock Nelson and Michael A. Gonzales’ Bring The Noise, an integral guide to rap and hip-hop music that covers many of the Def Jam artists in depth). (Def Jam Records, released November 21st, 1995)
Review originally published by R.A.D! Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll zine
Friday, February 14, 2025
Archive Review: The Cocktail Slippers’ Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre (2009)
This is the critical and commercial environment that welcomes Norway’s Cocktail Slippers, a five-woman band of Scandinavian bad girls, unabashed rockers all with hearts of gold. Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, the band’s sophomore effort, is a modern-day classic of garage-pop goodness, evoking memories of both the raging femininity of Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes as well as the snarling tomboy, take-no-shit attitude of Joan Jett’s best solo work.
The band members collectively write a fair rockin’ song, sweeter than the Donnas, punkier than the Eyeliners, and tunes like “You Do Run,” with their vocal harmonies and whipsmart lyricism, slashes of manic guitar and explosive drumbeats, pay homage to 40+ years of girl-group history. “Gotta Crush” is a delightful throwback to a simpler era, with engaging harmonies, a simple but universal plotline, and overwhelmingly beautiful wall-o-sound production. “Round & Round” rocks harder, with a punkish intensity, roaring riff-heavy guitars, and guttercrash drumbeats.
The best bet on Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, however, is the title track. Penned by producer Little Steven (Van Zandt), the song’s combination of ‘60s pop vulnerability and leather jacket tuffness is bolstered by delicious vocals and harmonies, a haunting melody, swells of genius keyboards, and a broken-hearted lyrical undercurrent that will have you reminiscing about your first love. If there was even a shred of justice in this cold, cold world then this song would be a mondo-huge radio hit, the album would sell multiple truckloads, and the Cocktail Slippers would be the toast of the town. (Wicked Cool Records, released March 21st, 2009)
Review originally published by Blurt magazine
Buy the CD from Amazon: The Cocktail Slipper’s Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre
Monday, February 10, 2025
Archive Review: Disappear Fear's Deep Soul Diver & Live At The Bottom Line (1995)
Subsequently, in the September 1993 issue of R.A.D!, this humble scribe wrote of Disappear Fear’s self-produced Live At The Bottom Line disc: “this incredibly talented duo move miles beyond the folk-influenced singer/songwriter vein in introducing songs that are as intense, personal and damn beautiful as any this critic as ever heard.” I continued to wax effusive about the duo of Cindy Frank and Sonia Rutstein: “songwriter Sonia’s Byronesque lyrics speak to the romantic hidden in every listener, masterfully describing the longings of the heart.” After quoting a few of Rutstein’s wonderful lyrics, I closed the review by saying “these songs present classic observations on love and relationships from a charismatic duo who, hopefully, have a lengthy and successful career in store for them.”
After listening to Philo/Rounder’s reissue of the album, with songs recorded in 1990 and 1991, as well as the previously unavailable track “Long Long Way To Go,” I stand by what I previously wrote and gladly add to my praise of Disappear Fear. They are an immensely talented pair, bringing to their material an intelligence and sensitivity that surpasses even the usual high standard for the folk / rock genre. Philo picked up the band a year or so ago, releasing an equally excellent new collection of tunes titled simply Disappear Fear. Just a few months ago the label reissued Live At The Bottom Line and the duo’s impressive 1989 debut album, Deep Soul Diver. Few of the songs from Deep Soul Diver are revisited on the live disc, allowing the material on this debut to stand on its own. The disc is an artistic triumph, the accumulation of years of songwriting and performing. Frank and Rutstein sound incredibly mature for a recorded debut, their beautiful harmonies and casual performances belying their tender ages.
I was lucky enough to see Disappear Fear play last summer at Nashville’s annual Summer Lights Festival, where I witnessed a phenomena I’ve seen only a few times during this critic’s existence. The duo drew an enormous crowd, exceptional, really, considering that they were one of a handful of out-of-town acts among the hundred or so scheduled performers on several outdoor stages. Quite a few members of the audience obviously had been following the band from town to town on their tour, and more than a few folks knew enough about the band and their material (only one album in print at this time, you must remember) to sing along with the pair’s electric performance. Disappear Fear rocked downtown Nashville that night, reaffirming what I had written almost a full year earlier: they definitely have a lengthy and considerable career ahead of them. (Philo/Rounder Records, reissued 1995)
Review originally published by R.A.D! (Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll) zine
Friday, February 7, 2025
Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco (2011)
After a couple months of intense and difficult recording, the guitarist deemed the final mixing process to be “too complicated” when it obviously wasn’t getting anywhere, and he put the entire album on the shelf, subsequently breaking up his band of five years in the process. In early 2011, Gallagher’s nephew Daniel, son of Rory’s brother and manager Donal Gallagher, rescued these unreleased recordings from the archives after 34 years and remixed the album that would have been released between 1976’s Calling Card and 1978’s Photo-Finish. Recorded with a four-piece band, the album’s nine songs are Gallagher originals, around half of which would be re-recorded in different form with a three-piece band for Photo-Finish.
Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco
The question on everybody’s mind, of course, is Notes From San Francisco worth the wait? Yes, I’d have to say that it was. While Gallagher may have had an inordinate amount of trouble trying to get the performances to sound like he wanted during the mixing process, Daniel Gallagher’s nuanced mix – performed with modern equipment, of course – brings out facets of the guitarist and band’s performances that the primitive late-1970s technology overlooked. The album-opening “Rue the Day,” for instance, offers up some tasty honky-tonk piano running like a river beneath Gallagher’s twangy leads and roaring vocals. Martin Fiero’s blasts of sax help round out the sound, which is revved-up boogie-rock evoking 1970s-era Rolling Stones.
Only hardcore fans of Gallagher’s bootleg albums have heard “B Girl,” but for everybody else, it’s a new song, and a good ‘un at that. With a sleazy guitar riff circling in and out of the mix, the band lays down a fat, funky rhythm that dances beneath Gallagher’s comparatively gruff, whiskey-soaked vocals. It’s this contrast, between the guitarist’s dark-hued vocals and the band’s bright instrumentation that makes the song truly shine. A long-time live favorite, “Mississippi Sheiks” would be re-recorded by Gallagher for Photo-Finish, but it’s performed here with a different arrangement. Gallagher’s stunning guitar intro and the band’s stammering rhythms are akin to the sort of blues-derived hard rock pursued by Savoy Brown or Status Quo. But what sets this performance apart from all the others is the addition of Joe O’Donnell’s lively electric violin, which provides the song with an otherworldly, soulful vibe.
Wheels Within Wheels
One of the lesser-known Photo-Finish tracks, “Fuel To the Fire” represents another outlier in Gallagher’s musical evolution. With sparse, but strong instrumentation behind his mournful vocals, Gallagher’s atypical fretwork finds him pursuing a less bluesy, more rock ‘n’ roll oriented sound with jazzy undertones and some odd, invigorating phrasing and extended solos that are simply beautiful. The album also includes two “bonus tracks,” including the previously-unreleased or re-recorded “Out On the Tiles,” a wildcat rocker with locomotive rhythms and a scattergun approach, Gallagher’s guitar spitting out notes with reckless abandon, razor-sharp tone accompanied by blistering speed and joyful chaos.
Live In San Francisco
A handful of tracks from the live portion of Notes From San Francisco stand out in particular from Gallagher’s previous (and frequent) live sets. One is a performance of “Bullfrog Blues,” from the guitarist’s early British blues-rock band Taste. Revving up the tempo, Gallagher and band crank out an unabashed boogie blast with machinegun drumbeats and flamethrower guitar licks. The concert rarity “I’m Leavin’“ is another up-tempo raver with brokeback drums, rapidfire vocals, and raging fretwork all delivered with punkish intensity, while a cover of the 1950s rock ‘n’ roll gem “Sea Cruise” is amped-up and ramped-up from the original but manages to capture the restless, rockin’ soul of the song nonetheless.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Although collections such as Notes From San Francisco are typically aimed at a collector audience that eagerly grab up everything new or novel from a musician, in this instance this two-disc set serves as an excellent introduction to an underrated and too-often overlooked blues-rock talent. Gallagher’s guitar rages like an out-of-control wildfire throughout these studio tracks, and roars like a jet fighter on a bombing run in the live setting.
While hardcore Rory Gallagher fans will eat this stuff up, Notes From San Francisco is more than a mere musical curiosity. The album stands on its own as both a studio recording and a live document, and it would have been welcome had it been released in 1978 as planned. As such, its current release represents an important and impressive addition to the guitarist’s growing legacy. (Eagle Records, released May 17th, 2011)
Buy the album from Amazon: Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco
Monday, February 3, 2025
The Day The Music Died: Ritchie Valens & The Big Bopper Commemorated As Bobblehead Figures!
Sixty-six years ago today, February 3rd, 1959 was “The Day the Music Died” as rock ‘n’ roll legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a tragic plane crash in a corn field northwest of Clear Lake, Iowa. All of the artists had performed in Clear Lake that night as part of their “Winter Dance Party” tour and were flying to Minnesota when bad weather took the plane down.
To commemorate and celebrate the lives and careers of Valens and Richardson, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has announced its release of the first officially-licensed bobblehead figures of the late singers, as seen above. The figures are being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum along with C3 Entertainment, representatives for Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and the Winter Dance Party brands. The über-cool bobbleheads were unveiled last week at the 2025 Winter Dance Party, held annually at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. Fun fact: C3 has been in business for 60+ years and was originally formed by comedy legends The Three Stooges as Comedy III Productions!
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Ritchie Valens |
“Donna” peaked at #2 on the Billboard chart and would be Valens’ final success, selling better than a million copies to be certified Gold™ by the RIAA. The first Mexican-American rock star, Valens is considered a pioneer of Chicano rock, influencing artists like Los Lobos and Carlos Santana. Sadly, Valens was only 17 years old at the time of his death, but his legacy was ensured by the 1987 movie La Bamba, which starred actor Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens, with Los Lobos contributing music to the film. In August 2024, the filming of a new Valens biopic was announced, with Luis Valdez, the writer and director of the 1987 movie, as executive producer. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of fame, and the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame.
Jiles Perry “J.P.” Richardson, Jr. was born in Sabine Pass, Texas in 1930 and grew up in Beaumont, Texas, playing high school football before going to Lamar College to study pre-law. He worked part-time as a deejay for KTRM radio in Beaumont, quitting school in 1949 to work full-time at the station. He was drafted into the Army in 1955 and, after a two-year service at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, returned to KRTM where he would take on “The Big Bopper” nickname before eventually becoming the station’s program director. He began his music biz career as a songwriter, striking gold fairly quickly when George Jones recorded his song “White Lightning” as his first chart-topping country hit. Jones enjoyed another hit with Richardson’s song “Treasure of Love.” Richardson also wrote “Running Bear” for his friend Johnny Preston, which hit #1 on the pop chart nearly a year after Richardson’s death, and his songs would be recorded by country performers Hank Snow and Sonny James.
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The Big Bopper |
In a press release announcing the figures, National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar says “we’re excited to unveil the first bobbleheads celebrating music legends Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Taken far too early, both musicians made lasting marks and the bobbleheads will be must-haves for music fans.” The bobbleheads display Valens and Richardson holding guitars in poses that duplicate iconic photos of the artists.
Where can you buy these future additions to your rock ‘n’ roll collection? The bobbleheads are individually numbered in a limited edition of 2,025 figures each and are available only through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum online store [link]. The cost of each figure is $30, which is right around par for this kind of collectible, with shipping a flat rate of $8 per order; the figures are expected to ship in June. Tell ‘em that the Reverend sent ya!
Friday, January 31, 2025
Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions (2010)
Interest in Rory Gallagher and his music continues to grow some 15 years after his death and, luckily for us punters, there seems to be a deep well of archive material being brought up by bucket and chain and trickled into the marketplace on compact disc and DVD. Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions represents a new high in the guitarist’s growing catalog, a dozen white-hot performances that burn brighter than phosphorus, blasting through the eardrums to rattle around in the brain like a maddening sustain. Recorded during three of Gallagher’s frequent appearances on the German television program The Beat Club, the album (and accompanying DVD) features material culled from Gallagher’s 1971 debut and that year’s follow-up Deuce, as well as a couple of choice covers, like the guitarist’s signature romp through Junior Well’s “Messin’ With the Kid.”
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions
The Beat Club Sessions opens with the lively “Laundromat,” a scalding hot tater that jumps around like a lobster in a pot. Gallagher’s guitar playing here is positively stunning, flowing effortlessly from raw scraped rhythms to jazz-inflected solos, his gravel-throated vocals almost an afterthought in the face of the song’s massive groove. Gallagher’s “Sinnerboy,” from his album, is a horse of an entirely different color. The intro offers up some delicate guitar picking, Gallagher’s vocals complimented by shimmering cymbals before he cuts loose with a muscular, bluesy rhythm that leads into a taut solo that cuts like a razor. Contrasting with these scorchers is the long-time Gallagher favorite “I Don’t Know Where I’m Going,” an acoustic blues number with a little Delta mud in the grooves, Gallagher’s subdued guitar strum matched by his warbling harmonica work.
The serpentine slide-guitar that introduces “I Could’ve Had Religion,” from the album, opens the door to a smoky, down-n-dirty sin-and-salvation tale that sounds like Robert Johnson with an Irish lilt to his voice. The song stomps and stammers out of your speakers like a hungry beast, a change in fortunes from Johnson’s hellhounds as the song’s protagonist willingly chooses the dark side. Gallagher’s slide-guitar runs wild through the song like a jolt of electricity guaranteed to tickle the fancy of any blues-rock fanboy. “Used To Be” is another long-time live fave, a raucous houserocker a la Cream, Gallagher using the power-trio format to its fullest, the song bristling with electric guitar riffs and crashing rhythms.
Crest of A Wave
The rollicking “In Your Town” shows just the slightest hint of Chicago blues in its deep rhythmic groove, Gallagher almost shouting his vox above the din, an aural assault partially created by his flamethrower fretwork. The song’s rapid pace is propelled by drummer Wilgar Campbell’s incessant percussive percussion and bassist Gerry McAvoy’s heavy bass-work. Again, Gallagher’s squealing guitarplay tortures the arrangement with a black cat moan and a spine-shaking intensity.
Gallagher’s “Crest of A Wave” is one of his signature tunes, a lyrically and musically epic song that offers ringing, circular guitar, strident vocals, a rock-solid rhythmic backbone, and a leather-tuff solo that soars like a bird of prey. Gallagher’s cover of Junior Wells’ “Messin’ With the Kid” may be absent the master’s powerful harp playing, but the guitarist claimed equal ownership of the song with soulful vocals and an inspired, fleet-fingered bit of guitarplay. McAvoy’s bass solo here is a thing of beauty, while Campbell’s drum solo adds a bit of bluster to the song’s braggadocio, but it’s Gallagher’s wailing solos that steal the spotlight.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Rory Gallagher fans have long known of the man’s immense talents as a guitarist and a performer, but he remains one of the best-kept secrets in blues-rock music. Gallagher arrived late to the party, perhaps, the British blues scene already moving on to harder-edged rock by the time that the guitarist made his debut. Still, as these early performances from the dawn of his career show, Gallagher had the skills, the heart, and the soul to deliver emotional, moving blues-rock music that connected with the listener.
That he never found a larger audience is an oversight that The Beat Club Sessions can help correct. These twelve powerful performances showcase a guitarist at beginning of a substantial career, full of vigor and brimming over with ideas, both musical and lyrical. That Gallagher’s long-time fans will grab up The Beat Club Sessions is no surprise, but the album would also make an intoxicating introduction to the man and his music for the newcomer. (Eagle Records, released September 14th, 2010)
Buy the album from Amazon: Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions
Monday, January 27, 2025
The Reverend's Winter 2025 Playlist (The Continental Drifters, Old Town Crier, The Big Ol' Nasty Getdown, Tommy Castro & the Painkillers)
The Continental Drifters were easily a decade ahead of their time, or maybe a decade too late, depending on your perspective. Featuring a brace of skilled songwriters – Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), and Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate) – and a slew of talented noisemakers, the Drifters were an ‘80s-era college rock dream band with the jangle to prove it. They released four albums over a decade (1993-2004), their final album actually recorded as their first, and they danced at the intersection of pop and rock at a time when musical culture was dominated by some of the ugliest and most brutal sounds one could capture on tape.
As shown by White Noise & Lightning: The Best of the Continental Drifters (Omnivore Recordings), music this intelligent, creative, and oftentimes beautiful is timeless, a magical talisman just waiting for an audience to find it. With this collection – and the band’s recent biography of the same name penned by Sean Kelly – the door to rediscovery by a younger generation is wide open. Pulling material from all four of the Drifters’ albums, and including a previously-unreleased live track in the form of the electrically-charged “Who We Are, Where We Live,” White Noise & Lightning offers up everything from the gorgeous pop ballad “Mixed Messages” to the hard-rocking “Don’t So What I Did,” as well as the band’s folkish ‘theme song’ “Drifters,” beautifully sung by Cowsill. Dig into the Continental Drifters, the best band you never heard! Grade: A+ BUY! [Omnivore]
Old Town Crier (a/k/a Jim Lough) has received digital ink here before, notably for the 2023 LP A Night with Old Town Crier, which Lough used to raise money for The Pine Street Inn, a Boston-area non-profit fighting homelessness. The four-song EP Motion Blur (self-produced) was recorded in the winter of 2004, the tape promptly lost, and then rediscovered last year. Keeping with his usual ‘modus operandi’ Lough has released Motion Blur on Bandcamp, with half the proceeds going to the Plymouth COPE Center at bamsi.org, a pretty cool and worthwhile non-profit that is creating “equal opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities and mental and behavioral health challenges.”
Motion Blur depicts the imaginative rocker in a different light, with a bit of twang in the grooves and a rockabilly heart. The short, sharp shock of “Back Door” swings on the hinges of a truly reckless guitar lick that eats at your brain like a politician’s promise while evincing a cowpunk aesthetic. The toothier “Rebecca” welds a standard honky-tonk dancefloor rhythm to a slinky Exile-era Stones soul groove with wiry, madcap fretwork and a joyous spirit while “Country Boy” is a hillbilly rave-up with clamorous instrumentation and revved-up vocals that go down like a Mason jar full of ‘shine (smooth, with a finish that kicks yer ass). Closer “Real Good Friend” injects a ‘60s-era garage-rock vibe into the mix, like Sky Saxon riding a mechanical bull at Muhlenbrink’s Saloon in West Nashville, with some mighty fine git pickin’ driving the vox. The EP is a delightfully lo-fi affair but nevertheless displays plenty of heart and soul with its performances. Grade: A BUY! [Bandcamp]
Any outfit with a name like The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is certain to get the Reverend’s attention, and the band’s spicy debut, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 (Org Music), lives up to its billing. Masterminded by producer/bassist John Heintz, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown has been bubbling under the public’s consciousness for better than a decade, but the seven-song RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 EP (which delivers all of the energy and cheap thrills of a full-length LP!) should raise the band’s profile and deserves every dollar you throw out for a copy. Digging into a long-lost funk goldmine with a veritable ‘who’s who’ of musical talent, the EP features name players like Jack Irons (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Angelo Moore & Norwood Fisher (Fishbone), Jimi Hazel (24-7 Spyz), Larry LaLonde (Primus), Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), and Ra Diaz (Korn), among many others. Of course, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got the swing, and superstar studio party times have been known to go awry before, but it’s all good with The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown.
Opener “All Together Now” is a solid musical statement, an energetic instrumental with jazzy horns blasting above a hardcore funk rhythm and embroidered by the legendary Nocentelli’s bluesy shards of jagged lead guitar. “Body Magic” offers up P-Funk’s Ronkat Spearman delivering his silky vox above a spry, space-age funk ensemble that mixes brass and percussion with a soul undercurrent to booty-shaking effect. The throwback vibe of the instrumental “420 Ocean Drive” displays echoes of prime ‘70s-era Funkadelic with P-Funk axeman Eric McFadden leading the charge with imaginative and powerful leads, yet still manages to explore new and exciting musical territories. Fishbone’s Moore takes the microphone for the low-slung, raunchy “Spirit Stain” with Jimi Hazel weaving some devastating guitar licks beneath one of the boldest, nastiest, and entertaining cosmic grooves to ever tickle your cerebellum.
The avant garde instrumental “Ten Hits” may be the most intriguing and fascinating cut on the EP; led by Primus guitar-wrangler Larry LaLonde and featuring Fishbone bassist Norwood Fisher and Mike Dillon (from Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) on vibes and tabla, the performance definitely digs into exotic turf to deliver a gem of a lysergic fever dream. Instrumental versions of “Body Magic” and “Spirit Stain” are as engaging and electric as the vocal versions, but possible with more heft given the change in focus. Blessed by the almighty Godfather himself, George Clinton, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is the real deal, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 a stone-cold killer with big funk energy and – most importantly – the undeniable sound of a bunch of musical brethren making a joyous noise just for kicks. Grade: A BUY! [Bandcamp]
Tommy Castro has been knocking around the blues world for 30+ years now, but has never gotten the mainstream recognition his status deserves. Since his 1995 studio debut Exception to the Rule (and with the Dynatones before that), Castro has been preserving, yet pushing blues music to new heights. He’s won a slew of ‘Blue Music Awards’ from The Blues Foundation, including the coveted ‘B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” award an unparalleled four times. He’s an electrifying performer, an underrated singer and guitarist, and yet he wouldn’t be picked out of a lineup if he stole a ham sandwich from Carnegie Deli.
It doesn’t matter, tho’, because what pop music ignores, blues fans heartily embrace and, as shown by Castro’s latest effort, Closer To the Bone (Alligator Records), the man still has a lot to say. As usual, Castro’s guitar playing in the grooves is sharp, clean, and concise, reminding of B.B. King but with a little toothier bite to his solos. Even after decades of shouting the blues, Castro’s vox remain strong, soulful, with a touch of grit. “One More Night” is a swinging, Texas-flavored blues romp a la Stevie Ray, but with less six-string pyro (but still some…) while “Keep Your Dog Inside,” a duet with the multi-talented Deanna Bogart, evinces Elvin Bishop’s sense of humor while still managing to sizzle like a steak on a hot grill (and name checks the jocular Bishop in the outro).
“Ain’t Worth the Heartache” rides an exotic backing rhythm and Billy Branch’s harmonica wizardry to nirvana while on “Freight Train (Let Me Ride),” Castro channels Johnny Winter with his wicked Resonator play. The old-school, West Coast jump blues of “Bloodshot Eyes” jumps right out of the speakers and grabs you by the ears and, really, all of Closer To the Bone is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any blues fan. Castro is more of a traditionalist than, say, Joe Bonamassa or Walter Trout, but neither is he afraid to mix a little rock or jazz into his blues sound. Neither is he hesitant to call upon his influences (B.B. King, Albert Collins, Stax Records) when needed to make a point. As such, Closer To the Bone is both an amalgam of everything that has come before in the blues world with Castro still managing to put a contemporary spin and energy to the sound. Grade: A BUY! [Alligator]
Friday, January 24, 2025
Hot Wax: Preacher Boy's Ghost Notes (2024)
Preacher Boy’s Ghost Notes
Wielding a weathered, whiskey-soaked voice that is equal parts Tom Waits and Howlin’ Wolf yet easily recognized as Preacher Boy, I picked up on the Band’s influence on “Up the River” right away (especially since the legendary Garth Hudson had just passed away and was on my mind). Sporting a strong rhythm but laid-back vibe, “Up the River” offers up hazy memories expressed with poetic charm. “New Red Cedar Blues” is a country-blues song at heart, but with the same strong Americana roots as anything the Band ever recorded, Watkins’ mournful vocals accompanied by a riveting guitar line. The hard-fought knowledge of “Two Birds” is delivered with serpentine guitar and a Delta blues ferocity, Watkins’ desperate vocals almost drowning beneath the waves of a hypnotic groove.
The Springsteen influenced “Don’t Know What To Think Anymore” offers some of Watkins’ most inspired lyrics and fretwork, obtusely political in the way that all music is a political statement, whether it be personal or universal. You can’t separate the artist from their culture, and “Dirty Little Secret” is a blues-rock dirge that explores the cause and effect of addiction, whether it be substance abuse or the abuses of power that draws so many like a moth to a flame. The title track is a beautifully fragile story of lonely desperation, social isolation, and the compulsion to create that drives nearly every artist, delivered pitch perfect with trembling vocals and a mournful, almost Baroque soundtrack.
Land of Milk and Honey
The brilliance of “Scene of the Crime” is shrouded in oblique social commentary fueled by anger and a guitar-driven blues-rock dynamic that highlights Watkins’ fierce vocals. When lines like “the song of myself, sung by a fool and performed by a mime/tuned to a bell with a crack in the back that is still made to chime/by an old bell-ringer, long past his prime/who is lookin’ for clues at the scene of the crime” are accompanied by crying harmonica notes, you have to sit up and take notice. Ditto for “See All the People,” which grieves as passionately as “Scene of the Crime” rages; pointedly anti-violence, it also addresses the internal suffering of the killers who commit atrocities against their fellow humans, an aspect of every mass shooting too dark and inconvenient to be of concern to a society that has creates these mutants.
As close as Preacher Boy gets to a ‘traditional’ folk song, “No Rivers To Cross” is nevertheless a minimalist joy, a sort of Southern Gothic tale whose sparse instrumentation still plays loud below whip smart lyrics like “god or devil, it doesn’t matter/you praise the former and race the latter” and “down by the river, where the moonlight’s shattered diamond paints the water white/is where the drunks come to hear the monks drum/I’ll take you there where all are welcome.” Watkins claims a Tom Petty influence for “Land of Milk and Honey,” but it you couldn’t prove it by me, except for perhaps his vocal phrasing, which mildly mimics “Refugee.” The song displays a ‘60s-styled garage-rock undercurrent that skews closer to Sky Saxon, with a sorrowful vocal delivery that perfectly showcases the lyrics. Ghost Notes closes with the beautiful, lilting “Light A Candle,” written for Watkins’ wife, the considered words offered with emotion and accompanied by filigree guitarwork that touches your soul.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Ghost Notes is the most personal and lyrically revealing work in Preacher Boy’s lengthy career (I first reviewed his Devil’s Buttermilk album in 2002 for All Music Guide), a major work by an Artist who has refused to compromise his musical vision. It’s his “Americana” album, haunted by influential ghosts like Levon Helm, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Petty, and Mac Rebennack (a/k/a Dr. John) as well as a few still corporate souls like Springsteen, Dylan, John Fogerty, and Neil Young while still managing to sound uniquely original and creatively electrifying.
Watkins poured his heart and soul into the creation of Ghost Notes, and it shows in the album’s craftsmanship and integrity; it’s well worth tracking down a copy if you’re a fan of any of the aforementioned influences. Whether you opt for the CD or the 2x vinyl version of Ghost Notes, I’d recommend grabbing a copy of Watkins’ Ghost Notes: Songs and Stories as well, the book providing further insight into the unjustly obscure but nevertheless fascinating talent that is Preacher Boy. Grade: A+
Buy the album via Bandcamp: Preacher Boy’s Ghost Notes
Monday, January 20, 2025
Archive Review: George Thorogood’s 2120 South Michigan Avenue (2011)
The project turned out to be one that was very close to the blues-rock guitarist’s heart. As a teen, Thorogood heard the Rolling Stones instrumental “2120 South Michigan Avenue,” named for the address of Chess Records in Chicago, and wrote the label asking for a catalog. The music that Thorogood would discover on Chess directly influenced his choice to get into music, and had shaded and shaped his career ever since. Naming his Chess Records tribute album 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Thorogood and band rip and roar through songs originally recorded by such renown artists as Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and others.
George Thorogood’s 2120 South Michigan Avenue
Thorogood’s “Going Back,” written with producer/musician Tom Hambridge, opens 2120 South Michigan Avenue with a bang. With a raunchy boogie-blues vibe and Texas-styled, Z.Z. Top guitar riffing, Thorogood sings “from 1956 to 1965, Mississippi Delta found a home on Chicago’s deep South Side.” From this point the lyrics pay homage to, and name check such Chess Records greats as Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and others, including Jake and Elwood blues, as Thorogood’s rhythm guitar paints wide swaths of color upon which guitarist Jim Suhler adds his precision leads.
Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, an invaluable Chess Records sideman who recorded a handful of sides for the label, lends his scorching six-string to the manic shuffle “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” a song Guy recorded for Chess in the 1950s. As the band builds a strong rhythmic backdrop, Guy yanks, spanks, and shreds his strings in a manner that Leonard Chess would most definitely not have approved as Thorogood delivers a fine, inspired vocal performance.
Let It Rock
Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” is a bona fide rock ‘n’ roll standard, the song banged out by garage bands and arena rockers alike for better than five decades now. This is the kind of blues-influenced, meat-and-potatoes rock that Thorogood and the Destroyers cut their eye teeth on, so they hit a mean lick here with a teetering, chaotic performance that jumps from your speakers and grabs you by the ears. By contrast, Bo Diddley’s self-titled ode sounds downright exotic, with the infamous Diddley backbeat capturing the listener’s attention with its mesmerizing vibe. Again, Thorogood and the boys can do this kind of stuff in their sleep, and they create a truly joyous noise here, with shimmering guitars and dancing rhythms.
Willie Dixon’s Gone
The underrated J.B. Lenoir’s “Mama Talk To Your Daughter” is delivered as an up-tempo rocker with a shuffling rhythm and rapidfire vocals, Thorogood’s guitar rattling and buzzing like a downed power line as Suhler embroiders fiery solos throughout the ramshackle performance. Blues harp giant Charlie Musselwhite, who learned his craft at the feet of the Chess masters, brings his experience to bear on the Dixon-penned Little Walter hit “My Babe.” As Thorogood and the guys lay down a solid rhythmic backdrop, Musselwhite adds a few instrumental flourishes, jumping in for elegant solos that display his fluid mastery of the harmonica.
Another Thorogood/Hambrigde original, “Willie Dixon’s Gone,” is an unabashed rocker with an autobiographical bent. Above a locomotive rhythm courtesy the Destroyers, assisted by Thorogood’s greasy slide-guitar, the singer remembers the good old days passed, deciding that the “the good times ain’t as good as they used to be, whiskey ain’t as strong, and the blues ain’t as blue since Willie Dixon’s gone.” If radio programmer had any ears, they’d put this one on the airwaves and make it a giant hit. Musselwhite sits in again for the sultry, Chicago-blues-by-way-of-London instrumental title track, layering his dancing harp notes above the guitars and Kevin McKendree’s rich B-3 organ riffs.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Thorogood’s 2120 South Michigan Avenue is the artist’s first full studio album since 2006’s acclaimed The Hard Stuff, and his best album since 1982’s Bad To The Bone first made him a star during the blues-rock boom of the 1980s. The two original songs here fit right in with the spirit and the energy of the Chess material, and Thorogood and the Destroyers tackle the cover songs with raw, gritty enthusiasm, resulting in inspired and loving performances that pay proper tribute to the artists that influenced the band members to get into music in the first place. Highly recommended for both Thorogood’s existing fans and newcomers that may want to know what the guitarist is all about. (Capitol/EMI Records, released July 12th, 2011)
Buy the album from Amazon: George Thorogood’s 2120 South Michigan Avenue