Archive Review: Junior Well’s Hoodoo Man Blues (1965/2011)

One of a handful of bona fide classic blues LPs, Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues ushered in a new era for the genre. Although blues music was struggling commercially in the mid-1960s as a young African-American audience chose to listen to soul, and later funk rather than their “parent’s music,” a new audience would develop as young, white rock ‘n’ roll fans latched onto the blues even more strongly than they did during the short-lived folk-blues boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s self-titled 1965 debut, Hoodoo Man Blues would help write the blueprint that most blues-rock bands of the late 1960s would follow.

In retrospect, it seems like a natural, inevitable progression, but in 1965, Delmark Records’ Bob Koester was taking a big risk with the recording and release of Hoodoo Man Blues. Blues albums had, until that point, mostly been a collection of songs from an artist’s 45rpm record releases surrounded by studio filler. Hoodoo Man Blues was, perhaps, the first true document of a working blues band just cutting loose in the studio as they did on the stage at Theresa’s or other Chicago blues clubs without considering the release of a single. The album truly captured the sound and fury of the Chicago blues at that time even while pointing the music towards a new direction.   

Junior Well’s Hoodoo Man Blues

Wells’ take on Amos Blakemore’s “Snatch It Back and Hold It” would bring a new sound to the traditional Chicago blues. Displaying as many James Brown-influenced funk underpinnings as Little Walter-styled blues aesthetic, the performance placed more reliance on Wells’ funky, forceful vocals and Buddy Guy’s slippery chicken-picking as it did Wells’ normal harpwork. Another Blakemore cover, the underrated “Ships On the Ocean,” takes the standard blues sound onto darker, stormy turf with an incredibly nuanced but forceful six-string performance by Guy and mournful blasts of Wells’ harp, with the singer’s growling, Howlin’ Wolf-styled vocals reaching deep into a bottomless well of emotion.

Wells pays tribute to two of his major influences on Hoodoo Man Blues, starting with a blistering cover of John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson’s classic “Good Morning Schoolgirl.” With a lusty vocal performance accompanied by Guy’s lively fretwork, Wells’ punctuates the lyrics with shards of harp laid atop the jaunty rhythm provided by bassist Jack Myers and drummer Billy Warren. The title track is taken from harp wizard Sonny Boy Williamson, and Wells’ version features an upbeat, rollicking arrangement with plenty of harp gymnastics and great guitar tone from Guy, who manages to coax a sound akin to a riffing organ from his fretboard.

In The Wee Wee Hours

Wells dips into the Amos Blakemore catalog once again for “In the Wee Wee Hours,” one of four gems from the songwriter to be found on Hoodoo Man Blues. Wells firmly places “In the Wee Wee Hours” in the pantheon of classic blues torch-songs with a dynamic performance that colors the entire song in a dark shade of blue. Wells’ emotional harpwork lays the foundation upon which Guy embroiders his beautiful, melancholy guitar lines. Wells’ vocals are sparse, more of a fill in-between the soul-crushing instrumentation, and they work well in context, providing maximum impact. By contrast, Blakemore’s “We’re Ready” is delivered as a mid-tempo instrumental shuffle with a swaggering backbeat, Wells’ fluid harp playing, and Guy’s stinging, sharp-edged guitar. Warren’s drumming really stands out here, propelling the song with flurries of cymbal and skins.

Guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins Con Carne” has become a blues and jazz standard, but in 1965 it was a mere instrumental curiosity, the song’s charms amplified here by Wells’ serpentine harp and Guy’s energetic six-string, passages marked by Wells’ pronounced grunts. Hoodoo Man Blues ends as it begins, with Wells’ taking the traditional “Yonder Wall” into the stratosphere with a rocking take that brings the noise and brings the funk with scrappy harp and rhythmic guitarplay rolling high in the mix above a fat rhythmic groove. This 2011 reissue includes several bonus tracks in the form of alternate takes and illuminating studio chatter, but the most significant find here is a performance of Buddy Guy’s “I Ain’t Stranded” that features Wells’ soulful vocals sputtering and sliding across Guy’s Chuck Berry-styled, duckwalking rock ‘n’ blues guitar pickin’.         

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Quite simply, if you’re a blues fan, then you should have a copy of Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues in your collection. Featuring brilliant performances all around, matched with a classic tracklist and stellar instrumentation, the album would become – and remains – Delmark’s all-time best-seller and is a Grammy® Hall of Fame inductee.

While the bonus tracks included on this 2011 reissue add a little additional spice to the already heady musical gumbo, the addition of new liner note and rare B&W photos from the original 1965 recording session provide plenty of reasons to upgrade your old copy. For the newbie, however, Hoodoo Man Blues is where the legacies of Junior Wells and Buddy Guy were first writ large. Get it! (Delmark Records, released August 23, 2011)

Buy the CD from Amazon: Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues

Archive Review: Mountain's Over the Top (1995)

The first time that I ever heard Mountain – the Mountain Climbing! album, I believe – was at an older friend’s house. I was twelve or thirteen, he was eighteen, and a bunch of us would gather in his basement to pass the pipe and bottle around and sample tunes from his large record collection. Many of the bands and artists that would come to influence my plunge into rock criticism were first experienced in that basement – Mountain, Spirit, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix...

From the 1970 release of Mountain Climbing!, the band’s second album, throughout their slow disintegrated and up to the break-up half a decade later, Mountain was one of the biggest bands in the land – and, perhaps, the most obscure. They played Woodstock, but were cut out of the movie; they sold millions of copies of their first few albums, but are remembered today for a single song: “Mississippi Queen.” A generation of kids that today still listen to Hendrix and Ozzie are unfamiliar with the rich body of work created by the genius of Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi, the odd couple behind Mountain’s success.

In the late 1960s, Felix Pappalardi was known as the producer of Cream, the biggest band in the world in their time. A classically-trained musician, Pappalardi was a deft producer, a multi-instrumental talent, and a skilled composer and arranger. West was a fat kid from Long Island, as raw as Pappalardi was polished. No lesser lights than Peter Townsend, Jeff Beck, and Mick Jagger considered West to be the best guitarist alive at the time. This unlikely pair came together to become the yin and yang of Mountain, feeding off each other’s energy and ideas. The music they created was an incredible blend of guitar-driven hard rock and jazzy improvisation layered upon a blues base. It was as complex as it was exciting, and it won the band a significant following throughout the early part of the 1970s.

The recently released Over The Top covers Mountain’s entire history, from their self-titled debut (ostensibly a Leslie West solo LP) through hit albums like Mountain Climbing! and Nantucket Sleighride to the band’s swansong, 1974’s Avalanche. The familiar songs are all here, cuts like “Mississippi Queen,” “Theme From An Imaginary Western,” “Flowers of Evil,” and “Silver Paper,” as well as lesser-known material and a smattering of live tracks. The band’s ill-fated 1985 reunion album is represented here by a pair of cuts, albeit without the presence of Felix Pappalardi, who had died tragically a few years earlier.

Two new cuts close out the 34 song, two-CD set. Recorded last year by West, long-time Mountain drummer Corky Laing, and Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, the two songs – “Talking To the Angels” and “Solution” – show but a mere fraction of the greatness that was Mountain some twenty years ago. Both feature West’s ever-maturing skills, the slimmed-down ‘90s version of the guitarist still one of the greatest players the world has seen. The new songs are nothing but soulless, pedestrian hard rock, however, missing the spark and the life that the duo of West and Pappalardi brought to their earlier creations. Over the Top is an excellent collection, nonetheless – buy it for the 30 real Mountain cuts and forget those from ‘85 and 1994. (Legacy Recordings, released 1995)

Review originally published by R Squared zine

Archive Review: Little Walter's The Complete Chess Masters (2009)

Little Walter Jacobs was, without argument, the greatest blues harmonica player ever, an instrumental virtuoso that revolutionized the use of the instrument and influenced virtually every harpist that would attempt to follow in his footprints. Sodbusters like Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza, and Jason Ricci were all influenced by Walter’s enormous shadow.

For a while, blues harp master Little Walter was Chess Records’ biggest and best-selling star…bigger than Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf. From 1952 through 1958, Walter ran off a string of fourteen Top Ten R&B chart hits, and even his recordings from the late-50s and early-60s display a dazzling presence, a willingness to take chances, and an uncanny skill as both an instrumentalist and vocalist.

The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967) collects better than ten-dozen tracks recorded by Walter, including nine previously unreleased performances. Across the five CDs included with the set, Little Walter is accompanied by a veritable “who’s who” of Chicago blues royalty, including Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, and Jimmy Rogers.  

The first disc includes some of Walter’s early big hits, including the career-making “Juke,” from 1952. A fluid, swinging instrumental with an easily-recognizable central riff and some tasty six-string fills courtesy of Jimmy Rogers, the song would spend an incredible 20 weeks on the R&B charts. Backed with the soulful “Can’t Hold Out Much Longer,” the single created a blueprint that Chess would follow for much of Walter’s career, featuring an instrumental ‘A’ side backed by a ‘B’ side that would feature Walter’s underrated vocals.

When “Juke” hit the top of the charts, Little Walter ditched Waters mid-tour and, scooping up Junior Wells’ band the Aces, launched his solo career in earnest. Recording with the new band, sessions from late-1952 and early-1953 resulted in another big hit in “Sad Hours.” Paired with T-Bone Walker’s “Mean Old World,” the steady shuffling “Sad Hours” offers the first use of Walter’s unique “warble” method that created a multi-dimensional sound for the instrument.

The second disc kicks off with one of Little Walter’s signature songs (and a blues standard), “Blues With A Feeling.” With Chess Records finally letting him put his soulful vocals up front alongside his instrumental prowess, the song was the perfect framing of mood and performance, drenched in emotion and bristling with energy.

Little Walter’s recording of Bo Diddley’s houserockin’ instrumental “Roller Coaster,” with Diddley himself providing some rattling fretwork alongside Walter’s frantic harp, represented something of a changing of the guards. By 1955, the commercial market was beginning to thin out for blues music as rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues took over the charts. “Roller Coaster” would be the last of Walter’s instrumental hits.

Between 1956 and ‘58, Little Walter recorded a number of tracks that, while standing up with some of his best work, none of it proved to be a commercial success. Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry were Chess Records’ latest stars, and otherwise red-hot songs like the spry instrumental “Flying Saucer” or the hard-driving, Berry-styled rocker “It Ain’t Right” were ignored by record buyers.

In January 1959, Little Walter would record with guitarist Luther Tucker and pianist Otis Spann, producing a number of strong sides, although only one – the smoldering “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” – would inch midway up the R&B chart. Benefiting from Spann’s rollicking piano-bashing, the song features one of Walter’s most emotional harp performances, the lonesome desperation of his solos matched by his mournful vocals.

Other songs recorded in 1959 showed that, while Walter’s skills with the harmonica remained unsurpassed, his once-expressive voice was slowly being eroded by alcohol. In some instances, his diminished vocal capabilities worked to his advantage, as in the tear-jerking “Blue And Lonesome.” Backed by Freddie Robinson’s hypnotic fretwork, Walter’s low-register vocals define sadness and depression, his blistering harp a reflection of his inner turmoil.

Little Walter’s commercial fortunes continued to decline from 1960 until his death in 1968, and the sessions he was offered became few and far between. Still, there are some treasures to be plucked from Walter’s increasingly obscure recordings. Willie Dixon’s “As Long As I Have You” is a precursor to the British blues-rock that would rise up during the ‘60s, the song full of switchblade guitar and rough-hewn vocals. From one of Walter’s last sessions, in 1967, a final shot of “Juke” recorded with Buddy Guy and Otis Spann would cement Little Walter’s legacy as the greatest.

Yeah, you’ve probably figured out that five discs, featuring better than two-dozen tracks apiece, is a heck of a lot of material to wade through, and you’d be right. Although The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967) might only appeal to the most rabid of fans, it is also an important historical document. The set provides a portrait of a musical genius in the prime…and decline…of his talent, and it’s a worthwhile addition to the library of any serious blues collector. (Hip-O Select, released March 6th, 2009)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine

Archive Review: Rich Robinson's Paper (2004)

After the Black Crowes went on hiatus back in 2002, guitarist Rich Robinson found himself without a band (and apart from his brother, Crowes’ vocalist Chris) for the first time in 18 years. His first inclination was to put together another band, and Robinson subsequently pieced together the pseudo-jam outfit Hookah Brown and toured the summer “shed” circuit. The same political BS and interpersonal dynamics that pulled the Crowes apart soon infected his new band and Robinson returned home to paint and write songs.

Because he was always overshadowed by his more flamboyant brother, the thought of a Rich Robinson solo album didn’t especially excite anybody but the most hardcore fans. ‘Tis a shame, because Paper – Robinson’s solo bow – is a damn good record. Not earth shaking, not the second coming, but a solid rock ‘n’ roll effort from a typically overlooked guitarist. Robinson wrote all the material here, plays most of the instruments and even took singing lessons to prepare for the recording.

To his credit, Robinson didn’t attempt to replicate the Stonesish swagger of the Crowes’ early recordings on Paper; neither did he try to mimic his brother’s Rod Stewart/Steve Marriott sandpaper vocals. Mostly, Robinson lets his guitar do the speaking, his wan vocals often lost in the mix beneath a swirl of instrumentation. The songs on Paper are a mix of jangling guitar pop and ‘70s-styled rock improvisation with a goodly portion of psychedelic flourishes and a hint of British folk-rock. Think Incredible String Band mixed with the Beatles, throw in some Dream Syndicate and you’ll be in the right ballpark.

Robinson’s songwriting is solid if unspectacular, his lyrics expressive and understated. The music on Paper is appropriately muddy and quite soulful, showcasing Robinson’s instrumental prowess and compositional skills. Paper is a lot better solo debut than anybody might have expected, Robinson clearly surpassing his brother’s recent musical endeavors and finally moving out of the shadow (and commercial expectations) of the Black Crowes to create music on his own terms. (Keyhole Records, released 2004)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine

Archive Review: Joe Cocker's Joe Cocker! (1969/2009)

Years before he became the tragic burn-out parodied by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live, Joe Cocker was just another young soul rebel trying to grab the brass ring. The British singer came up through the ranks of various skiffle and jazz-blues bands like many of his contemporaries, but he distinguished himself from the rest of the pack through his gritty, rough-hewn R&B vocals and a car wreck performing style that had him staggering around on stage, flailing his arms in the approximation of a disoriented sand piper, and belting out songs in his best Ray Charles croak.

Cocker’s debut album, 1969’s With A Little Help From My Friends, represented more than just another rocker finding gold with Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting skills. His soulful take on the Beatles tune scored his first Top 40 hit and put Joe Cocker on the pop music map. He followed it up quickly with a similar, sorta self-titled collection, Joe Cocker!, that featured a mix of covers of folks like Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and John Sebastian along with originals penned for the album by Leon Russell.

Because Cocker was a superb stylist, there was very little drop-off in his performances during the months separating his first and second albums. Backed by the Grease Band, a solid group of punters led by keyboardist Chris Stainton and including the six-string skills of guitarist Henry McCulloch, as well as melodious backing vocals by Merry Clayton, Rita Coolidge, and Bonnie Bramlett, Cocker blows through the songs here like runaway freight train.

Several of the tunes featured on Joe Cocker! would become live standards for the singer in the years to follow. Russell’s “Delta Lady” is probably the best-known here, a fine gossamer bit of British soul better known, perhaps, for its soaring chorus and backing harmonies than for Cocker’s stellar vocal performance. Cocker’s take on John Sebastian’s Lovin’ Spoonful gem “Darling Be Home Soon” is pure magic, Cocker perfectly capturing the song’s desire and emotion. A cover of New Orleans R&B legend Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” is a real raver, even if Stainton does end up nicking pieces-and-parts of Alex Chilton’s “The Letter” for his keyboard melody.

Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison, impressed with Cocker’s previous take of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” gave permission for the singer to use “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” and “Something” for Joe Cocker! The former is an unabashed soul-rocker with McCulloch’s imaginative, slightly-twangy fretwork while the latter is a showcase for Cocker’s interpretive skills, his high-flying vocals matched by delicious backing harmonies and Stainton’s half-gospel/half-psychedelic keyboard flourishes; McCulloch also throws in a few choice notes just to lively things up.  

Cocker would go on to find a greater measure of fame and notoriety in the wake of his 1970 Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, which would yield both an acclaimed film and an album, and which would also help launch Leon Russell’s solo career. By mid-decade, though, due to alcohol, Cocker had become a mere shadow of his former self. He would recover from this stumble and forge a satisfying and moderately successful career, but never again would he reach the Icarus-like heights that he did with Joe Cocker! (Hip-O Select, reissued 2009)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine

Archive Review: Various Artists - Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years (1995)

This nifty little box came to me courtesy of old friend Cary Baker, who had great taste in music as a critic, and even better taste as a publicist. If not for him, I might have completely overlooked Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years as, unfortunately, a lot of music lovers may do as well. It’s a shame, too, because this is a wonderful collection, on par with anything that Atlantic, Rhino, or Capricorn have done these past few years.

Hi Records was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1957 by a trio of Sun Records session musicians. They found financial backers for the project, and began to kick out a series of jazzy, almost big band instrumental hits and R&B vocal tunes. The label’s discovery and signing of the talented Willie Mitchell proved to be a fortunate stroke of fate as well as a wise business decision. As an artist, Mitchell was to pull Hi from the brink of bankruptcy with a string of R&B hits that stretched throughout the 1960s; as a songwriter and producer, he became the cornerstone of Hi’s entire operation. The first disc of Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years showcases a number of Mitchell’s hits, including “20-75,” “The Crawl,” and “Everything Is Going To Be All Right” with the Four Kings.

It was during the early ‘60s that Hi Records was to make its greatest impact on the pop and rock music worlds, scoring hit after hit from a pair of Mitchell-produced artists, Al Green and Ann Peebles. Green began his career with a series of solid covers, songs like the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” the Box Tops’ “The Letter,” or the Motown classic “I Can’t Get Next To You.” When he began working out his own material, he struck literal gold, and his hits topped the pop charts for the better part of the decade: “Let’s Stay Together,” “Tired of Being Alone,” “I’m Still In Love With You,” and others.

Although Peebles didn’t experience nearly the success that Green did on the pop charts, she held her own, singing her heart out in a series of soulful, sultry R&B hits like “(I Feel Like) Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down,” and the classic “I Can’t Stand The Rain.” Hi Records was about more than just Green and Peebles, however, with artists like Ace Cannon, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson and O.V. Wright contributing to the label’s legacy.

Each benefited from Willie Mitchell’s enormous production skills, spurred on to give their greatest vocal performances by Mitchell’s quiet genius. The Hi house band, led by Teenie Hodges, cranked out a steady groove and a trademark sound that matched that of Stax, their cross-town rivals. All the above artists and more are included among the 68 songs collected on Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years, with other highlights including Johnson’s “Take Me To the River,” Clay’s “Trying To Live My Life Without You,” and Cannon’s “Drunk.”

Hi Records was sold in 1977 and, in the midst of the dreaded disco years, never regained the success and prestige that it had enjoyed for twenty years. When Mitchell left his post two years later, the label lost its greatest asset and with him, any chance of recapturing its past glory. Along with Stax Records, however, Hi Records helped to define what would become known as the “Memphis sound,” as influential a force on the future of rock and pop music as there has ever been. Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years showcases the reason behind this influence, a valuable collection of vital music, songs that sound as fresh and electric today as they did at the time of their release. Highly recommended... (Hi Records/The Right Stuff, released 1995)

Review originally published by R Squared zine

Archive Review: Isaac Hayes' Black Moses (1971/2009)

By the time of his death last year, more people were familiar with Isaac Hayes’ portrayal of the lusty school chef on Comedy Central’s South Park TV show than were with his enormous body of music. It’s a shame, of course, one only partially redeemed by the current drive by the revived Stax Records and the Concord Music Group to revamp the soul giant’s back catalog for the new millennia.

Isaac Hayes, for those that need smartened up, was more than “Chef,” more than the dusky-voiced badass that sang the theme song from the movie Shaft. Hired as the keyboardist of the Stax Records’ house band in 1964, Hayes performed behind folks like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and blues great Albert King. Hayes would later form a songwriting partnership with David Porter. Together, the two wrote over 200 songs, including hits for artists like Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and Johnny Taylor, among many others.

Hayes launched his own solo career in 1967 with Presenting Isaac Hayes, but it would be the release, two years later, of Hot Buttered Soul that would provide his commercial breakthrough. Comprised of four lengthy songs, three of them inspired, reinvented cover tunes, the album defined the progressive soul movement. Hayes would take another great commercial and creative step forward in 1971 with the release of his score for the hit movie Shaft, with its ubiquitous theme song, as well as with the ambitious, groundbreaking Black Moses double-album.

One cannot underestimate the influence of Black Moses on the direction of soul music during the ‘70s. With fourteen songs sprawled across two discs, Black Moses provided four sides of effervescent funk, passionate soul, and old-school rhythm & blues. Hayes created Superfly cool a year before Curtis Mayfield; his lusty spoken-word interludes would inform hip-hop/rap music a decade later; and his lush, rhythmic orchestration would foreshadow disco’s rise in popularity during the late ‘70s (*shudder*).    

It was Hayes’ reinvention of soul music, his penchant for virtuoso instrumentation, his songwriting skills, and his ability to take another writer’s song by the throat and make that sucker his bitch that made Black Moses such an important effort. Forget about Barry White or Al Green, Hayes’ cover of “Never Can Say Goodbye” is sheer breathless seduction. Displaying the full breadth of Hayes’ vocal abilities, and backed with on-point harmony vocals and a lush soundtrack, the song’s romantic overtures take on an entirely different vibe here.

Hayes takes Mayfield’s “Man’s Temptation” and turns it inside-out, his desperate vocals often accompanied by a lone drumbeat or shots of keyboard before soaring into passionate washes of backing harmonies and subdued instrumentation. With “Going In Circles,” Hayes layers sensuous harmony vocals, shocks of blasting horns, and jagged washes of funky guitar, his own soulful vocals darting in-and-out of the mix for max effect.

The original “Good Love” comes out of the gate with some irreverent laughter and a tongue-in-cheek spoken intro before jumping into a funky romp with squalls of wiry guitarwork and fleet-footed rhythms. Tackling accomplished country songwriter Kris Kristofferson, Haye’s builds upon other versions of “For the Good Times” with a wonderfully sublime vocal performance, sparse instrumentation, and understated moxie.

Black Moses would prove to be an enormous success, hitting #1 on the R&B chart, #2 on the jazz chart, and rising to #10 on the pop chart while yielding a Top Thirty hit single with “Never Can Say Goodbye.” The album would win Hayes a Grammy™ Award and capped a dominating year for the veteran soul man – Hayes’ soundtrack for Shaft would top all three album charts, win three Grammy™ Awards, and earn Hayes the first Oscar won by an African-American composer. More importantly, Black Moses would provide a creative and evolutionary shift that would have a profound effect on soul and jazz music for a generation to follow.

By the way, the über-cool fold-out cover showing Hayes in full soul-savior glory that worked so well as a 12” LP is mostly just a bother on a 5” cardboard CD cover; with the two discs crammed into tight pockets you have to be careful not to tear when you take ‘em out. Sure, it’s groovy and all that, but couldn’t we have had form and functionality? Jus’ sayin’... (Stax Records, reissued 2009)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine

Archive Review: Various Artists - Movin' On Up, Volume 2 (1995)

A musical documentation of the struggle for equality and justice by people of color, the Movin’ On Up series is interesting as both a historical and an artistic artifact, a time capsule preserving the voices of a movement and a moment in American social and cultural experience. Whereas the first volume concerned itself with the fight for civil rights in the 1960s, volume two captures the thoughts and dreams and fears of the African-American community as they fought for the respect and dignity that they deserved during the riotous and uncertain ‘70s.

The collection of artists gathered here is an impressive one, indeed. Performers such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and War utilized their positions of popularity with audiences black and white to spread a lyrical message of unity, equality and brotherhood. Many of these songs were risky at the time of their release, ground-breaking works that continue to influence artists of all styles and genres, even today. Among the highlights to be found on Movin’ On Up, Volume Two are Curtis Mayfield’s haunting “We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue,” Marvin Gaye’s beautiful “Inner City Blues,” “The World Is A Ghetto” from War, Stevie Wonder’s landmark “Living For The City,” Gil Scott Heron’s “Winter In America,” and The Isley Brothers’ electric “Fight the Power.” The Staples Singers, Labelle, Donny Hathaway, The O’Jays and others are also represented on the disc.

Sadly, a few of the voices found on Movin’ On Up, Volume Two have been silenced by time and tragedy, others by the forced obscurity of commercial oblivion. Many, though, are still vital, creative artists, contributing to a still-influential body of work. The Movin’ On Up series serves to remind all of us of the importance of these artists, and that although a lot of work has been done, we still have a long way to go before we achieve the goals that these musical contributors fought for so long ago. (The Right Stuff, released 1995)

Review originally published by R Squared zine

CD Review: Sami Yaffa’ Satan’s Helpers War Lazer Eyes & The Money Pig Circus (2024)

Former Hanoi Rocks/New York Dolls bassist Sami Yaffa jumps back in the fray with a sophomore effort that’s every bit as fierce, inspired, and rocking as his 2021 debut, The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind. Sporting an even more unwieldy title than previous, Satan’s Helpers sees the Finnish rock ‘n’ roll lifer expanding his musical palette beyond the shambolic crank ‘n’ spank of his previous bands. The title track is a tasty lil’ blues number with slinky guitar and plenty of atmosphere, with Yaffi handling most of the instrumentation. When the song explodes a little more than two minutes in, it assumes dino-rock status with warped vox and monster guitar licks leading the charge. It’s an auspicious way to start the album, kicking the listener’s arse right from Jump Street…

Although “Silver or Lead” isn’t as cerebral as its predecessor, its minimal instrumentation, machinegun drumbeats (courtesy of Yaffa’s childhood friend Janne Haavisto), and overall blustery vibe carries the performance far. By the time that Yaffa and his road-weary touring band hit “Hurricane Hank” they’re running recklessly into whatever battle they can find, the song living up to its moniker with an unrelenting barrage of gang vocals, dense instrumentation, and flamethrower guitars (with Dregen from the Hellacopters lighting the spark). The muted vocals of “Death Squad” are buried beneath an intoxicating rhythm while the mid-tempo ballad “Down Home” benefits from NYC pal Steve Conte’s acoustic strum. Yaffa’s pals like Michael Monroe and Nasty Suicide (the former providing honkin’ sax, the latter incendiary fretwork) add color and noise to tunes like the rampaging, amphetamine “Shitshow” or the exotic “Far Star.” With Satan’s Helpers, Yaffa delivers an unbridled, joyful noise guaranteed to bludgeon even the most hidebound listener into rock ‘n’ roll bliss. (Livewire/Cargo, released February 11th, 2024)

Buy the CD from Amazon: Sami Yaffa’ Satan’s Helpers War Lazer Eyes & The Money Pig Circus

Archive Review: The Sermon's Volume (2004)

Inspired by the relative success of bands like the Strokes, the Hives and the White Stripes, everybody and their brother wants to be in a garage band these days. San Francisco’s the Sermon comes by its credentials honestly, the band boasting former members of the Fells, the Mount McKinleys, and the Dukes of Hamburg among its ranks. Veteran rockers genuflecting before the twin altars of the late ‘60s Detroit sound and the British invasion bands, the Sermon kicks out brimstone-scented jams with Volume, the band’s erstwhile debut. A rattletrap collection of songs that roar like a Harley’s red-hot tailpipe and buzz at the frequency of a nuclear meltdown, Volume offers up R&B-drenched, feedback-ridden tales of death and degradation with a Bo Diddley heartbeat and the reckless soul of the Yardbirds.

With appropriately murky production and fuzzy, effects-laden guitars, songs like the semi-psychedelic “Surprise” or the powerful “Tender Sin” – which hums like an electrical storm across a trailer park – lay waste to all but the heartiest of garage rock competitors. “Time Has Come” sounds like the result of some time transference experiment gone awry, echoed vocals chanted over a reverberating guitar riff while some crazed timekeeper pounds away at a drum set deep in the mix. The nightmarish “No Beast So Fierce” sounds like a mutant Muddy Waters, distorted blues guitars layered beneath a sordid lyrical tale while a manic mouth harp punctuates the words with tortured wails. “Exterminator” hits like vintage Velvet Underground, or maybe like Lou Reed cramming a copy of Metal Machine Music down Lester Bangs’ throat while the soulful “Get Over, Again” resurrects the long-dead spirit of the MC5 for one more dance through the graveyard.    

Forget about all those major label-manufactured-and-marketed “garage rock” bands that they’re trying to sell you on MTV and in music magazines. As the new gods of garage punk, the Sermon takes its rightful place among rock ‘n’ roll royalty like the Riverboat Gamblers, the Dirt Bombs, the Detroit Cobras, and the New Bomb Turks. If you like your rock hard, loud, and sweaty, then look no further than the Sermon’s Volume. Tell ‘em that the Reverend sent you… (Alternative Tentacles, released 2004)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine