Archive Review: Nick Moss’s Here I Am (2011)

Over the course of a half-dozen or so studio and live albums with his excellent band the Flip Tops, singer and guitarist Nick Moss proved himself to be somewhat of a Chicago blues traditionalist. While the “Windy City” native would embellish the classic Chicago sound with a little houserockin’ energy from time to time, he was just as likely to go backwards in time, towards the “one step from the Delta” era of Tampa Red or Big Bill Broonzy, as he did with the acoustic disc of 2007’s acclaimed Play It ‘Til Tomorrow album. 

Drawing comparisons to another Chicago blues institution, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, it seemed as if Moss and the Flip Tops could do no wrong…and neither could they break out of the creative miasma that traditional blues can drag an artist into. Moss flipped the switch with his 2010 release Privileged. While still working with Flip Tops band members like multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hundt and drummer Bob Carter, Privileged was a solo album very much in a blues-rock vein, Moss sealing the deal with a high-octane cover of Cream’s “Politician.”    

Nick Moss’s Here I Am

Two years after unveiling his muscular new sound on the Blues Music Award nominated Privileged, Moss returns with a crackerjack new band and the steroids-enhanced, livewire blues-rock dinosaur stomp that is Here I Am. Building upon what now seem to be the tentative first steps of Privileged, Moss and his blues bruisers use a traditional Chicago blues framework to construct an imposing leviathan of riff-happy, percussion-heavy performances that masterfully weld familiar 1960s-era blues sounds to 1970s-and-‘80s-influenced, guitar-driven, amps-on-eleven blues-rock in the creation of a new 21st century blues paradigm.

Take, for instance, the album-opening “Why You So Mean?,” an unbridled seven-minute jam that smacks you upside the head from jump street with Moss’s fierce guitarplay, Travis Reed’s rollicking keyboards, and Patrick Seals’ unforgiving percussion. Grabbing the power and emotion of early Muddy Waters and matching it with the energy of 1970s-era Hound Dog Taylor, Moss unfolds a classic blues tune of romance and betrayal. As the locomotive rhythms and “Stumpy” Hutchkins’ throbbing bass line hold down the bottom end, Moss waxes pyrotechnic with an explosive six-string performance that storms out of your speakers like a bombing run, his anguished vocals providing an emotional urgency that is enhanced by the no-quarter-asked (and none given) nature of his screaming fretwork.

Blood Runs

If “Why You So Mean?” hasn’t left you on the floor gasping for breath, “Blood Runs” just might finish the job. A musclebound rocker with Southern soul roots, the song takes a little mojo from guitarist John Cipollina’s mesmerizing “Pride of Man” for its chorus, matching it with insightful and topical working class blues lyrics, Moss’s tortured vocals, Reed’s tinkling keys, and cool, gospel-styled backing harmonies. Moss’s solo is taut and menacing, like a barb-wire tattoo around your throat, while his intelligent lyrics pose a pretty damning question. The title track is a larger-than life musical throwback to Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, with a soupcon of Z.Z. Top thrown in to provide a little Texas twang (especially in Moss’s fluid vocals). The lyrics are defiant, and perhaps more than a little biographical, delivered with strength and certainty.

Not all of Here I Am is monster-riffed, moshpit blues-rock Sturm und Drang, nosirree…Moss’s “It’ll Turn Around,” for instance, is a slow-paced and deliberate mix of blues and Southern rock with a positive message and elegant guitarplay, while “Caught By Surprise” bolts a funky rhythmic track to an R&B styled soul-blues heartbreaker with nuanced guitars, subdued but effective vocals, and syncopated drumbeats. The red-hot “Katie Ann (Slight Return)” takes its cue from Jimi Hendrix’s bluesier side, throws a little of droning North Mississippi Hill Country vibe into the gumbo pot, and seasons the mix with a little Delta mud, stirring up an engaging and mesmerizing performance that rocks hard, but cruises dangerously below the radar with jet-fighter riffs and bombastic percussion. The instrumental “Sunday Get Together” is a low-key but effective jam with wave upon wave of bluesy guitar, sparse drums, and keyboard flourishes atop a traditional foundation.          

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Unlike a lot of acclaimed fretburners that began their career playing blues-rock, Nick Moss is coming in through the side door after spending a couple decades as a sideman and bandleader working in pretty much a straight blues vein. Unburdened by the clichés and expectations of the blues-rock style that often serve as an obstacle to musicians, Moss has taken to the form like a duck to water, but on his own terms and with fresh ideas as to the execution of the music.

Here I Am is a stunning, electrifying, and entertaining collection that places Moss at the forefront of today’s blues-rock scene. Exploring, and often exploding the boundaries of the style, Moss has staked his claim as an innovator, creating new possibilities not only for blues-rock guitar but for the music altogether. While I personally believe that Moss is one album away from creating a bona fide blues-rock masterpiece that will endure the test of time, with Here I Am he has delivered a near-classic collection, while all of the pieces – from the songwriting to his eclectic and exciting fretwork – are falling into place like dominoes…can’t wait to hear what he does next! (Blue Bella Records, released November 22, 2011)