The View On Pop Culture: Buddy Guy, The Black Keys, Bernard Allison, Kim Wilson (2003)

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DIFFERENT SHADES OF BLUE

These are good times for fans of the blues. Old salts like Buddy Guy and R.L. Burnside are putting out some of the best work of their lengthy careers while young pups like David Jacob-Strain and Richard Johnston are keeping the flame alive with brilliant albums of their own. Blues festivals are flourishing, classic albums from legends like B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Skip James are being reissued on CD (some for the first time) and a generation of kids have been turned on to the music through blues-oriented garage rockers like the White Stripes. As any fan of the genre could tell you, though, there are many different shades of blue and every single one has its own voice…

At this point, blues guitarist Buddy Guy really has nothing left to prove. His work during the ’60s for Chess Records is considered some of the best Chicago blues recorded while his collaborations with harp player Junior Wells are the stuff of legend. Guy has three Grammy Awards on his shelf and has influenced guitarists from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Yet Guy still managed to break new ground with his excellent 2001 album Sweet Tea, recorded in the Oxford, Mississippi studio of the same name. With Blues Singer (Silvertone Records), Guys furthers his considerable legacy.

A collection of traditional blues songs performed acoustically with little or no accompaniment, Blues Singer presents another facet of Guy’s talents. While some purists have criticized the album for being too contemporary sounding, pandering to a white rock audience – heck, even Eric Clapton stops by to jam – they’re really missing the point. Collaboration has long been at the root of the blues, why should it be any different now? Guy’s performances suggest that the bluesman is attempting to broaden his palette at an age when many artists are content rehashing the golden moments of their career. Blues Singer offers many stellar performances, from Guy’s chilling take on “Hard Time Killing Floor” to the deliberate, funky reading of “Black Cat Blues.” Songs by blues giants like Son House, Willie Dixon, and John Lee Hooker all receive an acoustic reinvention on Blues Singer, the album another high point in Buddy Guy’s storied career.  

The Black Keys – the duo of guitarist Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – bring a different perspective to the blues, drawing on fifty years of crossbreeding between the genre and rock ‘n’ roll. Heavily influenced by the Mississippi Hill Country tradition and artists like R.L. Burnside, the Black Keys are grungier than the North Mississippi All-Stars, louder than the Soledad Brothers and more soulful than any half-dozen “dirty blues” bands you care to choose. The pair’s sophomore recording, Thickfreakness (Fat Possum), picks up where their critically acclaimed debut left off, mixing bent-note blues and rocking riffs with reckless abandon.

In fact, much of Thickfreakness sounds like Auerbach and Carney have been listening to their Eric Clapton record collection, the title track and “Hard Row” especially playing like contemporary power blues a la Cream. They bring a modern garage rock sensibility to their sound, however, shooting for rawness and recording on “medium fidelity” equipment. With only a guitar, drums and vocals, the Keys craft a dense sound that is as muddy as the Mississippi River and as powerful as a thunderstorm, Auerbach adding swirling guitar leads on top of thick chords and Carney’s potent percussion attack. The result is an electrifying blues-rock brew, songs like the shambling “Have Love Will Travel” or the dark, provocative “I Cry Alone” literally jumping off the turntable, crackling with life and energy. The Black Keys delivered one of last year’s best albums in The Big Come Up and it looks like they’ve topped themselves with Thickfreakness.        

For a musician, it can be hard forging a career in the shadow of a famous father’s footsteps…just ask Big Bill Morganfield or the Dickinson brothers. As a second-generation bluesman, Bernard Allison – son of the legendary guitarslinger Luther Allison – has done just fine, thank you. The younger Allison honed his craft as a member of Koko Taylor’s touring band, joining his father’s band in the late-80s. Allison has released a number of solo albums since his European debut some fourteen years ago, including a couple of live sets, but none are as incendiary as Kentucky Fried Blues (Ruf Records), a recording of a 1999 performance at the W.C. Handy Blues Festival in Henderson, Kentucky.

His father and his father’s famous friends may have influenced Bernard Allison’s musical education, but the myriad recordings in his father’s record collection pointed the way towards his future. Chicago blues, Texas six-string blues, ‘70s-styled soul and funk all inform Allison’s playing, which is an intriguing combination of all of his influences. With Kentucky Fried Blues, Allison stretches out and explores the many facets of his musical experience, including sultry Memphis soul (Don Nix’s “Going Down”) and traditional blues (a smoking 18-minute version of Buddy Guy’s “Leave My Girl Alone”). Cover’s of his father’s “Midnight Creeper” and “Bad Love” show that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Allison is a distinctive guitar stylist and a dynamic performer. Fans of real guitar blues will find a lot to like about Kentucky Fried Blues.     

Kim Wilson is best known to audiences as the frontman of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He’s kept that band rocking coast-to-coast across four decades now and it doesn’t look like the T-Birds are going to run out of steam anytime soon. That’s not to say that Wilson doesn’t like a little somethin’ different on the side, though. The harp maniac’s solo career may not be as prolific as that of his legendary blues band, but it still puts a lot of wannabe bluesmen to shame. Lookin’ For Trouble (MC Records) is just the latest in a string of musical homeruns for Wilson, a solo album so raw and edgy that youngsters like Jack White should be taking notes.  

Lookin’ For Trouble is filled with gen-u-ine roadhouse blues, Wilson capturing the sound and feel of vintage ‘50s houserockin’. Although Wilson says in the liner notes that he didn’t set out to make a “retro” sounding album, his love of traditional blues can’t help but rise to the top. With guitarist Tony Gonyea and backing from a top-notch rhythm team, Wilson kicks out fifteen red-hot rockers on Lookin’ For Trouble, scorching tunes that blow the doors out and the walls down. Whether he’s cranking his harmonica full stop on originals like “Hurt On Me” or knocking down swinging covers like Willie Dixon’s classic “Love My Baby” or Snooky Pryor’s “Tried To Ruin Me,” Wilson brings a spirit and energy to his music that is missing from much of the Top 40. A fine introduction for the novice fan, Wilson’s Lookin’ For Trouble is a perfect example of the blues done right. (View From The Hill, 2003)

Archive Review: The Black Keys’ El Camino (2011)

The Black Keys found unexpected success with their 2010 breakthrough album Brothers, which earned the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney three Grammy® Awards. While Brothers’ mix of psychedelic-tinged blues, rock, and soul music struck a chord with listeners, the album’s hit single, the groove-fattened “Tighten Up,” became ubiquitous, blasting from TV sets and radios across the fruited plains.

The Black Keys’ El Camino

The Black Keys have delivered a fast follow-up to Brothers in the form of El Camino, a solid collection that draws upon its predecessor’s timeless mix of styles with a pure-at-heart blast of retro-soul and rock ‘n’ roll. Unlike the band’s previous collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, 2008’s Attack & Release, which experimented in lofty sonic atmospherics, there are no loose musical threads here. Instead, El Camino hits fast-and-hard with inspiration that spans the decades, the Black Keys turbo-charging their trademark garage-blues sound with elements of soul, electric funk, and punch-drunk throwback rock ‘n’ roll.

El Camino cranks from the jump with lead single “Lonely Boy,” which sports a riff-happy melodic hook every bit as large and in charge as that on “Tighten Up.” Auerbach’s slightly-echoed vocals are overwhelmed by the song’s dangerously infectious sing-along chorus and Carney’s propulsive drumbeats. Infusing a bedrock of rock ‘n’ soul with a maddeningly effective recurring riff and plenty of engaging “whoa whoa whoa,” the song will stick in your brain long after you’ve heard it, like some funky brain chigger.

You’ll find no creative drop-off from the radio-friendly peaks of “Lonely Boy,” El Camino rolling through its eleven songs in a shockingly efficient 38-minutes, leaving the listener gasping for breath and wanting another taste. The martial rhythms of “Dead and Gone” belie the song’s melodic R&B heartbeat, while “Little Black Submarines” is a Zeppelin-styled folk-rock ballad with melancholy vocals and elegant, atmospheric fretwork. “Money Maker” is a raucous blues-rock stomp with muscular rhythms while “Nova Baby” revisits the retro-soul vibe of the opening track with a gorgeously melody and sticky chorus.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

The Black Keys have come a long way from their three-chord garage-blues origins as an ersatz Rust Belt White Stripes doppelganger, finding their own voice in a high-octane blend of styles that is as classic as it is contemporary. (Nonesuch Records, released October 12, 2011)

Review originally published by Blues Revue magazine…

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The Black Keys’ El Camino

 

Short Rounds: The Black Keys, The Bummers, Michael Nesmith, Greg Stackhouse Prevost, Quinn Sullivan & The Vejtables (June 2021)

New album (and 45) releases in 200 words or less…

The Black Keys – Delta Kream (Nonesuch Records, CD)
The Black Keys’ much-vaunted “return to the blues” is really a musical sojourn through the Mississippi Hill Country with a collection that would feel right at home on Fat Possum Records, their former label. One of the punk-blues innovators of the early ‘00s, the Black Keys pairing of singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney dabbled in soul, pop, and mainstream rock with a modicum of success over the past decade. With Delta Kream, however, they enlist the six-string talents of Hill Country stalwart Kenny Brown and jump headfirst into the songbooks of Mississippi blues legends R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. Their hypnotizing reading of John Lee Hooker’s classic “Crawling Kingsnake” is patterned after Kimbrough’s recording rather than Hooker’s 1949 hit, and much of Delta Kream delivers a similarly-mesmerizing mind-trip with reverent but unique takes on songs like Burnside’s eerie “Going Down South” or Kimbrough’s powerful “Sad Days, Lonely Nights.” Auerbach’s vocals have never sounded better, and his guitar interplay with Brown is electrifying. Carney’s percussion is spot-on as well, providing nuanced timekeeping throughout and explosive locomotion when needed. Delta Kream isn’t the sound of rock stars “slumming” but that of bluesmen reviving their mojo. Grade: A   BUY!

The Bummers – “I Can’t Imagine” b/w “L.S.D. (Long Silent Dream)” (Mojo-Bone Rekkids, 7” vinyl)
If not for the good folks at Mojo-Bone Rekkids, Royal Oak, Michigan rockers the Bummers may have been lost to the ignoble grave of rock ‘n’ roll obscurity – as the label’s Birdman writes in the liner notes to this groovy 7” single, “a few grungy acetates recorded for $35…and one grainy photograph were all that remained of their visionary genius.” Boy howdy! The single’s A-side, “I Can’t Imagine,” is a dreamy, mesmerizing slab o’ late ‘60s psychedelic rock with cool vox, shimmering keyboards, and the occasional stab of guitar, the song a tale of love and betrayal, the musicianship years ahead of its time. B-side “L.S.D. (Long Silent Dream)” is a similar ballad, but with shoe-gazing harmonies, an engaging melody, and a lush instrumental backdrop against which singer/songwriter Ray Bane spits out his lyrics. Although re-mastered by the notable Alec Palao, the sound is fair-to-middlin’ (Palao can’t work magic every time), but the band’s youthful energy and enthusiasm simply jump out of the grooves and demand your attention. Mojo-Bone 45s ain’t cheap ($14 plus shipping for this pancake), but if you’re a collector of 1960s-era psych and garage-rock, you’re gonna want to get in touch with the Birdman by email: mbrekkids (at) gmail.com Grade: B+    

Michael Nesmith – Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings (Real Gone Music, CD)
Michael Nesmith’s post-Monkees solo career has undergone reconsideration of late, various pundits nodding their heads in unison, agreeing on Nez’s status as a “serious musician.” Some of us grokked this 50 years ago, with the release of 1970’s brilliant Magnetic South, which was soon followed by two more trailblazing country-rock LPs displaying the engaging singer’s talent and charisma. Different Drum follows recent reissues of Nesmith’s trio of albums with the talented First National Band and is cut from similar cloth, i.e. finely-crafted country-rock performed with plenty of twang and soulfulness. The first 14 cuts here are alternative takes and studio outtakes that do a fine job in displaying the band’s immense talents and the dirty work of fine-tuning a song, and the contrasts are often stunning – Nesmith’s take on the title track is as different from Linda Ronstadt’s hit version as night is from day, and “Bye, Bye, Bye” is a rollicking cowpunk anthem. “Six Days On the Road” belches smoke and fire while rolling down the asphalt while an alternative “Some of Shelley’s Blues” is as wistful and charming as the original. Different Drum tacks on seven instrumental tracks that, while entertaining, lack the magic of the vocal performances. Grade: B+   BUY!    

Greg“Stackhouse” Prevost – Songs For These Times (Mean Disposition Records, Spain, CD)
With Songs For These Times, the third solo album from bluesman Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist has crafted an impressive collection of material that not only defies previously-held expectations but also explores the possibilities of roots ‘n’ blues music. Working with guitarist Andrew Patrick of the Rochester NY band Dangerbyrd, Prevost makes old rock ‘n’ blues tunes sound contemporary while his handful of original songs sound positively antiquated. The guitarist’s “Free As the Wind” is a powerful acoustic-blues number with subtle, mournful harmonica while the folk-blues dirge “Distant Thunder Calls” reminds of Son House crossed with Johnny Winter (and features some mighty fine guitar pickin’). “Acid Rain Falling” is probably my favorite here, the folkish blues-rock tune offering elegant guitarplay and an overall intoxicating, exotic vibe. Covers of songs by bluesmen like Rev. Gary Davis and Big Bill Broonzy are appropriately reverent, but it’s when Prevost colors outside of the lines – like his haunting reading of Hoyt Axton’s “Snowblind Friend” or Piedmont-styled take on Donovan’s “Colours” – that Prevost’s talents and unique vision of the blues really shine. If you love the blues, you owe it to yourself to discover Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost and Songs For These Times! Grade: A    BUY! 

Quinn Sullivan – Wide Awake (Provogue Records, CD)
Blues guitar prodigy Quinn Sullivan is taking the Bonamassa road to riches – work with a legendary mentor (for Sullivan, it was Buddy Guy); make your bones by playing high-profile gigs (Quinn was the youngest musician to play the Montreux Jazz Festival); and work to find your voice over a number of records. Wide Awake is the 22-year-old’s fourth LP, and while he’s a skilled musician and better-than-your-average-Joe songwriter, he’s clearly still forging a unique sound to hang his hat on (to be fair, it took Joey Bones until Sloe Gin, his fifth LP). When letting his instrument do the talking, Sullivan is a stunning six-string talent who plays with great imagination and energy; he’s also miles ahead of where Bonamassa was at this age as a singer, Sullivan imbuing his material with great soul and emotion. The songwriting – mostly co-written by Sullivan with producer Oliver Leiber – is the weakest link here, largely treacly R&B-infused pop with the slightest of bluesy undertones. The album’s production is so maddeningly slick and glossy that I’ll never question Kevin Shirley’s choices again. There’s nothing on Wide Awake that’s horrible, it’s just that with a talent of Sullivan’s caliber, it could have been SO much better… Grade: B-   BUY!   

The Vejtables – “Hide Yourself” b/w “Good Things Are Happening” (Mojo-Bone Rekkids, 7” vinyl)
Another small record with a big hole from the good folks at Mojo-Bone, the Vejtables are, perhaps, one of the label’s better-known bands, and although the cover art here is mind-numbingly bad, the four-panel insert with Birdman’s liners, rare photos, and cool cartoon drawing of the band make up for it. Musically, the Bay Area rockers were on the cutting edge of psychedelic rock, these two 1966 tracks show a band whose talents could hang with big boys like Blue Cheer, the Other Half, or Jefferson Airplane. “Hide Yourself,” the single’s erstwhile A-side, is the next best thing to dosing yourself and bouncing off the walls for a few hours, the song’s ringing instrumentation, Bob Bailey’s half-buried vox, and Frank Smith’s scalpel-sharp leads defining “psychedelic” while Richard Fortunato’s 12-string brings an exotic feel to the recording. “Good Things Are Happening” is a similar banger, a bluesy, harmonica-drenched rave-up around the corner from “Tobacco Road” with snotty vocals, sleazy fretwork, and a locomotive rhythm that would have been right at home on a Nuggets or Pebbles compilation LP. Equally adjacent to both psych-rock or garage-rock, the Vejtables were on the cusp of something big. Extra credit for the cool mono sound! Email the Birdman for info: mbrekkids (at) gmail.com Grade: A

# # #

Previously on That Devil Music.com:

Short Rounds, April 2021: Peter Case, The Fortunate Few, David Olney & Anana Kaye, Sour Ops, Joe Strummer, and the Thieves

Short Rounds, December 2020: Dave Alvin, Blue Öyster Cult, Shemekia Copeland, Coyote Motel, The Fleshtones, Little Richard, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Midnight Oil, The Pretty Things, Walter Trout, and Brown Acid: The Eleventh Trip

Short Rounds, October 2020: Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite, The Hangfires, Kursaal Flyers, Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, Toots & the Maytals, and Crawling Up A Hill

New Music Monthly: June 2019 Releases

We're standing on the brink of summer and the outlook is groovy! There are only four weeks in June's release schedule, but there's a lot of rock 'n' roll goodness here to kick off the season. You'll find new albums by folks like the Black Keys, Chris Stamey, Bruce Springsteen, the Raconteurs (with Jack White), the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Santana, Peter Frampton, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, among many others. There are a few choice archival releases this month as well, including a long-lost live Neil Young album, a vinyl reissues of James Taylor's One Man Band and a 25th anniversary vinyl reissue of Americana legend Dave Alvin's classic King of California album (with bonus tracks).

Speaking of the archives, Krautrock and prog fans will like Universal's reissues of seven classic mid-to-late '70s albums by the legendary Tangerine Dream on CD with bonus tracks. Isaac Hayes' classic soundtrack to the movie Shaft gets a deluxe reissue, Prince is represented by a collection from his vaults, and Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule return with a red-hot live set. It's safe to say, no matter your taste in music, there's something in June to tickle your fancy!

If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to get it from Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts valuable ‘store credit’ in the Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy!

JUNE 7
Perry Farrell - Kind Heaven   BUY!
Peter Frampton Band - All Blues [w/Sonny Landreth]   BUY!
Dylan LeBlanc - Renegade   BUY!
Gary Nicholson - The Great Divide   BUY!
Gary Nicholson (as 'Whitey Johnson') - More Days Like This   BUY!
Pelican - Nighttime Stories   BUY!
Santana - Africa Speak   BUY!
Silversun Pickups - Widow's Weeds   BUY!
Slowness - Berths   BUY!
James Taylor - One Man Band [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
Neil Young & Stray Gators - Tuscaloosa [1973 concert]   BUY!

JUNE 14
Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Servants of the Sun   BUY!
Roger Daltrey - The Who's Tommy Orchestral   BUY!
Isaac Hayes - Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack)   BUY!
Iron & Wine/Calexico - Years To Burn   BUY!
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Turn Off the News, Build A Garden   BUY!
Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Cyclone [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Encore [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Force Majure [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Richochet [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon [CD reissue]   BUY!
Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear [CD reissue]   BUY!

JUNE 21
Collective Soul - Blood   BUY!
Def Leppard - Def Leppard - Volume Two [box set]   BUY!
Hollywood Vampires - Rise   BUY!
Hot Chip - A Bath Full of Ectasty   BUY!
Chuck Mead - Close To Home   BUY!
Prince - Originals   BUY!
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger   BUY!

JUNE 28
The Allman Betts Band - Down To the River   BUY!
Dave Alvin - King of California [vinyl reissue]   BUY!
The Black Keys - Let's Rock   BUY!
Generation Axe - The Guitars That Destroyed The World [Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde]   BUY!
Gov't Mule - Bring On the Music  [live]   BUY!
Magma - Zëss
Chris Stamey - New Songs For the 20th Century   BUY!

Album of the Month: The Black Keys' Let's Rock. It was another tough decision this month, with cool new music coming from talents like Chris Stamey, the Raconteurs, Bruce Springsteen, and Lukas Nelson, among many others. I'm going with the Black Keys this month, tho' as Let's Rock is the blues-rockin' duo's first new LP of studio material in five years and is said to be a return to the guitar-heavy sound of their early material. Recorded in the frontman Dan Auerbach's Nashville studio, it will be good to hear singer/guitarist Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney back in the groove again!

The Reverend's Favorite Rock 'n' Roll Records of 2014

OK, I’ll be honest here…the Rev is not the guy you want to go to in order to discover what’s “trending” in new rock music. The older I get, the more time I spend listening to the sounds of my youth, and an alarming percentage of my annual music-buying budget goes to picking up reissues of albums I had in high school, or in discovering bands I missed the first time around (like Gong or Amon Duul).

That’s not to say that I’m entirely deaf to what’s going on in contemporary rock ‘n’ roll currents…I read Blurt online every day, check out various other music blogs, and try to stay informed. But much of today’s “modern rock” is regurgitated from the 1960s and ‘70s, and I have little time for poseurs, pretenders, and corporate hacks. A lot of my favorite new music comes from veteran rockers, but there are a few adventuresome souls making good new music that I’ve picked up on.

This, therefore, is less a list of the “best” rock music of 2014 than it is a list of my personal favorites from throughout the year. These are the albums that spent the most time on my CD player or turntable, each and every one of ‘em worthy of your investment in time and money! (Links beneath each album cover to Amazon.com)

Buy or die!

Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell – Check Em Before You Wreck Em (Rise Above)
The oddly-named Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell pursue a hard rockin’ throwback proto-metal sound that is heavy on riffs and plodding rhythms and entirely lacking in patience for what’s happening in contemporary rock. This gang o’ British headbangers took Budgie, Dust, Sir Lord Baltimore, (early) Sabbath, and Motorhead, threw them all in a blender with a sheet of blotter, and let it spin all over the walls. This isn’t any trendy “doom” music, kiddies, but rather a celebration of riff-rock in all its hirsute glory!

Buy or Die!

Ian Anderson – Homo Erraticus (Kscope Records)
It makes sense that Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson would end up on Kscope, the British prog-rock label, as his music inspired and influenced half the label’s roster (Steven Wilson & his various musical side projects, the Pineapple Thief, Gazpacho, et al). At this stage in his lengthy career, Anderson refuses to phone it in, instead delivering a delightful concept album in Homo Erraticus that retains enough of Tull’s old school charm along with the album’s contemporary prog sound to thrill old fans and newcomers alike.

 

Buy or Die!

Chrissie Hynde – Stockholm (Caroline Records)
The former Pretenders frontwoman proved to be as sexy and sassy at 63 as she was at 33 and Stockholm, her debut solo album, is as engaging and energetic as any but the first Pretenders album. Working with producer, musician, and songwriter Björn Yttling, Hynde delivered a wonderful collection of melodic rock ‘n’ roll with Stockholm that sounds fresh and yet as naïve as the early new wave era that vaulted her original band onto the charts.
 

Buy or Die!

King Tuff – Black Moon Spell (Sub Pop Records)
King Tuff brings a contemporary edginess to what is essentially classic rock music, the band (and its namesake bandleader) mixing punkish energy and power-pop cheap thrills to live-wire rock ‘n’ roll that channels the spirits of fave bands like T-Rex and Thin Lizzy. You’d never confuse anything on Black Moon Spell with early-to-mid-1970s rock ‘n’ roll, but it doesn’t stray far from the well from which the band's obvious musical influences drank themselves silly.
 

Buy or Die!

Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie (Earache Records)
A bunch of blockhead critics have dismissed Rival Sons as “classic rock revivalists.” If they’d pull their collective heads out of their asses and stop listening to those awful Spoon and St. Vincent albums for a moment, they’d discover that while Rival Sons certainly draw inspiration from classic bands like Led Zeppelin, what they’re doing is bringing the blues back to hard rock. The Sons’ fourth album locks in British blues-rock tone and psychedelic riffs to separate themselves from the creative rut that contemporaries like The Sword are stuck in. 

Buy or Die!

Temples – Sun Structures (Fat Possum Records)
The new flag bearers for the modern psychedelic sound, U.K. band Temples created quite a buzz on the other side of the pond with their wonderful debut album Sun Structures. Topping many a British rockcrit’s “best of 2014” list (and chosen as “Best New Album” by Shindig! zine), Sun Structures is a whirling dervish of Beatlesque melodies, Zombies-styled psych-pop, 1970s-era glam rock, psychedelic guitars (the Byrds), and Motown junk that sounds unlike any new band since the Flaming Lips, but with less inherent weirdness and more imagination.

Buy or Die!

The Black Keys – Turn Blue (Nonesuch Records)
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney took a lot of shit for Turn Blue, either because they continued their association with talented producer Danger Mouse, or because they didn’t make a sequel to El Camino, or maybe because they did…who knows? They’re either too commercial, or not commercial enough, or they sold out or…there’s really no winning for the band. Coming off an undeniably difficult couple of years, the duo experienced a whirlwind of commercial success balanced by personal turmoil, which is reflected in the lyrics of Turn Blue. Musically, the band continues to use the Mouse as a secret weapon (and third member), the album’s psychedelic soul ‘n’ blues foundation concealing some serious heartbreak ache. That’s what you call ART, people…

Buy or Die!

The Bluefields – Under High Cotton (Underground Treehouse Records)
As good as the first three Bluefields albums were (and make no mistake, they all kicked serious ass), Under High Cotton has ‘em all beat. The songwriting is just as solid as ever – Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites) and Joe Blanton (Royal Court of China) turn a phrase as good as anybody in the Americana field – and Warner Hodges’ (Jason & the Scorchers) hefty fretwork stings as deeply as ever. No, it’s the addition of drummer Brad Pemberton (Ryan Adams & the Cardinals) that makes Under High Cotton a near perfect hybrid of town and country, his talent and energy perfect complimenting the band’s high-octane twang ‘n’ bang sound.

Buy or Die!

The Empty Hearts – The Empty Hearts (429 Records)
The new millennium’s first bona fide power-pop “supergroup,” the Empty Hearts can boast of members from the Cars (guitarist Elliot Easton), Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Blondie (drummer Clem Burke), the Romantics (singer Wally Palmar), and garage-rock pioneers the Chesterfield Kings (bassist Andy Babiuk). As such, the band’s self-titled debut album sounds pretty much like you might expect, given that you’re the least bit familiar with the individual members’ past work. This is unvarnished, old-school rock ‘n’ roll with its roots in 1950s-era rock (think Chuck Berry), ‘60s-styled British Invasion (Beatles and the Stones), and vintage 1970s proto-punk (the Ramones, the Dictators…er, Blondie). These guys play their hearts out with a passion and fever that younger bands can only hope to approach.

Buy or Die!

The Strypes – Snapshot (Island Records)
Unabashedly retro, the Strypes wear their antique influences on their sleeves, the young Irish foursome drawing inspiration from the right folks, talents like the Yardbirds, the Stones, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, and Eric Burdon & the Animals, among others. The Strypes imbue the sound of their myriad of influences with youthful energy and attitude, extending the rock ‘n’ roll tradition from the 1950s to the 2010s, the latest and the greatest in a direct ancestry that covers almost 60 years. Never derivative, these guys lay a fresh groove on the old grease, and make it sound entirely new and vigorous once again.

Honorable Mention: Joe Grushecky's Somewhere East of Eden, Bruce Springsteen’s High Hopes, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Hypnotic Eye, Bigelf’s Into The Maelstrom, Tin Spirits’ Scorch, Opeth’s Pale Communion, Ace Frehley’s Space Invader, Handsome Jack’s Do What Comes Naturally, Radio Moscow’s Magical Dirt, and Warner Hodges’ Gunslinger. 

Looking for more great music? How about the Reverend’s choices for the “Best Blues Albums of 2014” and the “Best Blues-Rock Albums of 2014,” listed over at About.com!