Ripple Scribes Sing: featuring Deadweight and Cover of Afternoon

Now, before you get all snarky on me and start screaming nepotism or hanging chads or illegal voting machines in urban Pennsylvania, let me explain.  Yes, this is a column devoted to two of the bands of our wondrous Ripple scribes.  But this isn't about pumping them up or hyping them cause they happen to work at my beck and call.   In fact, their music is being reviewed completely independently of any Ripple association.  Let me explain.

I first discovered Deadweight earlier this year, before the boys had put an album together.  Ripple ran a joint promotion with ReverbNation to give exposure to some artists with Reverb profiles, and Deadweight was one of the bands that submitted.  Their killer cut, "Cosmic Lunch" was so much in my wheelhouse that I wrote the boys, skipped right over reviewing the music, and put their song on our The Ripple Effect Presents:Volume One - Head Music Sampler.  That sampler (which is still free, go get your copy right now!) was a huge hit with thousands upon thousands of plays, and Deadweight was one of the surprise hits off the album, turning the ears of such luminaries as Bill from Soda Shop.  It was only through interacting with the band that Headshot, the drummer, asked if he could come on board to write for us.  So music came first.  That's about as unbiased an intro as I can get.

Cover of Afternoon is the lofty lovechild of our learned educator on all things musically groovy, The Professor.  In this case, he did come to Ripple first as a writer, but included a link to his ReverbNation page.  One day in the middle of a Ripple meeting with Pope (who was rambling on and on about something Pope-ish) I hit the Reverb link.  As the music started, Pope shut his mouth immediately, his eyes widening.  "Who's this?   That's damn good."   I unveiled who COA were and Pope smiled, vowing to review the EP someday.  But I beat him to it.

So, unbiased reviews.  Just music that we dig.

Deadweight - The Red Sun God EP

I still can't hear "Cosmic Lunch" without getting excited.   After a brief cymbal intro, that guitar simply sears across the mix like a hot poker driving through a block of ice, steam belching in it's wake.  Hot and fiery, it introduced me to the fact that this band is the real deal.  But more than that, they back it up with a rocking and decidedly funky party of classic rock.  Coming from Oklahoma, these cats infuse their retro-seventies-fried sound with the earthiness of some of the best of the Midwestern classic bands, and come on like a souped up Allman Brothers, Head East, Black Oak Arkansas backyard stew.  You wanna throw some Blackfoot into the mix, go ahead.  Spice it with some Black Crowes, a touch of Clutch or Orange Goblin and let you palette run wild . 

"Lady" is an epic rocking ballad for the ages, one that a band like Black Oak would've taken to the bank. Gentle guitar picking over a nice organ sound lead us in gently, until that big guitar chord kicks in and launches us off into a soaring world of psychedelic blues rock.  The melody here is big, I mean arena-sized big, and this song would've brought the lighters out in full force during a big 70's rock festival -- alternating with huge dudes rocking out to air guitar.  Lead singer Seth Copeland reveals a classic, soulful voice, aged and perfectly weathered in the time tunnel of the Midwestern classic bands that preceded.  Dustin Ray (Headshot) on drums and Brandon Gibson keep the song tight through the rocking passages and the slower, blusier moments.   Meanwhile, Ryan McGowan and Bentley Smith tear it up on guitar, laying the foundation for what will be recognized as the classic Deadweight sound; combating layers of that searing guitar.  Perhaps the Black Crowes could've come up with a song like this in their prime, but I think not.  This is something better. 

I've already gushed about "Cosmic Lunch" so won't go on again.  But damn can that song light a fire!  Keep a copy handy for the the coming apocalypse and you can use it to rekindle the power plants.  Those guitars simple explode in swords of electric infernos.  "Stone Frog" is a heavy, stomping number, while "Silver" brings in an unexpected Doors-y vibe.  "Astro Cannibalism" attacks full front and in your face, tossing a more modern stoner a la Clutch guitar/vocal assault ito the mix while "Grannymead" wraps things up with another grooveriffic stoner fest with a beat that just won't stop.

Rocking from start to finish.  A touch modern stoner/groove rock with a solid background in the the heart of the country classic rock.  Psychedelic.  Stoner.  Whatever.  It simply rocks, baby.   Deadweight are still a new band, and it'll be fun to see which way their sound develops.  Personally, I hope they gravitate towards the more retro-psych end of their spectrum like "Lady" and "Cosmic Lunch" because that guitar sound is destined to become their signature calling card.

Get your copy at bandcamp. 


http://thebanddeadweight.bandcamp.com/album/the-red-sun-god-ep

Cover of Afternoon - S/T EP

As hard as it is to place a definitive label on Deadweight's brand of retro-fried seventies stoner rock, Cover of Afternoon is nigh impossible.  Combining elements of prog, post-hardcore, rock, metal, acoustic, and even some emo, there's just damn not enough adjectives to describe their unique brand of rock.  Other than to say . . . it rocks.

Searching, I think a band like Sound&Shape, who I've reviewed many times on Ripple would be about the best fit I can think of.  Punk enough at moments to be at home on a label like Engineer, this simply isn't punk music.  It's prog, in all the best senses of the word, and wouldn't sound uncomfortable jamming on stage with Ripple's own Fen.  But they ain't prog, not in the traditional sense anyways.  The band lists Thrice and Anberlin as influences.  Sure.

Acoustic-y, metal-y rock-y.  Yeah, that's what it is.  And it's all good.

Cover of Afternoon is a three piece that sounds a helluva lot bigger than that.  Ripple's own, Alex Roberts (the Professor) leads the crew on bass, guitar, piano and vocals. Allen Bishop also sings, plays bass and guitar and Reid Mewborne plays anything that you smash with fist or stick.

And let me tell you, when the boys get their groove on, it's something special.  I'm gonna preface this by saying I don't have a copy of the finished EP yet.  What I have are some early mixes of songs that I got off that original ReverbNation page, so things may sound different in final mixes.  But if these are just roughs . . . then Oh My God!

"Not Afraid" is about as near perfect a prog/emo/post-hardcore song can be.  Starting off with a few tentative yet melodic piano notes, at about the 30 second mark, the real beauty of the melody kicks in with a gorgeous piano passage growing to a full-on guitar-led prog rocker.  As the guitar chimes and rings, that stunning piano can still be heard in the background, layering on a veil of atmosphere that is undeniable.  After a moments break, the guitar kicks into a stuttering riff with the vocals lending a touch of neurosis.  It all builds to a cresendo of flying guitar and melodic chorus that stands right up there with something Steven Wilson may have come up with for Porcupine Tree.  At only 3:47, it's hard to call this song an epic, but it is.  It simply is.

"Drop Your Weapons" is a more recognizable post-hardcore/emo/prog stunt in the Sound&Shape vein, with killer melodies and ringing guitars, time changes, musical drop outs, and cool vocal hooks.  "Harlot" may be my favorite cut, a tragic, spiteful tale of brothers stabbing brothers and infidelity.  The pain of the betrayal hangs like a funeral pall over the delicate melody that explodes into moments of pure rage and release.  Stunningly gorgeous, evocative and melodic, until it's a disintegration of violence and hardcore cries for vengence.  Truly, a stunningly realized composition, that sums up every man's feelings after his bitch cheated on him "You both belong together/ the liar and the whore/I can't wait to see the thing that karma's got in store/for Judas and the Harlot /there's a special place in hell/for people just like you."  What a catharsis!

There's six songs here in total and not even the slightest let up in quality.  Big guitar riffs come out of left field, emotive vocals rip through moments of silence, sing-along harmonies lift melodic chorus to cherished heights.

Yeah, I don't know what to call it.

It's Cover of Afternoon and it's unlike any thing else I know.



http://www.reverbnation.com/coverofafternoon

Lonely Kamel - Dust Devil

It's way past time to give Lonely Kamel some Ripple love.  I was mesmerized by their last album, Blues for the Dead on Transubstans Records.  Mesmerized to the point of never actually writing up a review.  But damn, if they didn't nail the retro-70's vibe that I love so much.  Big guitars, massive Hendrixian flourishes, heavy bass.  Simply put, it was a killer album.

Late last year, the boys came rushing back with their follow-up, Dust Devil.  Now signed to Napalm Records, I didn't know what to think at first.  Napalm is a great label, but not one I'd originally associated with a retro-fuzzy, stoner-minded band like Lonely Kamel.  How was it going to sound?   Were the boys gonna have to change their sound to fit in with the more metal-minded offerings of the Napalm catalog?  Was I about to lose one of my favorite bands?

Hell, no!  Dust Devil, if anything, drops deeper into the retro-70's canyon, mining away into the deep crevices of hard-rocking blues a la early-Zep, Free, Taste, and Blodwyn Pig.  Mix that genetic blueprient with the fired up stoner-blitz of Kyuss, a dash of Fu Manchu, and a sacrifice on the alter of Clutch, and we got what may have been one of my missed Top Ten albums of 2011.

"Grim Reaper" is pure blues.  Hard core, bottom-heavy, riff mad blues.  Cut fresh from the marble of a 70's blues rock band.  Vocals rough but clean.  Riffs precise and heavy as crap when they wanna be.  That vibe doesn't last too long though, as "Evil Man" races right into the dust-swept deserts and canyons of Kyuss.  Killer stoner rock here, revved up and hype, not doomy.  A sandstorm of riffs and bashing drums.

"Blues for the Dead" appropriately enough mixes the first two songs to create a blues-minded, doom-toned, stoner-fried freaked out, fuzzed assault.  "Rotten Seed" picks up the fuzz, lays down a manic beat, and races to places unknown.  Great guitar riffs here, chopping the song up, varying the tempo, and dropping into a KISS-esque choral break.  Dig the killer bass breakdown leading into the space guitar solo jam middle section.  Damn, is it good as it blends right into the plodding, doom-laden, downtempo blues intro of "Seventh Son." 

Lonely Kamel are a band I don't hear bandied about as much as names like Lo-Pan, or even our own Mos Generator, but damn if they aren't right there in the upper eschelon of stoner rock bands.  Someday, I still gotta review Blues for the Dead, because that album really deserves a Ripple write up, but in the mean time, I offer you, oh waverider, Dust Devil.  May the beloved fuzz rock the cobwebs from your brain.


--Racer

Ben Rice Band - Pour Me Some Whiskey

 

Wave riders, you rock blues aficionados may know The Ben Rice Band if only for their bridesmaid finishes in music competitions and blues awards.  However, there is no question about the Band’s twelve track release, Pour Me Some Whiskey.  It is an absolute winner.

I was introduced to Ben Rice and The Ben Rice Band by a Duck.  The CD was sent to me by my daughter who attends the University of Oregon. Ben Rice hails from Newberg, Oregon and she saw the band perform in or about  Eugene.  She was sufficiently moved to send me the CD. Once I heard it and checked out video of the band’s performances, I understand why she was so moved to actually send the album to me.

Imagine Robert Randolph and Joe Bonamassa merged into one person  playing with Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom and you get an idea of the style of The Ben Rice Band. It is hard rocking blues driven music.  Some critics have called it “Rockabilly, Swamp Rock, and Soul infused Country” although the Band’s publicity says, for Ben, it “is the kitchen sink of Blues mixed with his band mate’s influences of Punk, Hip-Hop, and Classic Rock.”  All of those descriptions are apt summations of what you hear on Pour Me Some Whiskey.  Ben Rice sings and plays dobro, lap steel and a cigar box guitar.  He also occasionally plays bass.  Tommy Rice plays a stand-up bass and Ryan Rustrum plays`drums.  On the CD Paul Biondi is also given credit for providing horn tracks.

Ben is the songwriter and he writes a mean song  The album has everything from a self-described “Johnny Cash meets Motörhead” hard rock  - Wreck On You; a Stax/Volt Memphis soul - I Know You Love Me;. a fast swing jump blues - Chop You Up; a delta bluesman-inspired Mississippi Bayou music  -  Don’t Worry Mama; and every a rockin’ blues sound you will likely not find anywhere else.

As much as the Band’s music stands up by itself, I am told, and their video confirms, their live shows are a blast.  Ben Rice’s slide and fret work is superb. Tommy Rice is a madman on stage, twirling, spinning, standing on, and occasionally setting fire to his bass. Ryan Rustrum sometimes comes out from behind the kit and drums on the strings of the bass while Tommy frets the notes.

My daughter is right.  You should take a gander at The Ben Rice Band and Pour Me Some Whiskey.

- Old School

Andy Poxon Band - Red Roots

 


Child prodigies.  Most don’t measure up to Mozart.  Then, again, how many kids do you know were composing and performing before royalty at five years old?  Amadeus may have been the exceptional exception.  The ultimate musical genius of all musical geniuses.

There have been others, especially guitar-based bluesmen and rockers.  Jonny Lang released Smokin’ when he was fourteen years old and had his first hit album, Lie To Me, at sixteen.  Kenny Wayne Shepherd was wailing on stage with blues greats when he was thirteen.  By the time he was eighteen he already had a top ten single.

Add to those blues child guitar prodigies Andy Poxon.  He started playing gigs at fourteen and at sixteen years old released a barn burner of an album called Red Roots with The Andy Poxon Band.  If you look beyond Poxon’s giant shock ‘fro of tangled red hair and queue the music, you will hear a thirteen track bombardment of guitar blues - from rockabilly to soul - fronted by a teenager with the pain in his voice of an eighty year old Mississippi Delta blues denizen, the sadness of a middle aged country blues singer and the guitar playing ability of a blues master.

Red Roots starts with Hottest Thing In Town which establishes that Poxon has the musical chops of rockabilly legends. It is Stray Cats on steroids  Poxon follows the opening track with a funky blues number, No Love. Could that really be a late 1970’s Slowhand?  Nope, it’s Poxon.

So what do you do when you write songs and play well enough to rival Brian Setzer and Eric Clapton? Well, you play a country blues on par with Albert Lee. That is exactly what Poxon does on the track Quitters Never Lose. Is that Sam Cooke or Percy Faith?  Nope, it’s Poxon.  While you grapple with the idea that this kid has never lived in a world without the internet,  I Want You So Bad plays and he throws down a guitar solo that would make Joe Bonamassa smile.

The only track that didn’t work for me was I Need My Girl, a pop song with an early rock/blues ballad sound.  It seems like the least mature songwriting on the album. Yet, it too contains some tasty blues licks from a mean guitar slinger.

Is that Stevie Ray Vaughan or Buddy Guy on I’ll Sing The Blues? Nope, it’s Poxon.  What can’t he do with that guitar?  Is that Gary Moore on the track Stop?  Nope, it’s Poxon.

A third country love ballad on the album explores country rock. When is a weepy whopper of a song; Raining In brings Poxon back to the blues of the late 50’s/early 60’s.   How can a kid born in 1996 channel Otis Rush?  Even more insane - a 16 year old creating an Albert King-worthy song and performance like Poxon does on Run Of Bad Luck.

Just when you think Poxon has exhausted his blues tricks he tears it up with an extraordinary blues shuffle, I Hate Being Alone.   Still, he is not done.  The penultimate track, Is There Anything I Can Do, is reminiscent of some of the greatest blues songs ever written.  In it are touches of I Still Have The Blues For You, Born Under A Bad Sign and Stormy Monday. 

The last track is C’mon Pretty Baby, a rockabilly swing country blues which brings Poxon and Red Roots full circle.   It is incredibly hard to believe that Andy Poxon is just turned 17 years old. Hell, when I was 17 years old I was looking for a date to the senior prom, not opening on the road for Coco Montoya and channeling Gene Vincent.  What about you?

--Old School

Soul Manifest - White Seaon

 

I've been in and around Europe but that was years ago and it's only been lately that I've started listening to rock bands from across the pond. Man I wish I could go back to France now and hear the three-piece Soul Manifest in person. At least I can always listen to their amazing debut album, White Season.

I think Soul Manifest's White Season is an intoxicating dose of 70s psychedelic, progressive blues-rock. The frenchmen picked a first-rate band name too, 'cause I sure hear a lot of soul in their music.

I'm under the influence after the first notes of White Season. "Dead Man" begins with a tiny taste of synth and then a gargantuan, bluesy-ass riff.  Impressive, groovy organs and vocals that floor me. The singer has a solid delivery and kinda reminds me of a Billy Squier/Robert Plant hybrid. Right now I'm thinking: how is it that some of these guys from foreign countries sing so damn well in English? I guess that's a whole other story. Back to the album.

"White Season pt 1" has a super-sized 70s rock aura to me while "Do We Have the Same View?" shows Soul Manifest can have a softer acoustic side, too. "The Devil's Meeting"  is a colossal blues-boogie treat. On the consciousness-expanding "White Season pt 2"  I already have a sense of how well this organist/pianist plays but I'm still awestruck. I sure needed this. I've been missing out for sure.

One of my favorites on White Season has to be "All but My Dream can be Erased by the Rain". It starts with an infectious drum beat and my left foot starts tapping. The killer 70's guitars kick in and my head's nodding feverishly. As the electrifying vocals start my torso's moving side-to-side. Catchy as hell. This song is almost 6 minutes long and has an incredible jazzy piano solo near the middle. I'm including a link to this one so you could hear it right away. I'd suggest you click it.

White Season ends with a psychedelic 70s rock opus, "The Light" (9:46).  It's tripped-out man. You have to hear it. Crazy mondo synthesizers on this one with some haunting guest female vocals to accompany the band.

Wow. Tremendous group and exceptional rock music. Or, en francais: c'est bien. tres bien. (It's good. Very good.) I wish I could say more but I only know a little French.

"Dead Man" and "White Season pt 1" are free downloads on Soul Manifest's Bandcamp page, where you can also stream and purchase all 7 songs on White Season (Feb. '11, Night Tripper). Don't miss out like I did for months.

--Heddbuzz

http://soulmanifest.bandcamp.com/album/white-season

http://www.soulmanifestmusic.com/

http://www.facebook.com/soulmanifest

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show - Revisited

It is Mardi Gras and Spring Break all rolled into one.  Then, lit and smoked.  The band members’  tongues are firmly pressed into their cheeks as they look for a party. They make you cry, laugh,  whoop and holler.  Then, they’ll roll you another one.  Yes, the Doctor is in the house.

First, there was George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis and it was good. Then came Dennis Locorriere and it was better.  In 1969 a club owner asked for their name.and their decision-making probably went something like this:

Cummiings:  

“We ah,” (pulls out another zigzag rolling paper) “we need a name” (rolls zigzag with one hand and licks it).  “The man wants us to give him a band name.” (takes a “strike anywhere”” match, scrapes it on his unshaven chin, lights the zig zag and takes a long inhalation.) “Well, any ideas? (the cigarette and conversation pass to the right.)

Francis:

(Large puff, followed by a cloud of exhalation) “Damn, that’s tough.  Any of you got some pills? My head is killing me.” (Pockets are searched and contents placed on table)

Locorriere:

(Looking at contents on table) “Wow!  Man,  that is a god damn medicine show!  Hey, let’s call ourselves the ‘Medicine Show.’” (large toke, and the conversation moves to the right.)

Sawyer (who wears an eyepatch due to a 1967 car accident):

“Naw, not good enough.  We need a hook.  That’s it!  How ‘bout “Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show?”   (Nods all around; mint juleps are sipped;  roach is extinguished.)

Cummings:

“Umm. What were we talkin’ about?”

Well, maybe not like that but that is how I have always envisioned  it  (according to wikipedia Sawyer is “mistakenly considered Dr. Hook because of the eyepatch.”) The band had a string of top 100 hits until 1983 when Sawyer left the band.  Their early, gritty, hits are the subject of their pre-disco 1976 Best of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show release called “Revisited.”

You won’t find the later hits “Sexy Eyes,”  "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" or “Walk Right In” here.  You will find an amalgamation of the band’s best “quirky” work, with almost all of the lyrics written by the late, great writer/poet Shel Silverstein. . Sure, you get the time-tested hit “Cover of The Rolling Stone,”  but you also get “Sylvia’s Mother,”  which tells of a man trying to telephone his ex-girlfriend, Sylvia Avery, to say one last goodbye, but unable to get past her mother; “Acapulco Goldie,” a tale about a beautiful Acapulco prostitute; “Freakin’ At The Freakers’ Ball,” a journey best characterized as a visit to San Francisco’s yearly Exotic-Erotic Ball; “Makin’ It Natural,”  about “going straight” over a woman; “Penicillin Penny,” which explores the life of a Sunset Strip streetwalker with venereal disease;  “Get My Rocks Off,”  a ditty about what things are needed for the singer to, well, get his rocks off; “Carry Me, Carrie,”  a poetic look at a delusional, alcohol addicted, street person; “Queen Of The Silver Dollar,” the saga of a female bar fly who is ultimately won by the singer; and “Roland The Roadie And Gertrude The Groupie,” the story of a roadie in love with a groupie who is only in love with groups.

Okay, this isn’t classic.  It isn’t pop.  It isn’t straight ahead rock.  It’s not jazz,  What is it?  It is Mardi Gras and Spring Break all rolled into one.

- Old School 

Buy here: Revisited
Buy here mp3: Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show Revisited

Taddy Porter - S/T

“Hey man, we got the kegs.  Four of em.  You ready?”

Ready?  The words trickle through my brain.  I’m 18 years old, finishing high school.  Hanging with my friends Jeff, Paul, Ron, John, and Chris.  Dave is there.  So’s Bob.  Gary's somewhere.  The beer is cold.  An abandoned barn has been pre-scouted as the spot du jour.  My “man-machine” the 1974 Fiat is gassed and ready, intimidating the world with it's huge rubber bumpers.  The word has been spread around the school.  It’s time for a good old-fashioned beer blowout. 

And it’s up to me to bring the music.

Now, in reality, that scene may have taken place in the late ‘70’s or early ‘80’s, but the perfect music to complete this scene just dropped into my hands, fresh and dirty in 2011.

Taddy Porter bring on a southern-fried, greasy blitz of big riff, blues-infected rock that just begs to be cranked up and blown out of ’67 Camaro’s, ’73 Mach One’s, and just about any pick-up truck ever made.  These guys are simply a party in a bottle.  This is retro-rock, near-perfection and should blow the band huge.  Their blues riffs are meaty and beefy enough to get the guys gathered around the keg head-bobbing in rock-mania unison, while the backbeat grooves and undulates with enough sex to keep the girls swaying their hips on the dancefloor.  Or in this case, the dance barn.

I knew I was in good shape from the very first seconds of “Whatever Haunts You,” quite simply a monster of retro-fried Zeppelin blues frenzy.  From the very first moment, the boys show restraint, inherently knowing what it takes to bring dynamic to the song.  A simple, bluesy guitar stutter brings us on.  A drum beats somewhere in the background, steadily, like someone making love behind the barn door.  Slowly, languidly, the pace picks up until . . . all blues hell breaks loose.  Andy Brewer belts out the opening with a gruff-Plant energy as guitars, bass, and drums kick into full fury around him.  Dust bellows from the abandoned barn as air guitars break out from the guys and those young girls start swaying in ways far too seductive to write about in a family music site.  Oh fuck that.  They’re sexy as all get out.  Guys lining the walls watching those girls grind and shake, fantasies filling their heads.  And in each of those fantasies, “Whatever Haunts You,” is playing.  Dropping down to a mid-song respite, bellowing back up with a raging guitar solo courtesy of Joe Selby.  Kevin Jones on bass and Doug Jones on the kit keep those female hips taunting and teasing.  A great modern blues rock number through and through.

“Big Enough” keeps the sexual energy driving with a country-fried blues work-out.  This is what I always wanted the Black Crowes to sound like.  Big muscular guitars, stop-start riffing, snotty backing vocals, and Andy spewing out lyrics that seem to be about just what you might think with a title like “Big Enough.”  Not sure about that, but on my imaginary dancefloor that’s what they’d all be thinking anyways.  Toss in a truly bopping chorus and this song is another barn burner.

“Shake Me,” rocks in a Bad Company vein, maybe with a touch of BTO or many other 70’s rockers.  The opening riff reminds me of half of an ELO track before it takes off into dirty blues rock heaven.   For the life of me, I can’t imagine why this song wouldn’t be a hit.  In the 70’s it would’ve been and Taddy Porter would be filling stadiums with their southern Arena rock approach.  And the crowd would’ve eaten it up.   Whiskey soaks through each note like a home-bottled brew of 70’s moonshine.  Each riff is powered with enough grit and dust to make it truly authentic.  These aren’t guys going through the motions and they aren’t living in the past.  They’re living this rock, day to day, moment to moment.  Authenticity drips from each song like blood from an opened vein.  Toss some Stone Axe into the mix and we got a whole new breed of modern 70’s rock. 

As the party rages on and the keg starts to dry up, “Long Slow Drag” offers a brief respite from the frenzied rock.  A momentary slow dance before “I Gotta Love,” attacks in Blackfoot intensity.   The party rages back to full force.  With that charging guitar riff and killer vocal hook, hands fly into the air, the dance barn fills, beer flies and spills.  “Mean Bitch” sums up the wallflower guys’ thoughts at all the girls who rejected them that night with a guitar solo that can burn off enough of these guys’ pent up sexual frustrations.

The first fight of the night erupts to the rocking second half of “Fire in the Streets” which escalates from it’s subdued beginning in true Bad Company fashion to a full-on fist-throwing guitar epic mid-section.  A few lips get bloodied.  A few girls start crying in high school dramatics.  It’s all good.  It’s a Saturday night at a barn beer fest. 

Finally, as the keg runs dry, Taddy Porter cool the crowd down with the restrained, mid-tempo closers of “Railroad Queen” with it’s tasty slide licks and southern boogie, then the finale of “King Louie” a guitar screamer with a fierce backbeat a la The Rockets or 38 Special when they were good.  Andy’s voice really shines here revealing some tastefully roughed up soulful vocal chords, and the band ushers the crowd out with some stinging guitar leads.

The Camaros fire up.  The Mach One’s drive off.  Empty kegs get thrown into the back of the pick up trucks and I climb behind the wheel of my . . . Fiat.  Testosterone burned.  Sweat stained.  Sexual fantasy induced.  It’s been one helluva night.

And Taddy Porter is on tap for next weeks blast as well.


--Racer



Buy here: Taddy Porter
Buy here mp3: Taddy Porter (Amazon Exclusive Version)

Rob Blaine – Rob Blaine’s Big Otis Blues

After just writing about Derin Dow’s guitar histrionics, I turned around and plopped this spicy dish of hot blues into the player and suddenly my world was swirling in another alternate universe of guitar wizardry.  When  I say that Rob Blaine is a Guitar God, I mean that with two capital “G’s.”  Not only is this a fantastic blues album, it’s just one of the best damn guitar albums I’ve heard all year.  Period.

Rob Blaine is one of those precocious youths that I’d love to hate if they weren’t so damn lovable.  I mean come on, the guy didn’t even get his first guitar until age 15 and by 17 he was already gigging regularly around Michigan and sitting in at Chicago’s famed Rosa’s Lounge.   There, he immersed himself in the heart of the blues, working as a doorman, sound tech, and house musician.  If this was an apprenticeship, it paid off in dividends, because on Big Otis Blues Blaine emerges as a full-on, hurricane force blues guitar hero, a true wresting wind to be reckoned with. 

Signed to the dynamite new Blues Label, Swississippi Records, this is an album no fan of the blues should miss.   You love Joe Bonamassa?  Dig on Kenny Wayne Sheppard?  Got a thing for Jonny Lang, Corey Stevens, or Chris Duarte?  I got a new name for you.  One that’s gonna brand itself indelibly in your inner ear, your heart, and your blues-lovin’ soul.  Rob Blaine.

“Not the Forgiving Kind,” launches us onto that path of blues nirvana in it’s very first second. After a staccato burst of snare, Rob Blaine erupts in flaming guitar glory.  Talk about making a strong first impression!  Dig that tone.  I mean really dig that tone.  Rob’s notes are so meticulously chosen, his playing so intuitive and heart-felt, it’s a blessing to behold.  He tears up and down those frets like a man possessed, never over-playing, dropping in some reverb and nuance, holding notes, sustaining them, bending them . . .heck, he could probably make them do backflips if he wanted.  He can funk it up, he can rock it out, and he can blues it down.  And he can do it all seamlessly.  Yes, he’s that good. 

While it’s so easy to lose yourself in Rob’s playing, let’s not forget that voice.  That oh-so-rough-and-weary voice that bellows out aged way beyond it’s years.  I don’t really know how old this cat is.  From his picture he looks early twenties, but that voice, that beautifully deep, whiskey-weathered baritone is ageless.

Big Otis Blues alternates between fierce rockers like “Not the Forgiving Kind,” and slower, moodier, no-less-stunning blues ballads, like the next cut, “Only Mine.”  Rob shines on both.  On “Only Mine,” his guitar literally cries.  It moans.  It whispers in notes of pain and love. 

“Affection and Pain,” picks the rock back up and, my God, does it rock.  Thick and heavy, searing and sparkling with electricity, this song’s a terror.  Rob’s band locks right in with him, Joewaun “Man” Scott blowing the doors off the bottom end, James Knowles raising the ceiling with his snare and highhat.  This is the way I like my blues, gritty and dirty and hitched onto the back of a roaring Harley.  This song really puts the rock back into the term blues rock.   From there every song is just one killer cut after another, but a special nod has to go out to “Must be Nice,” which makes an appearance in both full-on electric and acoustic versions.  It’s a testament to Rob’s talent that he can play that song both ways, such different versions, and each one hits me just as captivating.  Whether sweaty and full of muscle on electric or nuanced and dramatic on acoustic.  I’m there.  Take me where you want to Rob, I’m there.

Blues lovers, it’s time to sit up and take notice.  Rock lovers, you too.  I don’t care if this is a blues album or not.  The guitar work is so intense, the overall feeling so damn heavy, Big Otis Blues is gonna make it’s appearance on my year end “Best of” list.  Yes, it really is that good.

--Racer

Buy here: Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues

www.bigotisblues.com

Swississippi Chris Harper - Four Aces And A Harp

Lately I have received a plethora of blues harp albums.  By the volume received you would think that everyone in America plays a pocket blues orchestra. A few artists are distinctive - a cut above the rest.  But, generally, blues harmonica players play covers. Most blow a decent Willie Dixon, Lightinin’ Hopkins or Muddy Waters tune or two.  The problem comes from a desire to compare.

I have heard the original recordings. The originals are old, scratchy and monophonic - victims of the state of technology at the time they were recorded.  Yet, they are full of heart, soul and passion.  Through the tin cup, hollow bass, sound of the original recordings there is the visage of true emotion and amazing instrumental improvisation.  Unfortunately, many modern blues artists take such improvisation as gospel and play exactly as the blues master recorded it.  So, how do you compare the original rendition to that of the cover? You look for the artists to make the songs their own.  You listen for feeling. You hope for the unexpected.  Does it move you or is it a mundane faithful reproduction?

One of the discs I recently received is a new release Four Aces And A Harp from Swississippi Records with namesake “Swississippi” Chris Harper (what better name for a harmonica player than “Harper?”) blowing eighteen tracks of blues - fifteen of which are covers of songs by blues greats, two that are originals and one that is a converted jazz classic.  Harper pulled together a few legends - Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and John Primer (Muddy Waters’ bandmates) and Bob Stroger (Otis Rush’s bassist), and grabbed some of the best young traditional blues talent around, to record the CD.  According to the liner notes his aim was to produce a traditional Chicago Blues album.  However, what resulted was a blues lovefest as the musicians sat in a circle and played and recorded.  Many of the tracks are supposedly first takes.  As a consequence they contain that instrumental improvisation and freshness lacking in so many other modern traditional blues albums.

Harper is no slouch on the mouth organ.  He started sucking wind when he was 12 years old and, over the years, has learned from some of the best.  He has a tone, tempo and technique suited to the traditional Chicago Blues genre.  With vocal help from modern day blues players as varied as Jimmy Burns of the Jimmy Burns Band, Tail Dragger and Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith (Willie “Big Eyes” Smith’s son), and from legends Smith and Primer, Harper invigorates the old material and also provides soulful renditions of his own songs.

It is a special treat to listen to Harper’s mournful harp wail on the song “I Smell Trouble” as it perfectly accompanies a heart-rendering vocal performance by Jimmy Burns. Heavy blues guitar is embellished by Harper’s warble on Muddy Water’s classic “Long Distance Call.”  Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Eyesight To The Blind” is given a blues swing treatment in which each performer gets to shine.  Sleepy John Estes’ “Worried Life Blues,” which has probably been performed by every blues player from B.B. King to Eric Clapton to Kenny Wayne Shepherd, is given a down and dirty slow drudge cadence that actually sounds like the band is worried.  The sole “non-blues” song on the album, an instrumental version of Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” crosses out of the big band jazz genre and grabs the feeling that the blues get when greats such as Pinetop Perkins tickle the ivories.

There is much, much, more on this album and it is all worth a long listen.     While the album does not break new ground, it is a strong effort that contains stellar recordings of many well-known Chicago Blues numbers by some of the original blues masters and their attentive modern day students and progeny.  The trading of harp leads by Harper and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith on Smith’s “Born In Arkansas,” by itself is worth the price of admission.

This is not a mundane faithful reproduction.  It is unexpected and full of feeling.  Keep blowin’ Swississippi.  Keep blowin’.

- Old School

Buy here: Four Aces & A Harp

Ripple News - Guitar Legends JPT Scare Band Tearing it Up with New Release

Hot on the heels of their blistering new release "Acid Blues is the White Man's Burden," JPT Scare Band have been tearing through vinyl sales with abandon.  Perhaps it's that glorious two-tone, psychedelic vinyl?  Perhaps it's the gatefold cover and trippy artwork? Nah, it's the intense, legendary guitar-work of Terry Swope and the crushing rhythm section of Paul Grigsby and Jeff Litrell.

But rather than have us toot the band's horn, we thought we'd let others lead the JPT parade.

JPT Scare Band "Acid Blues is the White Man's Burden."

"Each track sizzles with nostalgia, with fuzzy guitars, gritty vocals, and extended jam sessions that instantly transport you to what feels like a Hendrix concert. Everything grooves in its own right. . .  will undoubtedly dazzle fans of classic blues rock. Terry Swope has got to be one of the world's most underrated guitarists!

If you miss the glory days of Cream, Deep Purple, and Jimi Hendrix, you have to check out these uncovered gems from JPT Scare Band."  -- Bill's Music Forum and the Rock and Roll Report.

 "The trio veers between Cream and Grand Funk Railroad." -- Tom Harrison, Quick Spins, The Province Newspaper

"Acid Blues Is the White Man's Burden, seven lengthy psychedelic bluesy rock stompers (nine of the vinyl version) that come howling out of the speakers. This is Classic Rock from the Golden Age! Holds its own against their famous niche sharers, such as Cream, Ten Years After, Rory Gallagher and the mighty Led Zeppelin. Singer Swope has the swagger and the chops, and the rhythm tandem of Jeff Littrel and Grigsby are solid and smooth. It just goes to show that it's never too late to be recognized as an interesting chapter in the Big Book of Rawk." -- Here Comes the Flood

"A Gem to treasure.  Let the hypnotic music swirl around you.  For anyone who wishes to delve into the heritage of the current crop of stoner bands, this is an unmissible compilation.  Terry Swope rivals some of the day's greats including Clapton and Hendrix.   JPT Scare band are the unsung heroes of the cult rock scene and now they have decided to remind the world of their phenomenal abilities. "Long Day," is fresh, a great introduction to the band.  Centerpiece "Stone House Blues" recalls the excellent Led Zeppelin at the BBC disc with it's loose and thundering bass.  "I've Been Waiting" has a riff so heavy it could be encased in lead.  Sits comfortably along side Black Sabbath."  -- Sonic Abuse

"Album of the Day!" -  Roadburn.com

"Acid Blues is the White Man’s Burden is without question one of the most natural sounding and charismatic records I’ve heard this year. At once celebrating what they were and what they are in a way few bands can actually pull off convincingly. Littrell, Grigsby and Swope show remarkable chemistry. Swope’s leads are not to be understated. The soul in what he does is so up front it’ll bring a tear to your eye. JPT Scare Band are able to harness what made heavy ‘70s rock so influential without sounding like they’re ripping anyone off, including themselves.  If you’re not moved by the way these three players work together in the jammed-out last minutes of “I’ve Been Waiting,” you’re just not getting the point. Acid Blues is the White Man’s Burden might be a sleeper, but for those who discover it, it’s treasure." -- The Obelisk

"Compiled from studio outtakes spanning over 35 years, that this album hangs together so coherently and is wall to wall with the highest quality tuneage is a testament to just how incredible this band really is. An orgasmic display of sonic abuse from guitarist Terry Swope. Fuck me, this guy is a lost gem!!! Blazing with a technique that would make most big haired 80's shredders shit their pants but grooving with a feel that would make Billy Gibbons weep, Swope lays on note after note of pure class. This is certainly no one man band though, bassist Paul Grigsby lays down such a filthy groove that you want to take a shower afterwards and drummer Jeff Litrell swings like an aging virgin's nut sack!!!  The charm of JPT Scare Band...it's passion that is both seductive and enthralling and a passion that seems unabated by years in the undergrowth."  -- Sleeping Shaman

Buy here: www.ripple-music.com 




 

Johnny Winter - Johnny Winter And. . . Live

Recorded in late 1970 and released in early 1971, this captures the incredible Johnny Winter and his awesome band at their finest – loud, raw and blazing through a killer set of blues and rock and roll. What a band! Not only do you have Johnny’s fired up guitar, but you have Rick Derringer as his foil. These 2 guys played well together and you can really hear them inspire each other on this album. Randy Jo Hobbs’s bass playing is thoroughly bong rattling. Randy had played with Derringer in the McCoys and later went on to join Montrose.

The album opens with the incredible drumming of Bobby Caldwell (who would help form Captain Beyond in a year or 2) on a blistering version of “Good Morning Little School Girl.” This is some hard-ass boogie rock. Johnny takes the first guitar solo while Rick plays some funky riffs underneath him before switching roles and eventually soloing at the same time. Johnny is mixed in the left channel and Rick is on the right. Check it out on headphones for a lesson on how great musicians complement each other. There’s also great guitar interplay on the slow blues “It’s My Own Fault.” Lots of bands were abusing the blues in the early 70’s but few in the rock world could keep up with the Texas master. The band also blast through some of their favorite rock & roll numbers like “Johnny B. Goode,” the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and a very high energy medley of “Great Balls Of Fire/Long Tall Sally/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

But the highlight of this (and any Johnny Winter live experience) is the incredible “Mean Town Blues.” Originally recorded on Johnny’s 1968 debut album The Progressive Blues Experiment, this slide guitar masterpiece became his calling card. There are other great live versions from Woodstock (1969) and London’s Royal Albert Hall (1970) but this is by far the best. The band really smokes on this one and use a lot of dynamics. Rick and Johnny play separately and together to make for a very exciting ride. The highlight is when Rick and Randy drop out to let Johnny soar over Bobby’s kick ass drumming.  

The CD is currently out of print but you can probably find a used copy of it or the LP pretty easily on ebay. An official biography of Johnny Winter has recently been published titled Raisin' Cain - The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter that has been getting great reviews. He’s led a pretty intense life and there’s bound to be incredible stories of his work with Muddy Waters, his brother Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer. Play this one loud!

 -- Woody

buy here: Johnny Winter And / Live

The Danny Cowan Group - Driving Back To Texas

Footnotes.  If there is one thing law school taught me it was to always read the footnotes.  That is where the best stuff is hidden.  There is where you find the intrigue - backroom compromises, half-hearted arguments and justifications.

Footnotes also memorialize a person’s fifteen minutes of fame in and about great events or amongst historical figures.  Those asterisked, margin-numbered, individuals occasionally have stories as compelling as the historical figures to which their stars are appended.  Yet, the paths of those lives are harder to research and more difficult to follow.

In 2001, I downloaded a free album from download.com called Driving Back To Texas by The Danny Cowan Group.  I knew nothing about Danny Cowan or his “Group.” I was playing “spin the musical wheel” with the download.com search engine for decent electric guitar blues.  The pointer had ended up at Danny Cowan Group album so I downloaded it. 

The music is original - written by Danny Cowan and, his then-wife, Tracey Cowan.  On this release Tracey sings.  She has a deep-throated sexy voice that perfectly compliments Texas-style electric blues.  Danny plays guitar and also sings. The remainder of the “Group” is comprised of Craig Ricks on bass and Hector Gonzalez on drums.  The album was produced by Marius Perron of TAZ Productions, San Antonio, TX.  That is all I could find out about the band at the time I downloaded the album.

The music is hot blues.  Danny is a white blues guitar master with shades of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan all rolled into one guitarist.  The songs are wonderfully written and the band is smoking.  Best of all the album was, and still is free!

Recently, I heard Danny Cowan’s name come up in connection with a 1976 appearance on the TV show “Austin City Limits” with an obscure band called Augie Meyers & The Western Headband.   It was only thereafter I discovered Danny Cowan was the ultimate rock and blues footnote.  He is the man who readies the audience for the headliner.

Danny did shows in the 1970’s with Doug Sahm as the Sir Douglas Quartet and opened for Jimmy Reed, Gatemouth Brown and Willie Nelson.  In the mid-1980’s he formed his own band which opened for Chuck Berry, The Supremes, Foghat, Roy Buchanan & many other headliners.

The Danny Cowan Group is no longer together.  This album and the group, like Danny, are a footnote to great electric blues guitar music. 

Danny has formed a new band - the Danny Cowan Band.  His ex-wife is no longer with him (although he still does some of the old material they wrote together).  Rick Jackson plays drums. Bass is played by Paul Everett.  Ed Fry has taken over the vocal duties. Danny just plays guitar. I don’t think they have released an album but a few new tracks can be heard on their website.

--Old School


Footnote: The album is still available free at http://music.mp3lizard.com/dogtrax/.  A  non-compressed pristine version is available directly from  DogTrax Records for $10 at http://www.dannycowangroup.com/Bandpage.html where you can also listen to the entire album online.

Black Bone Child - Alligator

If you were a casual reader of the Ripple Effect, you might think that we were members of Black Bone Child.  I mean, simply search the archives and you’ll find more column inches devoted to this band than any other that has ever graced the Ripple pages.  If we were any less confident in the rollicking, barnstorming brand of modern rock, swampy blues that these cats churn out, we may even begin to wonder if you waveriders could get tired of reading about them.

Fortunately, we don’t think about it that hard.  And just as fortunately, the industrious Donny James and Kenneth M. just keep on cranking out one glorious burner after another. 

Now these cats went ahead and took the D.I.Y. ethic of hard work and diligence just one step beyond, releasing two CD’s of new material on the same day.  My Ripple brethren, The Pope, already reviewed the jaw-dropping, stunning acoustic affair that was Take You Blind.  Now it’s my turn to try and find the words to summarize the total victory of groove and glory that is Alligator.

Joined in their home, White Door Studio, by guitarist, Jason King and drummer Steve Hudson, Alligator finds a band building off the momentum they created with their gobsmacker of a debut and upping the intensity to a whole new level.   That’s not to say that Alligator is an entirely new musical beast.  It’s not.  Rather, Alligator follows right on the heels of the debut, building on the strengths of their performance and upping the ante big time for what’s to follow.

“Run Away,” kicks us off right off the get-go, thunderously loud and heavy, as the band jump right into a monstrous riff.  Present is that definitive Black Bone Child, subterranean low and heavy bass tone of Kenny M.  Present is the throaty soulful vocals of Donny James, more confident and engaging than ever.  And present is the battering assault on the drums that is “Tucky” Steve and the added intensity of “Whiskey” Jason ripping the frets off his six-string.   This is a full-on, dropped-into-the-swamp, rock and roll event.  Listen to the flourishes of muddy guitar at the end of each stanza.  My God, listen to that bass tone when it gets the time to shine alone.  Feel the percussive force of the drums.  Don’t listen to it, feel it I say!  This is about as intense an opening song as I’ve heard in a while.

I don’t normally talk about production in a review, but since this whole thing is a studio-in-the-backyard, D.I.Y. effort I gotta say that the boys have grown in the studio as well as in the performance.  This is an album that rewards deep listening, paying attention to the recording, mixing and production.   On “Run Away” alone we get a perfect mix that just blasts the funk of the bass right into the front of the sound without drowning the vocals or guitars.   Subtle guitar ticks and flourishes abound.    The drumming and percussion are impeccably tight, in your face when it’s supposed to be, and lurking in the background when it serves the song.  Everything just sounds bigger on this album. The bass is bigger, the guitars, the drums. And when I say bigger, I mean huge—like ten foot tall Gibsons with telephone lines for strings.

Black Bone Child always had their own sound, more than a fusion of their influences.  If “Run Away,” attacked like the best White Stripes song you’ve always wanted to hear, the guitar tone of  “Be Your Man,” brings on visions of the more bluesier Zeppelin.   Another terror of a song, this sums up all that Black Bone Child is.  Following an attention-grabbing drum intro, the guitars layer on, open-bodied and full.  The band launches into a melody that instantly grabs my inner ear before the whole thing stops on a dime and a blazing guitar slices through the mix, shooting the song off like some swamp, mud-beast rising from the murky water.  What we got now is a foot-stomping, ass-shaking, bring-on-the-sweat, groover.   Having seen this song performed live, I can tell you that none of its passion got lost in the studio.  The boys play it as if they were on stage performing to 10,000 fans.  I can almost imagine Kenny’s right foot in constant motion, stomping out the beat.

In fact, that can be said of the whole album.  Nothing got lost from the stage to the studio here, every song brings that packed-club intensity.  And best of all, despite its bracing attack, Alligator still maintains all the warmth and intimacy of the best of Black Bone Child.  “You Oughta Know,” unleashes another wave of escaped-from-the-marshy-bog rock and roll.  Donny’s voice is in fine form as the band bash out another bluesy, garage monster, with a vocal/guitar chorus sure to convert the uninitiated.   

No review of this album could exist without special mention of “Baby Baby.”  Yeah, I know it’s self-serving, but when the band debut’s a song on our very own radio show, playing it live acoustic on-the-air just one day after writing it, well, fuck it, that’s special.  Turns out that “Baby Baby” is one hell of a song, Ripple involvement or not.  With Kenny blowing his lungs out on harmonica, Donny soulfully rasping over some scratching guitar and handclaps, “Baby Baby” is enough to cause the whole damn barn to ignite.   Throw in some serious string-bending guitar breaks, killer harmony vocals from Kenny, and a verse that just begs for audience screaming, and we may have the definitive Black Bone Child statement.  The encapsulation of all that the band brings in a two minutes and forty-four seconds of driving intensity. 

I said earlier that Alligator was released at the same time as Take You Blind, so you may wonder why it’s taken us so long to review it.  Simply put, having both Black Bone Child albums come to our door on the same day was just too much.  Both Pope and I blew a mass of brain cells as our steamy man-love affair for these guys went into overdrive.  Take You Blind, was such a passionate, intense album that neither of us could imagine anything ever standing next to it.  Finally, with the passage of time, I could get Alligator into the CD drive and give it a fair listen.  And I’m happy to say, that Take You Blind has a worthy companion.  An album that gets fuller and more addictive with each listen.

Gents, I raise my glass to you.  Next whiskey’s on me.

--Racer

Buy here:

John Butler Trio - Sunrise Over Sea

Okay . . . this little gem has been in steady rotation for what feels like forever. I must have picked it up when it originally came out, way back in . . . 2004? Are freaking kidding me? In one way, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been listening to this album for all this time, in another way, it’s not all that surprising. If you’re not familiar with John Butler and his fabulous band of stalwart musicians, then please, go out, get yourself a copy of Sunrise Over Sea and kick back, grab a cup of tea, cross your legs while sitting in a Queen Anne, maybe smoke a little of that funny stuff, roll out your yoga mat, hug a tree, get all hippie with your bad selves, and enjoy.

John Butler is Australian (though born in the U.S.,) and has managed to fuse the sounds of bluegrass, country, folk, Americana, and straight up rock n’ roll to create his own signature sound. Combining socio-political lyrics with this stripped down style of music seems to make the man’s ideals, positions on environmental preservation, social change, mental perception on the world issues at hand feel that much more real and  . . . well, honest. It’s one thing to preach about world change and hide behind the relative safety of the studio walls, it’s something all together more real to get arrested for protesting a governments wrongs or to live in a tree to make one’s point. Don’t know about any of you, but I can’t really imagine living in a tree . . . though, in some ways, it totally sounds cool!

On to the album!

Kicking off the disc is “Treat Yo Mama” is a heavy blues-based burner, powered by a swampy sludge groove, filled with some outstanding slide work and made infectious by the catchiest of catchy choruses. Butler’s vocal performance is more rapped than traditionally sung, building a more dramatic and immediate mood than sung otherwise, and his lyrics initially will have you thinking that the song is all about treating one’s birth mother, one’s flesh and blood with respect. But as we get to the last verse, the meaning broadens and becomes all about treating our earth mother with respect. The way he weaves the lyrics never ceases to amaze me, and the way he strung these words together shows a dude who not only has a mastery of the English language, but someone who is clear in thought with the conveyance of his ideas. Musically, while you’re getting your primitive groove on, listen to the guitar work as Butler effortlessly plucks notes from some hidden treasure trove of taste and class.

One of the underlying themes in John Butler’s music is corporate greed and how big business has no morale qualm with raping the earth so that a small percentage of humanity can live it luxury. No song captures this message as well as “Company Sin.” With upright bass boppin’ along and polyrhythmic percussion poppin’, the song has a vibe mixed in reggae and juke joint jazz. Butler’s voice is rich and soulful on this particular track, and his passionate performance draws the listener ever so close to standing in a dusty wasteland created by higher profits. The guitar solo is wah drenched funky jam with a huge jazz tone running through it. I find it a weird contrast of moods to hear music so upbeat and soulfully powerful, yet to have the lyrical content as dark and filled with personal struggle. But, like the reggae masters who called for revolution in thought and, ultimately, through action with their airy style of sound, John Butler has culled a style of music from a similar vein.

“Betterman” is funky, upbeat jam. Again, the rhythm section provided the addictive groove while John Butler gracefully plucks notes or caresses the guitar neck with a slide. Pay close attention to the guitar work on the one . . . the harmonics, the slide, the fluidity that Butler plays with . . . damn! I love how he also has the presence of mind to stop playing and just lets the rhythm section push to the song along, then jumps back into the jam. The solo is slide players wet dream. Listening to him play is one thing, watching his utterly mindboggling. It simply makes me want to break my own fingers in frustration.

“What You Want” is a slower jam, but no less powerful. In fact, this song may be one of the heaviest tunes on the album, and I can only think that’s attributable to the open space for the sound to flow, as well as the lush richness of Butler’s voice. Strings arrangements fill some of the nooks and crannies with sound, but in essence, the song is the trio creating a picturesque beaut of a tune. The melody throughout is infectious, though laced with a subtle sound of sadness, it also has these great uplifting moments. Dynamic in tone due to the volume swells, the vocal harmonies, and the individual musical performances, “What You Want” is undoubtedly the song I hit repeat to every time through, and I find myself getting lost in the textural sounds and the countless musical subtleties.

“Seeing Angels” never fails to make me think of my wife. It’s one of those sensitive songs without being sappy. It’s one of those songs that will make most guys sit back and nod in respect towards their significant other, makes them realize that they are really nothing without a woman by their side. The second verse is a lyrical killer. Fuck. Dude can write a moving tune. “Zebra” is another funky number and the first song I remember hearing from the disc. Packed with great tones, the warm sounds of the upright bass groovin’ it’s groove, the vocals all over the place . . . jumping into the mix at odd times, emotion drivin’ guitar work, drums snappin’, crackin’, whackin’ away on the upbeat, on the downbeat, on the sidebeat . . . killer tune!

Sunrise Over Sea is, without a doubt, one of those albums that I can listen to anytime of the day. There is so much going on, not just in the music but in the lyrical ideas and conveyance. And, the more I listen to this album, the more I think that John Butler is a genius. I really don’t understand why he hasn’t picked up more popularity in the States, especially with the mindset of today’s nation. Who knows? Now that BP has gone a fucked life as we know it in the Gulf of Mexico, maybe people will gravitate to the words in the message of John Butler and realize that this earth is the only mother that really matters. Or then, of course, there’s also a greater chance that our nations media will bury the story under government propaganda and celebrity bullshit. Anyway, Sunrise Over Sea is a great disc, you should check out the tunes I’ve highlighted, then check into the rest of the album coz’ the whole thing is brilliant. Me? Well . . . I’m going to the record store to see if I can track down any of his more recent albums . . . after I take a nap in my garden.  -  Pope JTE

Buy here: Sunrise Over Sea

www.myspace.com/johnbutlertrio 

www.johnbutlertrio.com

Black Bone Child - Take You Blind

When a band kicks out an acoustic album, the immediate reaction from the masses is that the songs are going to be softer, slower, more ambient pieces of music that would suit itself better played in front of a campfire than a bar filled with whiskey chugging patrons. Well, that’s not the way Black Bone Child see things, and I expect that most who lend ears to this disc will feel the same way. Take You Blind is the duo’s second album and yes, it’s all acoustic. Donny and Kenny holed up by their lonesome’s, strumming the six strings, clapping hands, shaking tambourines, and singing their asses off . . . and amazingly, stripped down in this oh-so-natural blues-y form, the boys haven’t lost any of the heavy elements that made their self titled debut sound so ominous.

Made up of pieces of the debut album, the follow up heavy electric album, Alligator, and a few songs that live as acoustic entities only, Take You Blind is everything that I love about the blues and blues-based rock. This disc has got groove, soul, an earthy richness to it, catchy lyrics and melody lines, and the music is flat out heavy. There are only a handful of acoustic albums that have struck such a dense chord for me, for instance, Zeppelin III and Jar of Flies, and even those had more studio trickery to them to be truly acoustic albums. Take You Blind may have one plugged in bass line through the entire half hour set, is stripped down to the music’s most organic elements, yet has layers to it helping the production quality be more than a truly old school Robert Johnson-esque recording.

Black Bone Child revisits a few songs from the self titled album, stripping the songs down while retaining everything that made the songs infectious in the first place. “Mine” has that same swagger as the electrified version, gritty with a touch of class, and still catchy as all hell. The song would make a great theme song for any silver screen scene of a cocky cowboy strutting into a bar, a hush falling on everyone in the establishment, every woman’s head turning in unison, and you can imagine the rest. This is a song with some serious attitude, kinda’ touching on that loose Texas boogie that ZZ Top played to perfection. “Time Pass Me By” follows along the same line . . . upbeat and grooving, also with a hefty amount of swagger, and all condensed into a song that barely exceeds two minutes. Gotta’ love that! No superfluous lines of lyric need to be added, no extended guitar jam, just a short and concise exercise of musical brilliance.

“Baby Baby” opens the disc with a barn burner of a song. The duo is clicking in a perfect harmonization of musical souls. There are a number of elements that make this song so damn compelling, and it starts with the melody . . . nothing fancy, just straight forward and infectious, so much damn hook that you’ll invariably find your golf ball stuck in the brush amidst all who have listened to this song before you. The vocal harmonies are fantastic as the boys feed off of each other and the fun that they had making this recording are capture in full effect. Listen to all of the subtle things going on in here . . . a little break where the guitars drop out and we’re left listening to the vocals, a dying harmonica note, and shimmering tambourine. Then, through all of the hoots and howls, you’ll note a laugh or two. This is one of those songs that, in time, will be a standard tune played at many a ho-down.

“Tell Me I’m Wrong” is as epic as I’ve ever heard this band come across in song. The tune is Zeppelin-esque in a “When the Levee Breaks” kinda’ way. Heavy blues, but not your standard blues . . . more ominous and dark, full of loneliness and suffering, filled with interesting changes and beautiful vocal harmonies. It’s a song dripping with emotion and one that goes well with a smooth shot of whiskey. The wail of the harmonica sounds like a passing train whistle as we sitting in a box car riding the rail back to wherever we left our hearts. Though not electrically heavy, this song has a serious emotional weight to it that would make some of the finest singer/songwriters want to break their gear in frustration. It’s definitely may favorite song on the album and one I can listen to over and over again . . . this may actually be in my top ten of songs.

If you’re heard the first Black Bone Child disc then it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the songs on Take You Blind are catchy and well crafted tunes. The biggest surprise certainly has to come with the immense heaviness that an acoustic set can carry. Is it the tuning? Is it the gear? I’m willing to bet it’s in the hands of the musicians themselves. There’s certainly something magical in the way these two guys can sit down and hammer out a song, and make it sound as intense as they do. Every song on here is solid if not great. The reconfigured songs from the debut add a new wrinkle to the already familiar; the Alligator songs are fresh and give the listener an idea of what’s to come, while a song like“Tell Me I’m Wrong” was meant solely for the acoustic medium. To add electrified anything to these latter songs would ruin the organic mystery of them and hats off to the boys for recognizing that and leaving them in the state that they’re in. And, as if all of this wasn’t enough, the album gets better and better with every listen. At no point will you want to stop playing this CD as you’re traveling around town, and you may not even get out of your car once you get to your destination.  -  Pope JTE

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