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January 2006

Colin Linden Easin' Back To Tennessee True North/Universal

Tacked on at the end of Southern Jumbo was "Go Back Old Devil", billed as a preview from Colin's next, acoustic blues, CD. Well here it is and it's every bit as good as you'd expect it to be. Much of his earlier work evoked The Band and its unique blend of American roots music. Southern Jumbo narrowed the focus to Memphis and Stax. But from that meeting with Howling Wolf and that LP with Sam Chatmon, he has never been far from the blues, which is why his albums keep getting reviewed here even when the connection isn't so obvious. He is mostly performing solo here, Larry Taylor and Stephen Hodges play acoustic bass and drums occasionally. He has chosen some lesser-known songs but they are obviously ones that have great significance for him. These are not slavish imitations - they have clearly been lived in for a long time. He has written four new ones, one with Gary Nicholson of Delbert McClinton fame and these fit right in. "Easin' Back To Tennessee", by Sleepy John Estes leads into the `preview' track, "Go Back Old Devil" by Bo Carter with its odd percussion by Hodges emphasizing the country timing. Blind Willie McTell's "Broke Down Engine" has more percussion to heighten the impact of Linden's falsetto vocal. "Nowhere To Go" is a Linden original with a Lightnin' Hopkins-style guitar part. "A True Friend Won't Let You Down" is the one written with Nicholson and sounds like an acoustic version of a Delbert song, with its hint of country. This sounds like it may well show up as a band track on a future album. "There Would Be Hell To Pay" is T Bone Burnett's addition to the "Delia" tradition and a very effective one it is. Linden's slide virtuosity comes to the fore in Tampa Red's hokum piece, "You Can't Get The Stuff No More", a tour de force. "Paramount" is another Linden original, an intricate acoustic guitar instrumental. "Keep It Clean" is by Charley Jordan through Larry Johnson and another fine picking piece. "Champ", a last Linden original, is more of a band track with overdubbed mandolin and vocals. It's not strictly a blues either but lends a nice variety. Son House's "Dry Spell Blues" gets back to blues with a vengeance, with Taylor & Hodges at their best and Linden sliding away. Blind Willie Johnson's "Trouble Soon Be Over" is an optimistic way to end the album proper but a bonus track is a beautiful version of Henry Townsend's "Tears Come Rolling Down". Townsend recorded in 1928 and is still with us. He's in his 90's now and could probably use the royalties! I hope Colin performs some of these songs at the Maple Blues Awards and does another one of these very soon.

The Jukes What A Night Indie

With the help of a promising CD, this band is generating some buzz on the local scene. They are not new players, having formerly been Redbird. The new name has clearly re-invigorated everyone however. Peter Charles handles vocals, Josh Gordon, guitar, Andrew Taylor, bass and Chris Chiarelli, drums. Gordon or Taylor wrote most of the material here and they've learned their craft well. Like Garrett Mason's CD, there's not a lot of new ground broken here but the tried and true pieces are put together in innovative ways. The opening song, "Raining in Toronto", should hit home with anyone who's spent more than they have and while it may be the best song here the others are not too far behind. Rod Phillips guests on organ on five of the songs, adding a bit of a different sound but by and large the vocalist plus trio sound holds up well over the length of the album. Songs like "Drinking All Night" and "What a Night" must really go over well with the bar crowd and perhaps then they'll pay attention to the more serious ones like "I Blame You" or "The Sun Ain't Shining". Their web site is www.thejukesband.com, you can get the CD there and more.

Peter Boyd Beulah Land Dipso Phatso

Apparently Mr. Boyd is a long time local musician but I've not seen his name around and that's most unfortunate because his CD shows him to be a very accomplished performer and songwriter. In addition to having a warm, expressive voice, he's a guitarist, moving from acoustic to electric to resonator as required and he's accompanied by his regular bassist, the under-recognized Tommy Griffiths with Randall Coryell on drums. Producer Doug Romanow has supplied a rich backdrop consisting of Rob Gusevs on B3, himself on other keyboards, Tim Bovaconti and Noah Zacharin on guitars, Tortoise Blue on harp and Gary Taylor on percussion. Very importantly, Suzie Vinnick and Cecille Levy & Amoy Levy provide background vocals, because, with his own vocals often multi-tracked, harmony vocals are an important part of the sound created here. For all the help, though, Boyd is very much front and centre, allowing his well-crafted songs to shine. "Been to the Well" opens with a solo slide accompaniment, followed by a funky band track, "How to Fly". "Southbound" continues the theme of contemporary relationships with some lovely mandolin and harp. It leads nicely into the centerpiece of the CD, "The Sun is Going Down Again", a moving comment on the state of racial discrimination. It's followed by the title song, a lovely slide instrumental that might be intended as a vision of a land without discrimination. Reality returns however with a crunching rocker, "Separation Blues". Lyrics aren't provided for this one, perhaps an attempt to avoid a Parental Advisory sticker! An impressive debut, then, and it's now available at Sam The Record Man. His web site will be www.peterboyd.net, when it's up & ready.

Various Artists Blues on the East Side Live Fidfilms

This is a DVD of the benefit concert held for Community Living Cambridge in November 2004. Douglas Watson, from Sumlin's band, opened, backed by the Homewreckers and Shawn Kellerman, followed by Mel Brown, Alvin Youngblood Hart's Muscle Theory, CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band and headliners Hubert Sumlin & Friends. As a concert recording, it is exceptionally well done, with beautiful camera work, editing and sound. The performances, too, are well worth watching, making this more than just a memento for those lucky enough to have been there, with Hart's genre-busting trio sounding rather better than the album he was touring to support. Chenier's three songs don't really let him build up a head of steam but what we see is great. The Friends are Kellerman and The Homewreckers, David Mowat on harp and Watson on bass & vocals with Max Bent taking the vocal on "Evil". Sumlin was a bit more erratic than is usual even for him but a treat to see nonetheless. His stage mates were clearly impressed. For me, Mel Brown and the Homewreckers' four songs were the highlight and I gather a full DVD of Mel with Mako Funasaka will be here soon. Special features include interview segments with Mel Brown, CJ Chenier and Hubert Sumlin, an extra song, "Heatin' It Up" by Shawn Kellerman and a photo album of stills from the concert.

Otis Rush All Your Love I Miss Loving Delmark/Festival

Of all our heroes, Otis seemed always to have absolutely the worst luck with recordings. Album after album would appear that fell short of expectations, sometimes far short, and yet his reputation only grew. For us frustrated fans help is at hand. At his home club, with his own band, it all came together, and, unbelievably, there were tapes rolling. We go back in time to the Wise Fools Pub on Chicago's North Side on a January night in 1976. WXRT was doing a series of `unconcerts' (sponsored by an `uncola') and chose Otis because his Cold Day in Hell (also on Delmark) was getting some airplay on the station. Bob Levis is on rhythm guitar, Alberto Gianquinto on piano, Bob Stroger on bass and Jesse Green on drums. Two horn players, regulars at the club, sit in on a couple of songs. There are no new songs here but rarely have you heard all of them sung with so much intensity, so much unity of voice and guitar. Run, do not walk, and get this album.

- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com

 

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