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Pop
and Contemporary Music |
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Highway
Dave And The Varmints - Bucket Town
New Mountain Music NMM 2007/4 Reviewed by RP
Affectionately described as “rebel renegade purveyors of finest
Black Country and Western music” Highway Dave and The Varmints are
a six piece band with a pair of percussionists who play an authentic sounding
and high octane alternative country groove with a dash of bustling Americana
thrown into the mix. A dozen up tempo and rhythmically evocative songs
with titles like ‘Tailgatin’’, ‘88 Cubic Inch
V Twin’, ‘Hard Shoulder’
and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ atmospherically recreate that sense
of dusty back roads, diners, hard knocks at a woman’s hands and
a healthy disregard for the law. The analogue recording made at the Norfolk
Grange Studios, supervised by Dave Williams and mastered by an ex-Sony
engineer, David Mitson is clean as a whistle and has a fleetness that
does well to keep pace with the band’s foot stompin’ momentum.
Its bedrock guitars, mandolin and lightly delivered vocals are presented
accurately and with endearing warmth. As a concept, albums such as Bucket
Town and bands like Highway Dave and The Varmints provide an unexpectedly
likeable and credible take on music owned by their peers across the pond.
And they’re fun too…
Supplier: frontieruk@btconnect.com
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Ryan
Bingham - Mescalito
Lost Highway 0602517396746 Reviewed by AH
I always worry when I see guys in cowboy hats on the front sleeve of a
record, just in case the contents harbour more dross from country’s
bland brigade. Heavens above, the last thing the world needs right now
is another Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks. Fortunately, this young man is
a million miles away from the aforementioned pap. He heads more into weather-beaten
road warrior territory. A disciple of the Joe Ely, Steve Earle, Terry
Allen songbook of life, 25-year old Bingham spins stories rich with imagery
and fractured hearts. He describes making music as having a conversation
with someone, and judging from the 14 tracks on parade here, a conversation
with Bingham would never be boring. His songs, when allied to his life-worn
voice, breathe with passion, guts and glory, and they have a freshness
and originality that’s so welcoming in this dumbed down era we find
ourselves in. Pulling on the sounds of old, he spits them out and spins
them into something altogether darker and more menacing, and the results
are capable of putting a smile on the most jaded listener’s face.
Mescalito isn’t instantaneous, more a slow burn to the senses, but
these songs have longevity at their centre and improve with every listen,
as all great songs do. It’s one of the best debut’s I’ve
heard in years…he’s destined for great things.
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James
Taylor - Sweet Baby James
Warner Bros. Records 274300 Reviewed by RP
In the late 1960s James Taylor was the embodiment of a riven and angst
filled American singer-songwriter. Addicted to heroin, physically drained
and suffering from depression, he wrote the songs for Sweet Baby James
while undergoing treatment at the Austin Riggs Mental Institution. Today’s
generation of musicians should be so troubled, because this is one finely
crafted album with some terrific moments that express myriad emotions,
from fear, loneliness and loathing to euphoria, detachment, emptiness
and yearning. Emphasis is on the darker more dislocated places where sweet
relief is the next fix away A brilliantly evocative ‘Fire And Rain’
encapsulates Taylor’s life up to this point, and it’s clear
both here and elsewhere through lyrics in a track like ‘Steam-Roller’
that the music and the drugs are irrevocably linked… “I’m
going to inject you soul with sweet rock ‘n roll and shoot you full
of rhythm and blues”… is pretty unequivocal. The arrangements
featuring Carole King (piano), Russ Kunkel (drums), Randy Meisner (bass)
and Danny Kootch (guitar) share a tremendous understanding for where Taylor
is coming from, and this latest Warner re-master does well to uncover
it all.
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Otis
Taylor - Recapturing The Banjo
Telarc Records CD83662 Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine |
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Wilco -
Sky Blue Sky
Nonesuch Records 131388-1 Reviewed by RP
Available in this months magazine
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Tegan
And Sara - The Con
Sire Records 257468-1 Reviewed by RP
Available in this months magazine
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Ben Reel
Band - Sweet Victory
Ben Reel Music Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine
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Mark
Knopfler - Kill To Get Crimson
Warner Bros. Records 281660-1 Reviewed by RP
Available in this months magazine
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Crosby
Loggins - We All Go Home
Provogue Records PRD72392 Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine
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Ry
Cooder & V. M. Bhatt - A Meeting By The River
Analogue Productions/Water Lily AcousticsAAPW 29 Reviewed by DDD
Available in this months magazine |
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Krista
Detor - Cover Their Eyes
Corazong Records 255102 Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine |
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Larry
Miller - Outlaw Blues
Big Guitar Records LMIL05CD Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine |
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The
Simon Hopper Band - A Land For The Many
Control Shift Music CSMCD02 Reviewed by RP
Available in this months magazine
Supplier: frontieruk@btconnect.com |
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Rod
Picott - Summerbirds
Welding Rod Records 134842 Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine |
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Gaynor
O’Flynn - Who Am I?
Being Human Records Cat. No. 001 Reviewed by RP
Available in this months magazine
Supplier: frontieruk@btconnect.com |
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Sarah
Borges - Diamonds In The Dark
Sugarhill Records SUGCD4028 Reviewed by AH
Available in this months magazine |
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