REVIEWS FEB/MAR 2022 REVIEWS FEB/MAR 2022 REVIEWS FEB/MAR 2022 song home. Mike steps up to the mic for Whoa Nellie, a cheerful twelve-bar that belies the heartbreak of a man done wrong just once too often. The strippedback piano for Love Is A Stranger belongs in a smoky late-night club, where the only people left are nursing neat whiskeys and pondering where it all went wrong, while the perfect soundtrack embraces them from the stage. Fabulous song titles are far more common of course, but I Miss Who I Thought You Were certainly stands up as a contender for one of the best, and it’s another heartbreaker. If there is justice, The Twangtown Paramours will find that this, their first full band offering, takes them into the upper echelons of blues and Americana bands reaching ever larger audiences, because this collection of songs is simply too good not to be heard by as many fans of grown-up music and composition as it can reach. A wonderful album. ANDY HUGHES
THORBJ ØRN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO BEST OF RUF RECORDS Denmark’s Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado have been crafting their big band brand of blues, rock, R&B, soul, funk and swing since 2002. Guitarist, singer-songwriter and band leader Thorbjørn has been leading the way building a great following and a superb reputation as a live band. With twenty years on the music scene, it’s a good time to reflect on what they have achieved and doing so they have released a best of comprising two volumes and 33 songs, representing the best of Risager’s studio
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and live albums to date. I’m always a bit dubious of these kinds of records because we would all pick our favourite tracks and we all have different tastes, that said every track on this two-volume set is excellent. Volume one spans from 2004 to 2012 kicking off with Rock ‘n’ Roll Ride, and that’s what this collection delivers, a roller coaster of a journey as the band eases their way through various styles with aplomb. Whether it’s the down and dirty front porch blues of On My Way or the following big band shuffle of You Better Pay Attention, you might prefer the rough hewn vocals on the riff driven Love Turned Cold or the rich smooth vocals on the soulful ballad Stand By Me. You could be up dancing to the JJ Cale esq In The Back Of My Mind or pondering the unhurried blues of Ain’t Gonna Leave No More. Volume two takes us from 2014 - 2021, full of more great tunes like the live funky jazz of Paradise, the more straightforward blues of Last Train, or maybe the smooth soulful I Used To Love You. The haunting emotional cover of China Gate or the rootsy slide of Too Many Roads, the soulful Through The Tears tugs at the heartstrings while Come On In and Long Forgotten Track are a couple of laidback blues before closing with the new single Same Old Lies showing that there is no slowing down yet for these guys. My album of the year. SHIRL
ZOE WILCOX BREAKING THE CHRYSALIS INDEPENDENT To be honest I am a bit confused by my reaction to this album. Zoe’s voice is not the strongest you will ever
KRIS BARRAS
DEATH VALLEY PARADISE Mascot/Provogue
Kris Barras just keeps getting better as he proves on every track on his fifth solo album where there is more than the usual quotient of teeth-rattling riffs, coruscating chorus’, and venomous verses elevating this coherent release to ‘best yet’ status. This fifth offering harmonises his prodigious talents into a headstrong and heady mix of blues-soaked musical stylings. His aggressively nuanced guitar approach is backed up by confident vocals. However, it’s the quality of the tunes on display screaming sheer class that wins through. And songs, being the bedrock that allows showmanship to fly, is where it’s always at as Death Valley Paradise lifts off with the rumbling power of Dead Horses that welcomes the listener with an opener that immediately dispels any notion of a safe re-tread back to previous musical journeys. Long Gone similarly summarises this no messing with the kid attitude with an unrestrained strutting menace that rivets the listener to the spot. With a lean running time of forty minutes, Barass detonates fierce ruminations on the pent-up frustrations and wasted years of the pandemic lockdown which explode with a biting passion on the withering protest song My Parade. Grunged up belting riffs - clearly taking notes from Billy Gibbons - and classy melodic blues-rock tropes will ensure that songs such as these and the groove-some These Voices, Who Needs Enemies and Devil You Know will enjoy plenty of heavy rock radio rotation; especially with the copious blistering guitar solos throughout showcasing Barras’ highly developed skills as a musician of note. Where there is plenty of grit there’s also the smooth as Wake Me When It’s Over is a show-stopping live anthem, with a sizzling guitar solo, in need of audience appreciation. This, and Bury Me’s blues ballad, beautifully balances the superb weighty collection of bluesy bangers on parade here. Yet it’s the crawling vocal and guitar riff on Cigarettes and Gasoline and album closer Chaos that reveals a heavier bottom end on show than a backstreet Brazilian butt enhancement catalogue. Born out of his recent personal period of deep darkness, Barras has hauled himself out of a seemingly limitless depression and, collaborating with quality songwriters such as Jonny Andrews, Bob Marlette, Blair Daly, and Zac Maloy, is back on solid gold ground unshackled from his lockdown millstone as this career milestone album completely defines Kris Barras’ existence as a true-blue star. PAUL DAVIES
ISSUE 124 BLUES MATTERS!
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