GIN HOUSE BLUES Wayne Nicholson (independent) **** ½
One thing as exciting as a great guitar player sinking his teeth into grinding blues is a great singer doing the same thing, and that’s just what Wayne Nicholson is up to on his 7th solo record Gin House. He’s been compared to Steve Marriott, Paul Rodgers and David Clayton Thomas, and with good reason. That voice along with this band and this production team have made for an breathtaking blues excursion.
Nicholson has long been recognized on Canada’s East Coast as the preeminent blues/rock voice for several well-known groups. Producer Tony D. knew they were off to a fine start with the oddly titled Shucking Corn With Muddy Waters. “Wayne had written lyrics that came from a dream. I wrote the music giving it a modern swampy blues feel with some Muddy riffs for authenticity” recalls Tony. “We were arranging it in the studio, and it was getting late so we decided to lay down a demo for reference for the next day. Come morning we were listening to it and everyone was grooving and smiling and we realized that WAS the take.”
Gin House Blues is bookended with fast and slow versions of Nina Simone’s take on the title track. Steve Marriner’s harp drives the fast version with a ZZ Top feel, and Bill Stevenson’s piano takes the song someplace else on the slow version. The album includes 8 Nicholson originals too; The Night Train Is Coming deals with PTSD, a mid-tempo gentle rocker set up nicely by Kim Dunn’s mesmerizing piano intro, and bassist Bruce Dixon brings the jam on Blue Funk. GHB has a variety of blues styles, rendering Gin House Blues endlessly entertaining.
Wayne Nicholson may not be the best known name in blues outside of the east coast, but it’s never too late to catch up on the 6 solo albums that came before this one. Gin House Blues is a gripping piece of work full of heart, passion and righteous grooviness.
HOT TRACKS: The Night Train Is Coming, Shucking Corn With Muddy Waters, Gin House Blues (both versions)
ONE STEP CLOSER Brandon Isaak (independent) ****
A playful, old-timey blues album here from the Yukon’s Brandon Isaak. One Step Closer explores various classic blues idioms as it flirts with a vintage New Orleans sound and feel, for a disc that transports you to the French Quarter and beyond.
One Step Closer is a beguiling mix of vintage instruments like fiddle, banjo, washboard and lap steel in addition to Brandon’s deft acoustic guitar. Giving this a listen feels like taking a walk on a warm, sunny day. “I always try to write from the heart, no matter if I’m writing about hard times, funny situations or singing about the spirit” Isaak says. The songs are jaunty but relaxed, almost laconic and although Brandon is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, he is also joined by several master musicians like David Vest, Al Pease and Darryl Havers.
Of course Isaak was affected by the pandemic as the rest of us were and he addresses that directly on House Bound Blues, the leadoff single; “take it easy, we’ll see this thru/ everybody talkin’ bout the dyin’ flu/ don’t worry, we’ll be fine/ dim the lights, and open up the wine”… talk about writing from the heart, that’s how my wife and I felt and dealt with the pandemic too. As you might expect the themes here deal with lost love, positive thinking and spirituals as well as the usual down ‘n’ out fare but hey… ain’t that the blues?
One Step Closer is a real jewel on so many levels, from its authentic musicality to Isaak’s wonderfully crafted lyrics that paint vivid pictures as well as any artist’s brush. An emotional journey fueled by raw musical talent and an expert command of the blues, this one makes friends real easy.
HOT TRACKS: House Bound Blues, Walkin’ In The Sunshine, When You Call My Name
GOT IT ‘LIVE’ FROM 05 Li’l Ronnie & The Grand Dukes (Ellersoul Records) *****
T’ain’t nothin’ quite as satisfying as live blues, and the new one from Li’l Ronnie & The Grand Dukes hits you right in the sweet spot. Got It Live is a set of aurally orgasmic harmonica driven blues, the kind of album that makes you wish you’d been there.
“While having free time during the Covid shutdown, I spent part of that time listening to some old live band recordings” Ronnie says. “Fortunately I came across a very inspired and well recorded show from 2005”, and that brings up to this album. Indeed it is extremely well recorded and though the gig happened 18 years ago it still sounds as fresh as the day it was recorded. Got It Live also includes 3 bonus cuts from the band’s upcoming studio release.
The performance captured at the time reveals an incredibly tight band, making Got It Live a whole bunch of fun to listen to, not unlike vintage Downchild stuff. The band on this disc includes Ronnie Owens on harp & vocals, George Sheppard on drums, Bryan Smith on bass and John Fralin on keys and boy these guys know how to swing. Li’l Ronnie’s been making records since 1967, so with time and experience he knows how to get what he needs out of his guys. While the harmonica is front and center throughout, this is a solid musical house built on Sheppard’s drums. If he can’t swing the band doesn’t either, but thankfully that’s not a problem.
Of the 8 live cuts presented here 4 are originals with the others being covers of stuff by George Smith, Zuzu Bolin and Jimmy Rogers, but these play like songs that truly belong together. The bonus studio cuts are tasty too, with a righteous cover of Need Your Love So Bad that I first heard as done by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Got It Live is a real beauty.
www.lilronnieandthegranddukes.com
HOT TRACKS: Bettin’ On My Baby, Rock This House, Need Your Love So Bad
THIRSTY FOR YOUR LOVE The Sugar Darlings (independent) ****++
This is the debut release from Montreal’s Sugar Darlings. A dynamic mix of blues, soul, funk and rock & roll, Thirsty For Your Love is an upbeat and swingin’ uptown set of tunes with a downtown heart, led by the velvet power of Miche Love’s vocals- what a set of pipes!
While Miche’s voice is the main attraction here the band is so in the pocket it’s stunning. The rhythm section of Neil Robinson (bass) and Danick Tardif (drums) is tres slick, and The Sugar Darlings have a unique advantage in guitarist Paul Lucyk and sax player Kaven Jalbert, who share and trade off leads, making the band sound much bigger than it is. The overall effect is very nearly jazz, what the press info refers to as “no shortage of flash or flex”… sophisticated in execution, yet not hard to grasp or understand.
The Sugar Darlings collaborate on the songwriting, which invites a wider array of influences into the mix that provide a fresh and invigorating listening experience. I expected Thirsty For Your Love to be full-on blues and while that is certainly an element throughout, I find myself delighted that there is so much more going on. The rock & roll we come across here harkens back to the 60’s on tracks like South Shore Rock which almost conveys a sense of lost innocence… but then again that might just be me.
Miche Love’s powerful voice is reminiscent of classic gospel and soul singers like Aretha and Etta James but with a good feel for pop melodies. The interplay between guitarist Paul Lucyk and saxophonist Kaven Jalbert keeps grabbing my attention as they play with a combination of muscle and finesse, powerful in tandem and damn near breathtaking on their own. It’s fair to say this band enjoys an embarrassment of riches and Thirsty For Your Love is unforgettable.
HOT TRACKS: Crying Out, Why, South Shore Rock
HACKNEY DIAMONDS The Rolling Stones (Polydor) *****
This is The Stones’ first disc since 2016’s covers album Blue & Lonesome and their first of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. With Mick having just turned 80, Keith hitting that milestone in December and Ronnie Wood bringing up the rear at the tender age of 76, it’s fair to wonder if they have enough gas in the tank for another go. The answer in the form of the new record Hackney Diamonds is a resounding and emphatic FUCK YEAH!
The review on I Tunes where I bought the album calls HD “the band’s most energetic, effortless and tightest record since 1981’s Tattoo You” and that’s the stone cold truth. A lot of that has to do with producer Andrew Watt (Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne), recommended by Paul McCartney. Watt kept things simple, recording live with no click tracks or nifty production gimmicks. “The whole point is the band being very close, eyeball to eyeball, and looking at each other and feeding off each other” says Richards. If you don’t think a producer can have a profound effect on a group like the Stones, give Ozzy’s last record a spin and get back to me- I’ll wait.
Hackney Diamonds is also notable for the absence Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. Charlie appears on 2 cuts here while Steve Jordan, hand-picked by Watts before his death, has taken his place behind the kit. Guests include Lady Gaga with a stunning turn on Sweet Sounds Of Heaven. Stevie Wonder also makes an appearance, and Paul McCartney plays some gnarly fuzzed-out bass on Bite My Head Off. I’m a longtime fan although I haven’t liked everything the band has done. That said to me this feels like a cross between Sticky Fingers and Voodoo Lounge, and that’s a very, very good thing.
The Rolling Stones make a zillion dollars every time they tour so they don’t have to make new records- but thank God they just did. I can’t say Hackney Diamonds is the best thing they’ve ever done- to me that would be the aforementioned Sticky Fingers- but out of the 27 (?) studio albums they’ve done, this is DEFINITELY in the top five. Should this prove to be their swan song it’s a good one to go out on… but I’m hoping Andrew Watt can get them together for another go. Rarely does a band succeed so spectacularly well this late in their career; this will be on many reviewers’ ‘best of list’ at the end of the year, including mine. Well done, lads.
HOT TRACKS: Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, Angry, Bite My Head Off
MOVIN’ ON Leo Lyons & Hundred Seventy Split (Flatiron Records) *** ¾
This is the latest solo effort from legendary Ten Years After bassist Leo Lyons or, as he likes to call it, a “collaboration with friends”. He and his band, Hundred Seventy Split are a blues power trio and Movin’ On has a sense of groove that feels like home.
The band, whom Leo has worked with for 11 years, also includes Joe Gooch on guitar and vocals with Damon Sawyer on drums. The album was scheduled to be tracked in March 2020 but then… well, you know. “In late 2022 we were able to start recording” Joe says. “It felt like coming out of a bad period for the world with the hope for something better, hence the record’s title Movin’ On. Joe, Damon and I agreed there were to be no limitations other than our own musical abilities. The blues can make you mad, sad, happy or lost in love. Whatever we felt at the time was how the record would play out.”
From boogie rockers like Mad Bad & Dangerous to swamp water blues like Black River or Deep Beneath That Muddy Water, Movin’ On covers a lot of ground in what is usually thought of as a fairly narrow genre. This has about the same musical heft as the Savoy Brown albums I’ve heard in recent years as it straddles that broad line between rock and straight up blues. Lyons and drummer Sawyer have a no frills approach that really works with this kind of music, and Gooch’s guitar solos are packed with feeling. “Most writer collaborations (here) were between Joe Gooch, Fred Koller and me” Lyons notes. “Fred’s been a good friend and songwriting buddy for over 25 years. I’d often start a song idea with Fred and finish it with Joe. Both Fred and I are lyric writers, and Joe’s forte is vocal melody and his guitar virtuosity.”
Often while reviewing albums I notice if a record sounds like something I’ve heard before and Movin’ On feels like a David Gogo record, thanks mostly to Gooch’s voice and guitar playing. There’s a lot of swing and movement in these songs too… enjoy!
HOT TRACKS: Walking In The Devil’s Shoes, Sounded Like A Train, Black River
