DRAMA Marty Friedman (Frontiers Music) *** ½
This marks the 15th solo album for Megadeth’s old lead guitarist. Drama is not what you might expect from a former heavy metal icon… melodic, atmospheric and surprisingly emotional. This is my first Friedman outside of Megadeth, and I’m pleasantly surprised.
Recorded in Italy, Drama is a stirring mix of electric guitar, piano and orchestral elements that serve to lift each other higher. Other guitarists that make instrumental records like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai mostly rock out but Friedman’s melodic vision is much broader as he tends to go for grand, heroic musical statements. The guitar solo on a song like Triumph leaves little doubt about Marty’s past as a shredder but the grandeur of the song in general changes the complexion almost completely. Of course with a title like Thrill City, the track immediately following, that’s an out-and-out rocker that lets him flex some muscle.
While I enjoyed listening to Drama I do find instrumental albums fatiguing. Plus with the musical drama involved it was like listening to a dozen numbers that felt like they should be playing over the end credits of movies. Well produced, delicate one moment and thunderous the next, Friedman’s sense of melodic adventure is ultimately a delight.
HOT TRACKS: Thrill City, Triumph, Tearful Confession
STANDING OUT LOUD Alastair Green (Ruf Records) *****
Nothing makes my big toe shoot up in my sneakers faster than blues based rock & roll, and nobody quite does it for me like Alastair Green. His new album Standing Out Loud is a greasy, dirty, loud thing of ravishing beauty. Throw in the taste of the south and you’ve got this record.
With S.O.L., his 11th solo disc, Greene’s purpose was to create an honest take on the spirit of the music of the 60’s and 70’s, and he’s done a bang-up job. I should know, I was there; in the 60’s and 70’s I mean. He hooked up with JD Simo in Nashville with that spirit in mind. “I knew JD was into making old-school sounding records and wanted to see what we could create together. I dug into some Rolling Stones and early ZZ Top before making this record.”
Standing Out Loud is like your favorite scruffy old jean jacket, covered with band patches and smelling like a hundred bush parties, it has that feel to it. The songs hit fast and hard with over half clocking in under 4 minutes. SOL is as much a hairy, knuckle dragging album as it is the blues; it’s a beautiful thing.
HOT TRACKS: Trouble Blues, Slow Burn, You Can’t Fool Me
MIDNIGHT IN A BOTTLE The Cass Clayton Band (independent) ****
This is a wonderfully eclectic, smooth musical adventure. The Cass Clayton Band wanders around the funk/rock/soul musical landscape, and Cass’s velvety vocals tie everything together in a gently insistent way. On a purely musical level I’d put Midnight In A Bottle alongside the best of Fleetwood Mac’s 70’s stuff, at least feel-wise… the sort of stuff to carry you away.
The interplay of the musicians in the band is truly a wondrous thing to behold, a soulful blend that sets the mind at ease as diverse genres relate to each other by way of Clayton’s unwavering commitment to the narrative. “I’m a purist when it comes to lyrics and the importance of the story” she says. “Our music explores a vast creative terrain, but the lyrics guide each song to its essence.” She should know… Cass and co-writer/producer Taylor Scott have won 6 songwriter awards and continue to be restless creative spirits.
Midnight In A Bottle is 11 tracks that blend funk and soul with a touch of rock when called for that capture a time from perhaps not so long ago, reminding me of the early 80’s when I was an AM radio deejay. This is a delicious, delightful record.
HOT TRACKS: Rear View Mirror, Slow Fade, don’t Sleep Through The Revolution
INVINCIBLE Demon (Frontiers Music) *** ¾
This British heavy rock act is celebrating their 45th anniversary with an epic new album. I’d call Invincible melodic metal with echoes of Rainbow, Uriah Heep and Magnum, a dense and keyboard heavy sound that just never seems to go out of style.
Dave Hill’s raspy vocals are instantly recognizable and the band is rounded out by Dave Cotterill & Paul Hume (guitars), Paul Fasker Johnson (bass) and Karl Waye on keys. Although their first album came out in ’81 (Night Of The Demon) they separated themselves quickly from the NWOBHM by pursuing a more melodic style that bypassed songs about chicks and cars in favor of a more black magic lyrical style. That is certainly evident all these decades later and the music itself is dense and forceful, what the PR describes as “maintaining a taste for a ghoulish image and elegant music”. Drums and bass are straightforward while keyboards provide dramatic coloring and the twin guitar attack, long a metal staple, is quite powerful.
Vocalist Hill may be the only founding member present but Invincible proves he selected the right cohorts when he put the band back together with new members in 2001, having released 4 albums since then including Invincible. Demon is proving themselves to indeed be invincible.
HOT TRACKS: Ghost From The Past, Hole In The Sky, Forever Seventeen
HER WAY OUT Big Head Todd & The Monsters (independent) **** +
Now THIS is rock & roll… riffy and catchy as hell. Her Way Out sounds to me like mid-period Stones with the simplicity of AC/DC and a singer that, at times, recalls Bon Scott. Had no idea what to expect here but I’m flat-out loving this.
BHT&TM are a hybrid of no-nonsense hard rock, simmering soul, dyed-in-the-wool blues with a twist of country. This Colorado quartet has headlined Red Rocks Amphitheatre- get this- 35 times. As I listen to their latest album I get that mass appeal. Rather than being a hot mess of conflicting musical directions, Her Way Out makes total sense even as it shifts into the country-fried Don’t Kill Me Tonight.
The band is Todd Park Mohr on vocals, guitar, keys, sax and harmonica, Brian Nevin on drums, Rob Squires on bass & vocals and Jeremy Lawton on guitar, keys, vocals and steel guitar. My awareness of BHT&TM extends as far as the handful of hits I’ve heard on the radio, and what Her Way Out says to me is that I’ve been missing out. This stuff is timeless with quite broad appeal, not unlike Weezer. Sweet Jesus, I’m digging this in a sizeable way.
HOT TRACKS: Her Way Out, Don’t Kill Me Tonight, My New Number One
SAVOR THE MOMENT Kirk Nelson & Jambalaya West (independent) **** ½
Kirk Nelson & Jambalaya West follow their 2021 debut with a corker of an album. On Savor The Moment Nelson, a veteran keyboardist singer and arranger, leads a deftly talented group of musicians through a dozen tracks that shimmy, shake and groove all over the place.
As you might guess from the ‘Jambalaya West’ part of the band name, this stuff oozes New Orleans charm and swing, a traditional and familiar vibe. “I’ve always gravitated toward that second line tradition” Kirk says, “it’s a style that came to me very naturally. It reflects an old-timey type of jazzy blues that I use as a foundation to what I play and write.” He adds “(it) allows me to be flexible with older New Orleans-style jazz arrangements and bolster them with some Fats Domino-inspired feels. I try to evolve it into a modern soul/ blues framework.”
Lots of talented musicians involved with Nelson, too many to list here but his drummer, Mitch Montrose is also credited with additional production. The NOLA ingredients of Savor The Moment give it a soulful Mardi Gras party vibe. This is a spirited, feel good record built to liven the party, or any occasion.
HOT TRACKS: Only 12 Bars In A Day, Wake Up The Rooster, Swingin’ So Low
