A FEW GOOD MOMENTS Burton Cummings (JoJo Productions) ****
I count this as Cummings’ 9th post- Guess Who studio album overall, his first in 16 years since 2008’s Above The Ground. That’s a modest title from one of rock’s best voices, A Few Good Moments, and while he has nothing left to prove BC remains a restless creative spirit. This is the sort of middle-of-the-road pop/ rock he’s famous for; cool mid-tempo stuff peppered with a few piano powered rockers like his cover of Arc Angels’ Shape I’m In. The fans are surely pleased.
Melodically strong and lyrically astute as always, his voice is in remarkable shape at the age of 77. If you’re familiar with his solo career, this one feels like a cross between Plus Signs and Above The Ground. Burton uses his voice in a comfortable range, more suited to a singer of his vintage as opposed to the angry young man that belted out American Woman in 1970… still able to get it up and rock out but perhaps more at home with mid-tempo and ballad-y stuff like Speak To Me. All in all, A Few Good Moments is classic Cummings.
I bought my copy on I Tunes and so don’t have production notes to refer to but Moments is, as with his other solo stuff, quite finely produced. Like his last solo album this is perhaps overly generous at 17 songs (Above The Ground had 19), so I wonder if he finds it hard to set stuff aside, or perhaps approached each album as if it were his last. There are lots of melodically strong and catchy songs here but quite out of step with the pop and rock scenes of today. I’m enjoying this album as Burton Cummings rarely disappoints, but A Few Good Moments isn’t likely to win any new fans and that’s too bad; it’ll be people around my age that really dig it.
HOT TRACKS: Heard It On The News, Yo John, Shape I’m In
SARATOGA Eddie 9Volt (Ruf) **** ½
It feels like I’ve just time-travelled back to the 70’s. On Saratoga Eddie 9Volt displays a beguiling mix of southern soul, blues, rock and funk with sharp lyrics that draw a bead on modern America. Eddie puts it perfectly; “I do think it’s a wonderful road trip album.”
With his soulful voice Eddie 9Volt is an entrancing, witty storyteller. Of Saratoga he says “I was shooting for a more Americana-type album this time, less blues songs and solos and more focusing on songwriting.” He co-wrote the 11 songs with his brother and fellow multi-instrumentalist Lane Kelly. They hunkered down at a studio in Atlanta and got to work, inviting guest players to supply horns, fiddle and lap steel. “It was definitely more me and my brother in our home studio recording everything” Eddie says. “There’s a lot of guests for sure, but it was mainly overdubbing.”
I was all set for a total blues album, but if you were to throw Saratoga on and ask me what sort of stuff it was I’d have said soul. It must be a combination of the songwriting, playing and compression in the production, but Saratoga has a real old school feel to it that’s hard to ignore- I’m liking it A LOT. Time travel certainly seems possible when you listen to an album like this as the songs feel like a dozen stories that feel quite familiar. E9V’s last album, 2022 Capricorn was a big jump, debuting at #1 until it was knocked off by Bonnie Raitt but hey that’s not too shabby. Saratoga will surely continue that success but Eddie isn’t one to rest on his laurels as he notes “I’m already writing new songs, y’know?” Vintage-feeling soul with a funk backbone may not be all the rage these days, but that’s exactly what makes this album a must-have.
HOT TRACKS: Cry Like A River, Tides, Love Moves Slow
OBSERVER AFFECT Aloud (Lemon Merchant Records) ****
The latest EP from Aloud is raw yet tuneful in your face rock & roll. On Observer Affect their focus is outward; observing the lives of others. Note the punny spelling of the title, a nod as to how these five stories affect the observers- the band itself.
The creative core of the band is Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain who have been writing together since they were teens but Observer Affect is a collaborative effort with drummer Chris Jago and bassist Charles Murphy engineering at Shabby Road Studios. What makes them such a cool band is the live energy they are able to capture on tape as it feels like you’re in somebody’s basement rec room watching them play… it’s really quite powerful.
In terms of subject matter OA packs a wallop too. The Sky’s In Love With You (the first single) is described as “a Cure-meets-Elvis-Costello pop gem about a secret past haunting the narrator”. And The Last Light is about lovers saying goodbye on their last night together. Maybe it’s a good thing this is just an EP; that’s some heavy duty stuff… this some solid, melodic rock & roll that packs a punch. Out December 6th, pre-orders of Observer Affect are available through Aloud’s official Bandcamp store, where you can also score a limited edition 12” vinyl and an exclusive bonus track in Stay Awhile (I Don’t Mind), the B-side to the first single.
HOT TRACKS: The Sky’s In Love With You, Walter
HEY CAN YOU GUYS PLAY… The Hitman Blues Band (Nerus Records) *****
What a total blast! Hey Can You Play is mainly blues songs you’ve heard before, but none of them done in the original style except the live recording of John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom. Like this album cover says this is “The Hitman Blues Band versions of great songs”, played with great enthusiasm and I am LOVING it.
The band is led by Russell “Hitman” Alexander on vocals and guitar with New York in his veins and the history of the blues in his voice and hands. It takes balls and talent to manhandle the blues the way this band does, making these 10 songs that we know so well sound fresh and new. Hey Can You Play is a compilation of previously released versions of cover songs but it hangs together so spectacularly well as each song is inhabited by the same spirit, completely reworked, sometimes with new or additional lyrics added to make some hoary old standards a completely new experience. You might say “don’t fuck with the standards” to which The Hitman Blues Band has just replied “Oh yeah? Listen to THIS.!”
It’s a brave new/ old world on Hey that any blues fan with a taste for musical adventure will deeply appreciate, and it’s a fine line these guys walk as they respect the originals and throw the rule book out at the same time. Not all of these 10 tracks were originally blues, but Sunday Morning Coming Down (Kris Kristofferson) and The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Bob Dylan) sound like they should have been. The bio I received with this says “The man in the shades, top hat and sharp suit on stage with that tight band is playing real blues right, informed by 50 years of mastery while imitating no one. The Hitman Blues Band plays the blues you’ve been looking for all your life.” Though a compilation Hey Can You Play is one of the very best blues releases of the year, maybe even the decade, and it SO belongs in your collection.
HOT TRACKS: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, John The Revelator, Come On In My Kitchen
