Beltane Fire was misplaced (in my humble opinion) in the heavy-metal genre when they showed up in the mid-eighties. They sure got a very powerful expression at times, but they were far more than the usual metal band. One of the first things you may notice here is the use of the double bass instead of the usual electric. This is a major contribution to their distinct sound together with the clever and intelligent vocal-arrangements. And besides that, their fascination and inspiration from the lives and crimes of the Middle Ages and medieval music. They even dressed up as Robin Hood's buddies at the time. In the seventies these guys were in fact a true rockabilly band under the name The Blue Cats! And they were rated as the top act in England in the genre.
"Captain Blood" is the brutal tale of a ship captain, reigning with a hard hand. The rhythm here is well build and marked and where vocalist Clint A. Bradley sings in en evil and sinister way. And that cat can sing! He's got a very strong, moving voice, which easily glides from the fast rock'n'roll singing to serious classic nearly operatic vocals. On "Fortune Favours The Brave" the military drums of The King's Own Krackeraachees opens up for the great rhythm section of drummer Stef Edwards and bull-fiddler (double bassist) Mitchell D. Caws, laying a solid backing for the great guitar of Carlo B. Edwards (Stef's brother) and Clint's powerful vocals. And you got a solid dose of the bands creative vocal arrangements here. The tempo is fast on "Night Fishing" and rocks like hell with Clint's vocals sounding like a possessed madman. Fishing for monsters I presume. A great medieval feel we get in "Excalibur (I Believe)", where actor Robert Powell narrates in a low dark voice in the beginning and later in the song. It's a majestic and nearly pompous mid-tempo track but great anyway! "King Arthur's Cave" continues that feeling but is far more heavy and got a faster pace with a great guitar solo from Carlo. The title-track "Different Breed" varies in both tempo and moods, with both electric and acoustic guitars. Nearly a progressive feel to it. And again a great raw and howling guitar solo. Lots of guitars as well we get on the closing track "Run (Like A Beltane Fire)", from Hank Marvin sounding to the more distorted intense slide-guitar. Great album-closer! This album is no less than a classic with its different marked rhythm work and splendid vocal arrangements coupled with strong tracks and inspiration from medieval music as well as rockabilly. It's grandiose and pompous but nevertheless bloody good! Since this album was released not much have happened. I guess they were disbanded shortly afterwards due to poor record sales, the world was not ready for this unique constellation. But Clint Bradley has released a solo album after this, which is really good but in a whole different direction. Pure pop close to Roy Orbison, but good!

In 1975, two rock'n'roll enthusiasts who owned the record shop "Rock On" in London, started the record company Chiswick Records. Those two guys were Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong, today moguls in Ace Records. Their first signing to Chiswick Records were The Count Bishops. A true powerful rock'n'roll band with deep roots in rhythm & blues and soul. Combine this with the energy of punk and you might get the idea how they sounded. In other words, the perfect band to kick-start Chiswick Records.
The Count Bishops shortened their name to just The Bishops after their debut album and were counted as a British band, even none of the members were in fact British. One from Poland, one American, one Irishman and two Australians were the classic line-up. But British pubs and clubs was their playground.
The classic foot-stompin' soul hit "I Take What I Want", of Sam & Dave fame, opens this enormous party album. Faster than the original, more guitars and a very marked rhythm who goes straight to the feet. Fat guitar riffs and a powerful solo delivered by American Johnny Guitar makes this a winner! Fast and furious is also "What's Your Number" with Australian Dave Tice playing the harmonica together with his raw, but strong vocal effort. Irishman Pat McMullen got his bass steady rolling with Australian Paul Balbi keeping the beat to the feet on the slide-guitar led "Your Daddy Don't Mind", softened up a bit with some acoustic guitar. Killer track! On "Good Times", once a hit for The Easybeats, Jools Holland (now well-known music-host for BBC) joins with a few piano licks, very tasty. A tough guitar riff by the Polish Zenon de Fleur fires up "Too Much Too Soon", again a fast one with a stunning guitar solo. Party! Dave Tice uses the lower register of his raw but elastic voice, singing in a more relaxed mood on "Rolling Man", a more subdued track with good slide guitar from the start. "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite" was never one of the memorable moments with Fleetwood Mac, but it sure kicks ass here with all it's energy and violent power. Great! Even more energy and speed up the border of being frenetic, is "Hands On The Wheel". Pheew !! Nearly too much, but great fun! Otis Redding's soul ballad "These Arms Of Mine" gets a wonderful treatment here, Dave Tice's voice is just great together with horns and shows that the band easily handles this kind of expression as well. Outstanding track! "Mr. Jones" ends this classic pub-rock album in a perfect way, rocking good and leaves you hungry for more!
But this was the last album of The Bishops. The main reason was probably that guitarist Zenon de Fleur was killed in a car accident just before the release of this album. This release is dedicated to him.
So far "Cross Cuts" is not released on cd, but 8 of the albums 14 tracks are available on the excellent 27 track compilation "The Best Of The Count Bishops" (Chiswick CDWIKD 150) which hit the shops in 1995.

Dr. Feelgood was the band who gave pub-rock a face. Pub-rock was the much used expression for bands playing goodtime music in small clubs, venues an pubs. Musically the pub-rock scene was a mixture of bands playing blues, rockabilly, straight rock'n'roll, country and some folk thrown in for good measure. And Dr. Feelgood was among those high-energy powerful bands which was to ignite the spark to the punk-scene, which was in the mould at this stage.
"Stupidity" was recorded live at two concerts in 1975, one in Sheffield in May and one in Southend (their hometown) in November. And in my humble opinion, it is one of the best live albums of all time! It has captured the energy, the sheer joy of playing and the response from the public on the spot.
A killer version of Chuck Berry's "Talking About You" fires up the ball. Wilko Johnson chops out razor-sharp precise chords on the guitar over John B. Sparks deep rolling bass. Lee Brilleaux's growling vocals suits the song just fine. On "20 Yards Behind" Lee picks up the harmonica and leaves the lead singing to Wilko. I'm sorry to say that he's a far weaker singer, but this is the only song where he sings lead, so what the hell. Solomon Burke's "Stupidity" rocks away fine and Wilko shows his incredible guitar antics in "All Through The City", playing lead and rhythm simultaneously! A guitar technique he's modeled on his friend and mentor Mick Green's (of The Pirates fame) style. Drummer and sharp dressed man The Big Figure (real name John Martin) keeps the beat solid as rock on Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" and sings backing vocals as well. "She Does It Right" is a typical Dr. Feelgood with its irresistible rhythm and hooks, and where Wilko's playing is nothing but incredible! If you don't get an itch of this one ... you're probably dead! "Going Back Home" has exactly the same qualities and fires up the B-side on the album. The Bo Diddley inspired "I Don't Mind" shows the incredible backbone of The Big Figure and John B. Sparks. What an excellent rhythm section they were, tight as hell! "Back In The Night" is another classic Dr. Feelgood tune with Lee Brilleaux playing fat-toned slide-guitar on top of Wilko's rhythm. The last track on the album, "Roxette" is one of the bands "hits", and you just wish the album would last much longer!
"Stupidity" was the bands third album and the last one with this classic line-up. And it is a solid manifest over one of the most glorious moments in the history of pub-rock! Wilko Johnson left the band shortly after this one was released, due to musical differences, the press was told.

Steve Ellis, who was the front man in Love Affair, formed Ellis in the early seventies when Love Affair called it a day. Still young (he was only eighteen years old when Love Affair scored a hit with "Everlasting Love" in '68), but with a really mature voice, he still wanted to go on singing and formed Ellis to get a proper vehicle to do that.
Steve Ellis got this classy rock voice based on soul and rhythm & blues singing technique. His vocal chords handles easily the power from his lungs and belly. His voice is strong, moving and very flexible. The expression is distinct and his phrasing is just great. What Steve Ellis stands for vocally, we get an example on in the album opener "Good To Be Alive". A jolly singalong tune which makes me think of those old vaudeville days. Zoot Money, Steve's long-time friend and co-founder of Ellis, and keyboardist extraordinaire who has played with everybody, plays a kind of crispy bar-piano behind hired hand Gary Farr's juicy harmonica. And Steve sings with full power like his life was depending on it. Great album opener! The follower "El Doomo" is every bit as good, a soulful ballad where Steve shows us the other side of his vocal expression. More relaxed, yet powerful. Guitarist Andy Gee (real name Andreas Gröber, friend of Steve from Germany and headhunted for the band) plays some intense, slow-burning electric guitar here, reminding me of the tone of the late great Leslie Harvey from Stone The Crows. This albums winner! Zoot Money plays straight piano in the beautiful "You're The Only Reason" with Maggie Bell from the earlier mentioned Stone The Crows contributing on backing vocals. "Your Game" is nearly heavy at times and done with howling guitar and some percussion that sounds some kind of electronically treated! The sound of Maggie Bell's voice opens "Three Times Corner" before Steve comes in using the whole register of his magnificent voice. Jim Leverton's bass rolls heavy together with Dave Lutton's excellent drum work here and with Andy's guitar screaming and howling over Zoot's piano. Good one! Colin Allen, he too from Stone The Crows, contributes with some percussion on "Wish I Was Back Home" where Zoot plays electric piano on this easy singalong track. Guest Mick Weaver plays the organ together with Zoot's piano on the funky "Angela" which gets a more jam-feeling to it towards the end. Not bad of course, but not that exciting either.
Roger Daltrey (from The Who) has been in charge of the producing here and he has done an okay job, but then again it could have been better.

ELLIS - "Why Not? " Epic EPC 65650 (1973)
(Not released on cd)

Just a year after the debut, Ellis hit the streets with another album. It's called "Why Not ?" and the band's line-up is almost the same which recorded the debut. But bass-player Jim Leverton was out of the band here and Nick South took his place. Sitting in the producer's chair this time was none other than Mike Vernon, famous for his great blues productions. And the sound here are better than the debut-album. The bass and drums are more upfront in the mix and the overall sound is better.
"Why Not?" is a rock album with roots in the blues and soul music, but this time also some influences from progressive music are at present.
"Goodbye Boredom" rocks away fine with Nick South's steady bass behind Andy Gee's noisy guitar. He plays an infectious riff and delivers a solo with a bite. Heavy use of wah-wah here. Tough! Some progressive elements like tempo-changes and counterpoints comes towards the end of the track. Those elements are more at present in "Opus 17 ¾", this album's most progressive track. Excellent arrangement here with a great rocking interlude. And Steve sings like only he can do, from screams to a whisper with the greatest ease. A killer! An acoustic slide-guitar over a more distant electric guitar sets the tone on "Future Passed", giving it an acoustic feel. Not much vocals from Steve here, but the backing vocals are really upfront making a choir effect. Good one. On "Lazy Love Songs" we get more guitars both acoustic and electric ones, with the latter most upfront. The refrain rocks real good here with steady guitar and Zoot's rolling piano. Wonderful guitar-solo here by the way! The rocking continues on "Open Road" before a slow steady blues comes in, in "All Before". Zoot's piano sounds lonely, yet steady, and makes the backbone for Andy's guitar excursions and Steve's powerhouse vocals. Goodie! "Leaving In The Morning" is heavy on the guitars but rocks behind Steve's great singing. And you'll easily detect Roger Chapman's (Family) distinct voice in the backing vocals here! Among the other voices here are Julie Tippett and Mike Patto, they also sings on the last track "We Need Money Too", but they are not as audible as Roger Chapman though.
To my knowledge there are no plans of releasing these Ellis albums on cd, and that's a shame because they really deserves a wider recognition. But we can always hope that somebody out there get a hold of the master tapes, and does something about it. Maybe that Angel Air (which has released Steve Ellis' "The Last Angry Man") are capable of the job.

STEVE ELLIS - "The Last Angry Man" Angel Air SJPCD 077 (2001)

After nearly two years with Widowmaker, it was time for Steve Ellis to go solo. Ariola picked him up and gave him a deal. This was in '77 and the recording of "The Last Angry Man" started. But things didn't work out that smoothly. Two singles from the album were released in '78, but a dispute between producers Tony Meehan and Dave Courtney led to the fact that the album never released at the time. Not completely true, in fact a few copies of it hit the streets in the music-cassette format. And I was lucky enough to pick one up on one of my first trips to London. So I've been living with this great album for awhile now.
"Life User" starts up with Brian Robertson's (Thin Lizzy) intense guitar over Brian Odgers' pounding deep bass. Tim Hinkley joins with organ before Steve starts to sing. Great solo and guitar-playing all the way from Brian Robertson here. Henry McCulloch also plays guitar on the album, but judging by the sound I guess that Brian does most of the solo's. And Roger Chapman (Family) sings backing vocals here, nearly stealing the show from Steve with his colossal voice! He does a great job on "Hear Your Woman" too, together with Steve. Both acoustic and electric guitars makes the melody on the slow burning "Hang On Joey". A good one! Tim Hinkley starts up alone with piano on the beautiful "Rag And Bone". Steve sings really great on this mighty soul-ballad with strings and horns. I can't compare the version of "Everlasting Love" here to the original Love Affair version because I've never heard it. But I do like this version here, that's for sure. Great wah-wah guitar from Brian Robertson we get on the rocking "Blackmail", before the lovely "Wind And A Lady" starts up with acoustic guitar behind Steve's voice. Roger Chapman joins Steve and a great solo on fiddle spices it up. I would have guessed on Dave Arbus (East Of Eden) being responsible for that one, but it was a guy aged sixty-eight (!) years old from London Symphony Orchestra who did that magnificent solo! Great track! A powerful version of Sam & Dave's "Soothe Me" (together with "Rag And Bone", one of the two singles released from this album) follows with good saxophones, but it should have been longer! "Why Do The Good Guys Die" is a ballad with a powerful interlude and a nice saxophone solo. The title-track "The Last Angry Man" ends the original album in a good funky way. Just to have it mentioned, it's Henry Spinetti and Barry Morgan who plays the drums on the album.
But the fun isn't over yet. Seven tracks recorded in '83 is the bonus here, with over thirty-five more minutes of Steve's voice to make you happy. The musicians here are Mel Taylor on bass, Eric Wright and Gerry Pinner on guitars and Ozzie Garvey on drums. A version of the great "El Doomo" from the days of Ellis is ok, but nowhere near the original. The rest of the tracks are written by Steve and Eric Wright for the most. It's very powerful with tracks like "Shark Shoes", "She's Leaving" and "War Train" standing out. So do yourself a favor and buy the album, it clocks in for more than seventy-five minutes with Steve Ellis great vocals and is really very good value for the money!
(A big thanx goes to Sven Gusevik here, who has written the excellent liner notes for this cd. Some of the information used in the review here and on Ellis and Widowmaker, comes from this source. Visit Sven's great site about Love Affair, Mott The Hoople, Ian Hunter and Medicine Head. It's called "The Mott Archive" and contains loads of great information there!)

He's been around for quite awhile, Steve Gibbons. His first album "Short Stories" was released in '71, but his recording career started in the early sixties with the band The Uglys. They evolved into The Balls before Steve Gibbons chose to record under his own name.
The voice of Steve Gibbons is not the usual raw and brutal type as many other pub-rock band were fronted with. His voice is more soft, moving with an elegant phrasing and strong clear diction. It's always a pleasure to hear Steve Gibbons sing with his slightly nasal touch.
When it comes to songwriting the man is no less than excellent. He knows how to tell a story, and not seldom from a humorous angle. He's a good observer of life in general and knows how to put words to it.
On "No Spitting On The Bus" we get a glimpse of a bus driver's weekday on the job. The first verse is sung in harmony by the band before Steve takes over and sings lead. Excellent percussion work from the whole band and with a nice harmonica solo from Steve. "Any Road Up" got this marked rhythm with handclaps to beef it up even more. Dave Carroll plays some slide-guitar and hired hand Nick Pentelow increases the pressure with a tough saxophone solo together with him. Beautiful lap-steel by Dave Carroll again on the title track "Down In The Bunker" with some great doo-wop vocals in the background. Both Bob Wilson and bassist Trevor Burton plays acoustic guitars here too, with Bob Wilson doing a powerful electric lead guitar towards the end. Outstanding track! "Big J.C." got this slightly country feel to it, much due to the steel-guitar and makes me think of Bob Dylan. Not as strange as it may sound, Steve Gibbons is a great fan of the man and has called his latest album "The Dylan Project", where he covers Bob's songs with one exception. But that's another story ....
Bob Lamb is a superb drummer and percussionist and he shows his tricks on "Mary Ain't Going Home" together with Trevor Burton's jumping bass. Again the band does an incredible job in backing vocal department. The life of an urban citizen get revealed in "Down In The City" with Dave Carroll on fiddle and Nick Pentelow on a playful saxophone. Great one! "Eddy Vortex" is a true straight rock'n'roller (and was also released as a single) where Bob Wilson delivers a speedy and tough guitar solo! A winner for sure! A steady bluesy tune comes in "When You get Outside" with Steve on harmonica and Bob Wilson behind the piano, in this story full of hope for this soon to be released jailbird. "Grace" rounds off the original album in a fine way. A sweet ballad with The London Symphony Orchestra contributing on strings.
Added here, to the original albums eleven tracks, is Chuck Berry's "Tulane" taken from the "Rollin' On" album and even six more tracks from a session called "The Bunker Tapes". There are some good tunes here, especially "Body Talk" and "I Am Here", but suffers from the lacking of Tony Visconti's great production of the original lp.

For a very good overview of Steve Gibbons releases, go to my good friend Frode Bye alias Mr. Blues Man's site! You'll find it here.

To start a review is always difficult. I guess that those of you who have read most of my reviews, believes that I’m doing nothing but raiding the bargain bins when I’m in record stores. Well, that’s not the case, but it was the case when I discovered Halfbreed. I was in a shop in London called Cheapo Cheapo Records when I saw this beauty to the ridiculous price of 50 pence ! Without having any clue at all how this band sounded, I bought it, much due of the cover. It’s a classic in my opinion. Shaped as a record player, where you have to lift up the record and fold it to the left to get access to the vinyl.
Categorising the music is not simple. I’ve seen this in second-hand lists, described as hard rock, but that’s not correct. It’s more like a powerful rock band with who draws heavy inspiration from soul, funk and rhythm & blues of the classic kind.
The band’s greatest strength was the colossal voice of lead singer Mick Whittaker. His voice sounds like mix between Roger Chapman, James Brown and Joe Cocker !! If you can imagine such a mix. He’s got the strength, the lung power and quite unique phrasing. Bloody marvellous if you ask me.
A fast, funky song, “Getting Better For Me”, opens this album and is full of raspy guitar-riffs and solid keyboard work together with a rock solid bass and frantic drumming, playing behind the powerful vocals. “Change Your Mind” is more of a mellower kind where Mick takes it down a bit in his vocal style and shares some vocals with another member of the band. Probably it’s guitarist Tom Farrier which helps him out here. The reason for that guess is that he’s the one who’s written all the tracks on the album together with Mick Whittaker (with one exception). A short harmonica solo appears as well, nothing fancy, but spices it up a bit. A guitar through a wah-wah pedal over a beautiful organ starts up “You Really Know What You Want”, funky and tough soul –stomper with more strong backing vocals and great solo work on the guitar from Tom. The bass playing of Frankie Gibbon is mighty and deep on the bluesy “Rainwalker”, with it’s simple but effective organ riff from Jimmy Lowery taking the melodic drive. Just wonderful ! “America” is uptempo and rocks good, with more splendid organ work. A lot of people should have listened more to Jimmy’s work here, they might have learned a thing or two !
“Billy Dean” opens the B-side, and what a scorcher it is ! One of the best tracks on the album ! Mighty organ chords and tough, funky drumming from Geoff Hutchinson, which does a superb job throughout the whole album with his innovative and solid work on drums and percussion. Another killer follows in “Buttermilk”, bluesy and rolling, with straight piano leading the melody and with good slide guitar and harmonica as well. One thing that disappoint me a bit, is that they have credited the next track “Miss Anne” to themselves. Well, it’s the same tune that appeared on Johnny Winter’s “Second Winter” in ’69 and is credited on that album to Little Richard (R.Penniman). Halfbreed’s version is recorded a bit strange. At first, the volume is very low, and they sound like they are playing in the room close by, before they come in with full power and ends tough as hell. A pity they didn’t do the whole track that way ! “Gamblin’ Man” is also bluesy with it’s deep simple, but effective bass line and where Mick shares the lead vocals with another member of the band. Ending this rather unknown masterpiece (in my humble opinion), is the only track written by Jimmy Lowery, “So Long”. A mighty powerful track with two strong lead voices and some solid organ playing !! Wow !
And then you sit there wanting more, but I don’t think the band did any more recording at all. What a pity ! I’m not familiar with what any of the band members has done after this excellent piece of music, but I’ve heard the name Frankie Gibbon mentioned as a bass player with Lindisfarne once, but then again this is no verified information.
But one thing’s for sure, Mick Whittaker should have been up there sharing the fame with Joe Cocker and other vocalists of the same calibre, but as we all know, there’s no justice in the music business !! So let’s hope somebody gets this out on cd soon, it will help others to discover what great vocal talent Mick was.

BETH HART - "Screamin' For My Supper" 143 Records/Lava/Atlantic 7567-83192-2 (1999)

How come artists like American Beth Hart don't figure on Top 40 lists over the world like she ought to be? She got the looks, she's got an incredible voice and she writes songs of an excellent quality. She should be outselling Celine Dion by miles if there were any justice at all in the world. She sure sings the ass of Celine Dion anytime. Well, part of the answer might be that she's too intense. Where Celine Dion don't even being close to touch any strings in me, Beth Hart grabs your heart by the hand and tries to rip it out! She got much of that same intense feeling and power which was/is the trademark of Janis Joplin, Eileen Rose, Patti Smith and Melissa Etheridge (in her earlier days). "Just A Little Hole" fires up the cd, a mid-tempo song with piano, backward guitars and more keyboards. Beth both plays piano and some other keyboards besides doing the musical arrangements here. But she's also got the great Benmont Tench (from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) on piano, Hammond-organ and other keyboards too. On "Delicious Surprise" she shows us what an immense vocal power she got. It starts up with some nice acoustic guitar and fragile brushes on the drums before strings comes from behind and gives the song lots of power and strength on the refrain. She pushes her voice to the limit here but without stepping over the line. Really catchy and outstanding track. "L.A.Song (out of this town)" got much of the same qualities but is more of a ballad with the sad touch of an accordion played by Patrick Warren. A gripping tale of a girl's escape from the big city to a more rural environment. Just to discover that men are assholes there too! I was sceptic at first when "Is That Too Much To Ask" started up with a rather boring danceable beat, but it turned out to be a groovy track after awhile. And of course it helps with Chris "Hammer" Smith's juicy harmonica spicing it up. Funky and hard it gets on "G.O.P.", where she attacks older narrow-minded people with a scary view of life and how they want it to be. The danger for you to develop chicken skin for a while are absolute at present in the strong ballad "Mama" with just voice, piano and Hammond-organ. Just great. The long (over nine minutes) "Favorite Things" ends a great album beautifully with just piano and voice (the first part) and full band sound after awhile. Beth Hart has shown here that she is to be reckoned with in the future. This is really a good modern rock record with soul, power and something to say. And what a voice to deliver it with......! Buy it now.....or else.......This is her second release, buy the first one "Immortal" as well when you visit your record-dealer.

I usually don’t review EP’s, but when this one appeared in my mailbox one day, with a note from Penny herself, I had to play it at once. Of course I would have played it anyway, I always listen to the stuff people send me, but I got so curious about this one that I put it in the cd-player right away.
At first I didn’t recall the name but when I started to have a look on the enclosed papers, things started to fall into the right places.
She was the guitarist on all my records with Louis Tillett, and before that she was playing together with him in Wet Taxis, a band that I’ve never given the chance to hear. And besides that, she’s played with a lot of other peoples records, like Kim Salmon (ex Scientists) and Tex Perkins (Cruel Sea) to name but a few. Maybe not the most well-known bands and artist from Australia, but an important part of the underground scene from down under.
In other words, she’s been recording for years, but not until now done anything solo.
Only three tracks is the content of the EP and it clocks in for nearly twelve minutes, but believe me when I say it’s the best twelve minutes I’ve heard for along time. On “Kathleen” she’s got a full backup behind her, with Shamus Goble on drums, Craig Harnath on bass and Cameron Goold on percussion. She starts up the song with some fine acoustic guitar picking, before she begins to sing with a fragile, but intense voice. When the rest of the band comes in she fires up some electric guitar as well, which is distorted and noisy which demands your attention. Just great ! On “Sponge Diver” her old friend Louis Tillett contributes with his distinct sounding piano style and some more keyboards. And he also sings together with her on the chorus using the lower register of his unique voice. Penny herself strums easily on acoustic guitar and sings just as intense here as she does the opener. She creates more intensity on “Maid Of Orleans” where she’s been backed up by a double bass played by Rosie Westbrook. She uses a bow on the instrument making this a deep vibrant sound who fits the atmosphere of the song perfectly. Penny’s guitar here sounds like an acoustic, but slightly amplified to gain some more power. Another goodie! Well, to be honest they are all so bloody good it’s hard pick a winner !!
By the time you read this, her full solo album should be out on the streets. It’s called “Electra” and according to Penny, it’s more rock than this rather quiet, folk-inspired EP, but I guess it’s good as hell…..I hope to be able to write a review of that one as well, as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.
If you're having any trouble getting your hands on her cd's, try her homesite.

The rumour has it that The Inmates at the time of the release of their debut, was one hell of a live band. And that this album in no way was up to the standards of their live performances. Well, then they must have been insanely good, because this album is nothing but incredible!
If you take equal parts of early Rolling Stones, Pretty Things and Dr. Feelgood, shakes it well and adds some red hot chilli to heat it up, you might get a clue about how good this potent mixture sounds like.
Given the job trying to catch The Inmates raw stage power and transform it into vinyl was given to Vic Maile (R.I.P.). And in my opinion, he succeeded. By this time Vic Maile already had produced Dr. Feelgood and The Pirates to name but a few.
"Dirty Water", once a hit with The Standells, sets the standard for the album with it's loud and wild yet controlled energy. Bill Hurley got what it takes when it comes to singing rock'n'roll and dirty rhythm & blues. His voice got the pressure and flexibility which lifts him above his contemporaries. A steady guitar riff opens "Love Got Me" before the whole band joins in with full power. To underline and increase the punch, the excellent horns of John "Irish" Earle and Dick Hanson together with Ray Beavis are added, making this one of the best tracks on the album! Jimmy McCracklin's "The Walk" get the treatment it deserves, and rocks like hell with a great solo from lead guitarist Peter Gunn (real name Peter Staines). He is the songwriter in the band as well, responsible for the speedy "Jealousy" with it's brutal rolling bass line delivered by Ben Donelly, rarely seen without his shades. Helping out Peter Gunn creating a tough guitar attack is rhythm guitarist Tony Oliver. On Don Covay's "Tree Time Loser" the horns are back again and makes this version rock like hell. And they have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to their version of The Pretty Things' "Midnight To Six Man" either with its footstompin' qualities. "Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie" rocks away fast and furious with Laurie Garman (of Key Largo fame) on juicy harmonica. Party classic! The slow soul burner "If Time Could Turn Backwards" gives you some time to catch your breath again, being just wonderful. With a touch of Hammond organ in the background and the horns pushing in the right places, it's just great! The horns are at present on the last track "I Can't Stop" as well, a worthy rocker on this killer debut album and a true classic when it comes to the pub-rock genre. Well, to me this is a classic in every sense of the word!

The story of Lew Lewis (real name Lew Davis) is a bit awkward. He's probably more notorious for having done an armed robbery (with a toy gun!) of a post office than he's is famed for his musical output. Sad, but true. He got caught and was put behind bars for some years. But lucky for us he released this tough album of "a cup full of danceable blues" as a Norwegian music paper pointed out, before that incident.
Lew Lewis is a more than competent harmonica player and his first recordings were with Eddie & The Hot Rods. He played on two of the bands singles, but was out of the band before they released their debut album "Teenage Depression".
A really kick-ass version of James Brown's "Do Just What You Want" was the first track I ever heard with the band, as it opens the A-side of this album. And since then I've just loved the band! It's fast, fun and energetic with a howlin' harmonica solo from Lew. What a starter to a great album! J. Geils' "Wait" is spiced up with Gavin Povey's electric piano which makes it roll along fine. "Win Or Lose" is said to be an unreleased track by Status Quo and sure bears their trademark boogie stamp all over it. It was also released as a single with the band. Lew Lewis is limited as a singer and that shows in Little Walter's standard blues tune "High Temperature". Excellent harmonica solo though, and tough guitar work from Rick Taylor all the way along with more Gavin Povey's piano. The whole band are credited as writers on the super fast "Mr. Bartender", the ultimate drinking and party tune ?!! Great powerful drumming from Buzz Barwell and tough bass line from Johnny Squirrel, but he should have been more upfront in the mix. That goes for the whole record in fact. On "Lucky Seven" there's a tough duel between Lew's harmonica and Rick's guitar. Great riffs here, and also recorded by Dr. Feelgood on their "Sneakin' Suspicion" album. Great riff too on "Photo Finish", another track written by Lew himself. It's probably Johnny Squirrel who sings on his own "Night Talk", a tune rooted in rockabilly, and where Lew is busy blowing the harmonica all the time. On the original lp version of this album it is the speedy and powerful "Rider" which closes this great release. Fast riffing guitar and loads of howlin' and wailin' harmonica makes this a scorcher! An excellent way to end a party album.
As a bonus this cd version has 4 more tracks than the original vinyl release, with "1-30, 2-30, 3-35" as the one which stands out. And that track is said to be the last one Lew Lewis recorded at all. But the rumour has it that he plays harmonica on the track "Hungry Eyes" from Sniff 'N' The Tears' "Ride The Blue Divide" album which saw the light of day in '82. Since then nothing has been heard about him....

THE JACKIE LYNTON BAND - "A Bit Near The Mark" Scratch Records SCRL 5002 (1980)
(Released on cd.)

I think it was in '81 myself and a couple of friends stumbled into the famous Marquee Club in Soho, London. The poster outside the door said that The Jackie Lynton Band should enter the stage that night. None of us could recall having heard anything about this band before. Later I found out that he was the lead-singer of Savoy Brown on the "Jack The Toad" album. Well, we were in for a surprise that night! What an amazing, good, entertaining and lively band it was. Strong blues-rock with enough meat to the boogie feet to make everybody happy was the band's menu. And they do it bloody well here on "A Bit Near The Mark" as well. It's not easy to capture the spirit of a live concert into vinyl, but here it's a success. This is a double album where three sides are live recordings and the last being recorded in the studio. The live recordings were captured at The Golden Lion the 9th of August in 1980. "Can't Take Away My Love" rocks away with a riff and a feeling, which would have suited Led Zeppelin easily. "Ricky Rocket" is a powerful boogie tune, which goes straight to the feet (this song is also a homage to a good friend of Jackie, Rick Parfitt of Status Quo), and where guitarist Grahame Wright burns off a tough solo. And Grahame gets busier on "out Of Control" together with Tony Leach's splendid electric piano, rocking away with a smile. Tony Leach also handles the lead vocals on "Thrown It All Away", a beautiful ballad with a nice solo from Grahame. More boogie again on "(The Stench) - If You Wanna Get A Band Together" where Kirk Riddle's bass pounds like hell and the great drumming of Greg Terry-Short makes this track a killer. There's drum solo here as well, but not that long, so just relax. "Jamming In G" is a long jam with lots of well-known classic tunes woven in. Works great! "Sad Song" opens the studio side with Jackie showing us his voice capabilities in full, from low nearly whispers to powerful shouting. A very beautiful song it is, starting up carefully before the power increases. Good backing vocals here as well together with an excellent acoustic guitar solo. "Could This Be The Woman In Your Life" is very varied in it's expression with several tempo changes and moods. Excellent track. The same goes for "Make My Break", a steady heavy blues. "Snow" is a short tale, sad and extremely funny at the same time. And it is rounding off this classic party album. Jackie Lynton is still touring I think, and he has released at least three cd's the last few years. One of them is a compilation called "Quick As A Roof" and it contains some of the tracks from this album.

Just got a mail from drummer Greg Terry-Short where he tells me that the old band is together again playing and that all of Jackie's releases now are available on cd!! Great news!! They are available at the new Jackie Lynton site.

In '77 I was serving my time as a soldier, and it was in that period that I had my first meeting with Frankie Miller's music. I remember coming in from a patrol in a real shitty weather, all wet and frozen when a small, bad sounding portable radio pumped out this tough horn-driven rockin' rhythm & blues tune with a strong great voice up front. This was shit hot! The radio DJ said it was the title-track of Frankie Miller's latest lp called "Be Good To Yourself". I knew I just had to get this lp right away.
Big was my surprise when I a few days later found the album and discovered that Frankie Miller was white! I imagined he was black with such a voice. Anyhow, I bought the album of course, and it has been one of my all-time favourite albums since then.
The title-track "Be Good To Yourself", written by Andy Fraser (ex-Free) is one hell of an album opener! The solid drumming of Graham Deakin and Chrissie Stewart's heavy funky bass makes a perfect backbone to Jim Hall's piano chords and the horny riffs of The Memphis Horns. Put Frankie's powerful soulful voice on top of that together with Ray Minhinnett's tough guitar work and the word classic fits like a glove. Frankie's own "The Doodle Song" follows, a great up-tempo tune with The Memphis Horns in full flight again. It takes guts to record a classic as John Lennon's "Jealous Guy", but Frankie comes down steady as a rock! Great piano and organ work with Frankie showing what an incredible voice he's keeper of. "Searching" is a beautiful slow ballad with orchestration and organ taking the melodic lead behind Frankie's voice. No percussion or drums here. "Love Letters" is a catchy singalong, which rolls along fine before a wonderful soul ballad follows in "Take Good Care Of Yourself". Excellent horns! "Down In The Honkytonk" rocks like hell with a tough piano solo and kick-ass horns. "This Love Of Mine" is another slow burning soul track with Frankie singing his heart out. Frankie has written "Let The Candlelight Shine" himself, a mid-tempo tune with a certain country flavour, could have been written by John Fogerty (yes, it's that kind of quality we're talking here), and that's a stamp of approval to me! A warm bass-tone, delicious organ, both acoustic and electric guitars, easy rolling rhythm and an infectious refrain makes this stick to your brain. This classic album ends in a perfect rockin' way with "(I'll Never)Live In Vain". It's fast with thunderous bass, heavy horns, fat guitar, rolling piano and with Frankie screaming his lungs out. Wow! What a blast!
Frankie Miller got one of the best voices on the planet in my opinion. He got tons of soul, excellent phrasing and all the power needed to sing whatever he wants to. Unfortunately he's not very active at he moment due to health problems, but let's hope that he'll recover someday and release more albums like this one! And when you already are in the record-shop, make sure you grab a copy of "The Rock", "Double Trouble" and "Standing On The Edge" as well.

THE O BAND - "The Knife" Repertoire REP 4420-WY (1994)
Originally released: United Artists Records 1977

This band evolved from The Parlour Band via A Band Called O before ending up as The O Band in 1976. They released two albums under that name before they called it a day. "The Knife" was the least one to come. Released in the latter half of 1977 the album was totally over-run by the punk explosion. Suddenly you were totally out if you knew how to play, sing and write songs. Many positive things has been said about the punk explosion, but let's face it, not many bands from that era have survived the test of time, there was too much crap around. So it's a damned shame that a lot of good bands like The O Band drowned in the hysteria. The O Band was an exponent for straight to the bone, solid rock done by real musicians who knew what it should sound like. The album opens some kind of heavy with a splendid version of Spirit's "Look To The Left, Look To The Right". Definitively more powerful than the original, much due to the extra guitars and the handclaps which beefs up the power of the rhythm. And vocalist Pix uses his voice in the roughest rawest way. Another cover follows, John Fogerty's "Almost Saturday Night" done with beautiful slide-guitar from Craig Anders and sweet harmony vocals, which they were really good at. Jeff Bannister plays some good rolling piano on top of Mark Anders' (Craig's brother) nearly funky bass riff on "Strange lovin' ", before he fires up the good old Hammond in "Back Alley Lightning". On "Time Seems To Fly" Pix shows us what excellent voice he has. using the whole register, with Craig and Jeff harmonizing perfect. Outstanding track! Outstanding track is also the title-track "The Knife" where drummer Derek Ballard lays a steady beat behind Pix and Craig's chopping guitars, Marks melodic bass and Jeff's pumping Hammond. A tragic tale it is, about loneliness, drugs and sexual incapability. But the best track here you got served at the end of the original album. "Venus Avenue" is one of my all time favorite ballads. It's so beautiful it hurts!

When The Pirates came with their first album "Out Of Their Skulls" in '77, they were already in their "second youth". Their first they got in the mid-sixties backing up Johnny Kidd. They recorded and toured under the name Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and "Shakin' All Over" was the name of the hit they always will be remembered by. Johnny Kidd died in a car crash in '66 and the band disbanded. They bravely reformed again in '76, just when punk started to happen. And became an instant success! How come three men in their thirties became so popular with young, loud and snotty punks ??!
The keywords here are energy, rock'n'roll and guts! The guitarist of the band, Mick Green, managed to become a guitar-hero in the heydays of punk! And that was quite an achievement in a period where guitar-hero nearly was a word of abuse.
"Long Journey Home" is the tough album opener where Mick Green already demonstrates his totally unique guitar style, playing both lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously! A style so much admired by Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson, that he modelled his own style much based on Mick Green's. Bass player and lead vocalist Johnny Spence has a raw, hoarse voice which suits this kick-ass rock'n'roll like a hand in glove. Drummer Frank Farley plays in a simple but powerful and effective style, important for the pressure and drive behind Johnny's growling bass and Mick's very loud guitar. "All In It Together" is a fine rocker with a really sticky refrain and great hooks. "Johnny B. Goode's Good" rocks like hell, fast, loud and I guess that it was written as a homage to Chuck Berry. And it is the man's own "Johnny B. Goode" which comes next, recorded live. Just listen close to the guitar work here! Nothing less than incredible! "Talking About You", another Chuck Berry tune comes next, live as well. Sheer party music. Not that frenetic, but still a good party tune is "I'm In Love Again" and my thought runs to good old Bo Diddley when they play "Voodoo", heavy on the drums and a bit staccato. "Four To The Bar" turns out to be the perfect singalong track which makes your feet itch as well. The traditional "Diggin' My Potatoes" will make you smile if you listen to the lyrics, and it is the most relaxed song on the album, still far from being a ballad. The contrast is huge when album closer "Shake Hands With The Devil" follows with a thunderous opening and ends with a big bang. In between there's loud, brash, noisy riffing guitar and enough of it to make you happy until the next time you got to play this record again! And believe me....it won't take long..!!
Mick Green is still recording, using The Pirates' name, but with other musicians to back him up. And when Paul McCartney needs a guitarist who knows all the chords and riffs in the book of rock'roll, he calls Mick Green. He plays on Macca's "Run Devil Run".

GENYA RAVAN - "Urban Desire" 20th Century Fox Records BTH 8007 (1978)
(Not released on cd)

After I wrote the review below, of Genya's "…And I Mean It!" album, I took the liberty of mailing her the address of my site to inform her what I've done. She was pleased enough with it to ask me if I could write a review of her previous album "Urban Desire". Well, of course I couldn't say no to that!
According to my knowledge there were a four year gap between her previous album "Goldie Zelkowitz" and this one, "Urban Desire". Why I know nothing about, but when she returned with this album here, there was a change of style, musically. She had moved from soul and rhythm & blues to a far more rocking style.
"Jerry's Pigeons" opens the ball and sets the tone for the album. A tough fast rocking tune which really kicks ass. Conrad Taylor and Ritchie Fliegler's guitars are mighty, powerful and pushes the song forward. A more bluesy, but yet powerful "The Knight Ain't Long Enough" follows with great lead guitar-intro before Genya's power vocal-chords delivers the lyrics in a convincing way. And Charlie Giordano's piano sure rocks here! An acoustic guitar starts up "Do It Just For Me" before Genya begins to sing in a very soulful manner. The rest of the band joins after awhile with Ritchie playing mandolin for a short time but to great effect. It's one of the few slow tracks on the album. There's full power rock'n'roll again on "Shot In The Heart", short but intense. Besides that Genya is picking up the harmonica on "Aye Co'lorado" Lou Reed shows up and sings duet with her. Great track! Another well-known musician, Ivan Kral from Patti Smith's band sings backing vocals on Genya's powerful version of the classic Holland-Dozier-Holland's "Back Home In My Arms Again". And it's the most powerful version of the song I've ever heard! "Cornered" rocks away like hell before things calms down in "The Sweetest One", where strong backing vocals gives it a slightly gospel feeling. Great piano as usual from Charlie Giordano. More great piano we get in John Cale's "Darling I need You", a really strong mightier version here than the original. On "Messin Around" Bobby Chen fires up behind the drums before Genya's amplified harmonica joins in on this fast rocker. The album closes with "Shadowboxing", a ballad which a lonely electric piano lies behind Genya's voice from the start. The power increases slowly with Don Nossov on bass and adding some regular piano as well before it heats up more with both acoustic and electric guitars. And with an intense burning guitar solo on top of it all, makes this track a winner.
Can somebody please release both this album together with "…And I Mean It!" on cd soon ?!! My albums are soon totally worn out!

Genya Ravan's (born Goldie Zelkowitz) history as a musician goes a bit back in time, starting up with being the leader of Goldie & The Gingerbreads, a group with only girls. In fact they were the first group with only girls in the history of rock who played and sung all their stuff by themselves! Cool! This was in England, but she's an American with genes back to Poland says the history books. When that period was over, she joined jazz-rock combo Ten Wheel Drive and recorded three albums with them. On her first solo-album just called Genya Ravan a band called Baby backed her. Later she released an album called "Goldie Zelkowitz", before she used the name Genya Ravan again in the latter part of the seventies. To my knowledge, the album "...And I Mean It!" is her last studio album so far. There's a live album after this but I've never seen it. Well, let's go for the music before I get completely lost here. This is no less than a powerhouse rock album of dimensions! Genya got this incredible big strong voice, gospel, rhythm & blues and soul trained. You know, full power from the belly up and squeezing the lungs for every drop of air through a set of vocal-chords, which handles this pressure easily. You got a perfect proof of this already on the opening track "Pedal To The Metal". It rocks real hard and good with Lars Hanson's and Conrad Taylor's dirty and distorted riffing guitars together with Charlie Giordano's rockin' and rollin' piano. A fat guitar solo powers it up even more with handclaps underlining the rhythm effectively. A killer! And the rocking continues on "I Won't Sleep On The Wet Spot No More", this time with a great interlude with Mike Lombardi's bass riff behind Lars and Conrad's guitar escapades. Tough! Marvin Gaye's "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" is renamed for this occasion to "Stubborn Kinda Girl" just to fit Genya better. And what a great version it is! Powerful and rocking, with rolling piano and excellent backing vocals which beefs it up. Another killer track here is the beautiful ballad "Junkman" where she shares the lead vocal with no other than Ian Hunter. And she uses her whole vocal-spectre here, showing us what an incredible voice she got! She goes high and deep with the greatest ease. This track can easily be heard nowadays, it has appeared on the double-cd compilation of Ian Hunter called "Once Bitten Twice Shy". Go and buy! "Love Isn't Love" is rocking well with excellent drumming from Bobby Chen. "I'm Wired, Wired, Wired" starts up slowly with drums and piano behind Genya's voice, but soon increases in both speed and power, making it one of the best tracks on the album. And Genya picks up her harmonica as well delivering a simple but tough solo. More muscular rock comes with "Roto Root Her" where the piano swings like hell before "Night Owl" rounds off the album in a calm way. Well, if you're lucky, this album may turn up from time to time in second-hand shops and record-fairs, and then don't hesitate, grab it and protect it like it was a baby! And make sure to grab a copy of her earlier albums as well, especially "Urban Desire" and "Goldie Zelkowitz".

EILEEN ROSE - "Shine Like It Does" Rough Trade RTRADECD004 (2000)

Once in awhile when you turn on your television set, a commercial showing a made-up girl who looks fairly well, knows a few dance steps, can't sing , plays nothing trying to fool us to buy her record. Don't do it! Buy Eileen Rose's "Shine Like It Does" instead. As far as I know it's her debut , and it's bloody good! She knows how to sing and write songs, both musically and lyrically and she knows all about arrangements too, done them all by herself. And to those of you who needs the following useless information; she looks good too! When it comes to the lyrics, I have a suspicion that it's some kind of self-biographical. She mentions her first name in the two first songs on the album "Rose" and "Still In The Family". The Walkabouts springs to mind when "Rose" hits the speakers. A slow track with slightly distorted guitar and some slide too. And Eileen easy going vocals on top of it. She's got a flexible, moving voice who reminds me of a lot of vocalists. On "Still In The Family" she's not that far away from Patti Smith's controlled desperation. A track which starts up very carefully but builds up with more guitars and power. Outstanding track. Eileen plays guitar as well as doing the vocals all through the album, except the backing vocals on "Shining" where drummer Sir "Eddie" Real and organ/piano-player Orlando Harrison does it. By the way, Orlando Harrison does a wonderful job on organ and piano throughout the album. The same goes for guitarist David Bull. He plays everything from powerful distorted riffs to mean slide and lifts the whole album to a higher level. If there's any negative to be said about this terrific debut-album, it must be the production. It's not directly muddy but it's not clean either. From my point of view I think the album would have been even better with a more clean and powerful production. Instead of produce yourself next time Eileen get somebody else and you may laugh all the way to the bank. Yeah, she got the potential to be really big. And that without any commercials......

Calvin Russell has been out here for a while now, but he's been criminally overlooked. His career started, I think, with the band The Characters before he went solo, but with some of his buddies from that band recording with him on his earlier records. By now he's got at least a half a dozen records out in his own name. His music and lyrics are often inspired by the more shadowy sides of life. The rumor has it that he's been a jailbird himself for some time in his life. So that may explain why he's inspired of that part of life. And he looks like a man who have tried a lot. Difficult to guess his age, but he's no youngster that's for sure. Musically he's developed from a rather muscular bluesy rocker to a more of a singer/songwriter with a hint of country-music taking part of his musical expression. But he still belongs more in the rock-category than the country-genre in my opinion. With his croaky , but definitive soulful voice, he tells us stories with unmistakable southern drawl. He's from Texas you know. The album opener "Sam Brown" gives you a pretty good idea what I'm talking about here. He's playing some guitar himself but the main guitar work here is Luther Dickinson responsible for. And the best backing there is available in Memphis (where the album was recorded), named David Hood on bass and Roger Hawkins on drums appears throughout the album. Melancholy is the keyword in "Common One" which nearly brings tears to your eyes, with beautiful guitar-picking. Surprisingly that old classic "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"(yeah that one !) turns up here in a version so good you may ending up believing that Calvin wrote the track himself. Calvin has shown his great admiration for the songwriting of the late Townes Van Zandt before by covering some of his songs. And here he does it again with a version of his "The Hole ", which Townes would have been proud of if he had been able to hear it. A straight blues tune are being served in "Where The Blues Get Born" with fat slide-guitar and crisp piano. Rock'n'roll in it's purest form is "Texas Bop", written by Jim Dickinson, and will make your feet starting to move on the dance floor. "Dream Of A Better World" closes the album and lit up a light in all the darkness. Well, this is a great album by Calvin Russell, maybe his finest to date.

THE SEAHORSES - "Do It Yourself" Geffen GED 25134 (1997)

John Squire was the main songwriter and guitarist in The Stone Roses. And when they called it a day he still got so much music inside himself he wanted to expose. And he started The Seahorses to get a proper tool to do just that. Asking friends and musicians he met on pubs, The Seahorses started to take shape. Tony Visconti was placed in the producer seat and the work on "Do It Yourself" was to begin. Tony Visconti has done very much work as a producer earlier with names as diverse Sparks, The Alarm, David Bowie and John Hiatt to name but a few. And he did this album into a rather powerful and muscular one. Made in the name of the guitars. The opener "I Want You To Know" has a riff in it that Jimmy Page would have been proud of. John Squire's guitar is tough, raw and very powerful here (and throughout the album for that matter). Making a great contrast here is Tony Visconti, by playing a theremin, making it howl in the background. Tony also has arranged the strings that shows up on "Blinded By The Sun". A great track that has a more poppy feel with it's acoustic guitar and sticky refrain. Chris Helme plays acoustic guitar and sings lead and backing vocals in the band. A good voice which got the power needed for the harder tracks and the more relaxed expression on the more poppy ones. On "Love Is The Law" John stretches out on the guitar while Stuart Fletcher lets the bass roll effectively along over Andy Watts' funky drumming. Standout track! Enough guitars to make you happy! There's quite a distance between The Seahorses and The Beatles, but the pop-sensibility of "Happiness Is Eggshaped" makes my thought wander in the direction of John, George, Paul and Ringo. Even more close to those guys is "Round The Universe", no less than outstanding pop it is!! The closest we get a ballad here is "Love Me And Leave Me" written by John and one if the Oasis brothers, a real sweetie (that's the tune not the man!) To sum it all up, a great classy guitar-album this is, both powerful and emotional, rocking and poppy. It's a shame that the band no longer exists ……… But I guess we've not heard the last of John Squire ……He's too good to just quit playing the guitar!

This is Hank's debut album, but he has released an ep before this. But this is the last one of his cd's I got my hands on, so it maybe an idea to read the reviews of "Plenty Of Time" and "Walk" before this one.
On the album opener "Knock Some More" Hank plays everything himself. Drums, bass and both acoustic and electric guitars. A fast tune which goes straight to the feet. Some fine acoustic picking behind Hank's trademark, slightly distorted, wonderful, intense electric slide-guitar. "Oh So Near" is one of the best tracks on the album. A slow tune which increases in tempo an power towards the end. Creating a wonderful atmosphere here with some delightful Hammond-organ is Christian Brandtschen. He showed up on Hank's next two albums as well, and is an important man for Hank's sound. Backing him up on Robert Johnson's (Hank is a great fan of the man, he poses exactly like him on the photo in the cd-booklet) "32-20 Blues", are some guys with the name The Homesick Homewreckers. Together with Hank they manage to give this classic a personal touch. Well done! More feed to the boogie feet we get in "Nobody Will", a short danceable tune with loads of slide. Dire Straits' "Six Blade Knife" gets a wonderful treatment here with large amounts of slide and organ-playing. This version clocks in for over six minutes and it's sheer joy all the way. My thoughts wander to Ry Cooder on "8000 Miles To New Orleans" with its slow pace and intensity. Good one! The only negative thing to say about "Caught Asleep", is that it's way too short!! It's one hell of a slide-guitar led blues-rocker! Just great! There's lots of powerful slide too on "Travel On", another outstanding track here. "(I Still Know That) You're My Friend" is a fast danceable tune again, where Christian Brandtschen picks up the accordion to achieve some zydeco flavor. J.J.Cale's "Mona" ends this debut album from Hank in a beautiful way. Relaxed feeling here and a superb ending on a superb album.

HANK SHIZZOE - "Walk" CrossCut CCD 11050 (1996)

"Walk" is Hank Shizzoe's second release. Already on the opening track "Handmade Love" Hank set the standard for the album. I think it's daring to open an album with such a long track. It clocks in for over seven minutes. But relax, you don't get bored if you're into tasty guitars with lots of vibrating slide-work. Underlined by a soulful organ and female backing-vocals you can't go much wrong can you ? Of course some would manage to spoil such a setting as too but not Hank and his buddies. The core of his buddies on this record is bass-player Michel Poffet and organist/pianist Christian Brantschen which became members of his backing band to come, Loose Gravel. Drummer Cristoph Beck plays only on two tracks here, but he also followed to join Loose Gravel. But on the track "The Hurry And The Grace" Hank does everything himself, all guitars, bass, lead and harmony vocals and even a snare drum and it sounds good. So I guess if he really wanted he could easily make an album all by himself if he wanted to. We got the feeling of Tex-Mex music in "(You Can Keep On) Falling Forever And Ever" much due to Christian Brantschen's accordion and Barbara Hiestand's splendid backing vocals. A tune Ry Cooder would have been proud of been the creator of. So would Doug Sahm (R.I.P.). "Big Easy Glow" is an up tempo track which makes it hard to hold still your feet. And it is Felix Mueeller who plays the electric bass here, to get the power needed. Also on extra guitar here are Stueve Aebersold making the sound really powerful. A near pure country-tune "The Whole Book" runs smoothly with delicate picking on both guitar and Dobro before "Blood In My Eyes" closes the album with Hank alone with an acoustic guitar and his pleasant voice. Okay, what you get here is fourteen tracks and nearly seventy minutes of self written songs and good guitaring both with and without bottleneck.

On his latest release so far, Hank has gone completely solo. He's done everything himself this time. All songs are written by him (with one exception), all instruments played by himself and he's doing all the vocals. And as usual he's done the production as well. When it comes to the drums and percussion we hear on the record, I'm not sure whether he plays it all or maybe some of it comes from a drum machine. His lyrics seems more reflected here than on previous albums, and the overall feeling here are bit more subdued than before. But don't let that scare you from buying this album. It's bloody good as usual! There's enough guitars here to make you happy, but the wild howling slide-work is not at present this time.
On "21264 Cowboys" he's written a lyric that made me smile and where he created a Mexican feel to it just by his playing-style. I think there's a mandolin involved here to achieve that sound. Great tune. Some distant twanging deep guitar and harmonica makes "You Make It Sway" stand out in its own way. Hank is no John Popper on the harmonica, but he sure can cope with Bob Dylan. On "Serious Shopping" he uses a wah-wah pedal on the electric guitar in the background and where the acoustic guitar is more upfront. Great lyrics about shopping before Christmas with a relaxed feel to it. One of this albums best tracks. Relaxed too is the feeling on "Forget About Taste", but here he plays some great electric slide. "Zoo" turns out to be a country song with its easy rolling bass and tight rhythm. Both acoustic and electric guitars makes a great melody here. Things get far more heavy on "Rock Around The Moon". Here it sounds like Hank sings through a distorted telephone microphone and where the harmonica and guitars are really heavy amplified too. Definitively the most heavy track here! "Bedpopthang" rocks away real good with some fat slide in the background before he pulls it up front for the solo. "Sally Goes Home" are another outstanding track here, a sad story backed by both electric and acoustic slide-guitars. Rounding off this good album does "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me), the only track Hank has not written himself. It's a moody tune with just Hans' voice on top of guitars with the bass joining towards the end. Just beautiful!
This album sounds a bit different than the previous albums, but it's every bit as good in my opinion. But for those of you who likes the music filled with loads of fat electric slide, I would recommend one of the earlier albums for a start. And when you get hooked, buy the rest!

More than a few times a band shows up from nowhere, releases one good album and then passes into oblivion. Sore Throat from England was one of those bands, sadly enough. To promote the album they released a single with both tracks taken from the album. But the year before that, they released a single with two great tracks, "Zombie Rock" and "I Don't Wanna Go Home". It's a shame that they did not include those tracks on the album. Both tracks are very much straight rock'n'roll with great hook-lines and catchy as hell. Let' hope for a cd release in the future with Sore Throat's complete recorded works. So how does the album sound? It's a kind of sophisticated pub-rock or pop-rock we get introduced to here. They got this wonderful sound picture much due to the clever keyboard-use and saxophone. "Wonder Drug" opens with electric piano, rolling bass in a deep tone before vocalist Justin Ward starts to sing. He sings well, but has a limited voice and sound very English. On the interlude here keyboard-player Matt Flowers and saxophonist Greg Mason does a wonderful job over guitarist Reid Savage's rhythm patterns. "7th Heaven" is a gentle song, almost a ballad in its expression and one of the albums pearls! Just drums starts up behind Justin's voice before a harpsichord joins in and adds some nice colouring. The tempo increases considerably on "Flak Jacket", a track that easily could fit under punk and one of the few tracks here with a regular guitar solo. Perfect party track! On the long "Routine Patrol" Dan Flowers' warm bass starts rolling behind the clever guitar arrangements of Reid and Clive Kirby's excellent drumming. An exciting track with several tempo-changes and some great sax-work again. "Diggin' A Dream" got this great ska-feeling to it with pumping Farfisa organ and a very powerful guitar. Great track! A bit more of that feeling we get in "British Subject" where the sax taking the melodic lead and plays a major role with the guitar here on the interlude. Several tempo-changes here too. The closest we get to a straight ballad is "Mr. Right", with electric piano and backing vocals and moody sax. Again an incredible track! Things go a lot faster again on "Off The Hook" with tough guitar and harmonica solo. The title-track ends this incredibly good pub-rock album, which is full of strong tracks with lots of clever arrangements and should definitively, been more known to a wider audience.

TERRY STAMP - "Fatsticks" A&M Records AMLH 68329 (1975)
(Not released on cd)

After Third World War called it a day, Terry Stamp released this album, sadly his only one as a solo-artist. Because this is a really good one from the mid-seventies. He got a way with words that was clever and unique in it's own way. Often he describes the darker side of life in an urban environment. But it's done with understanding, warmth and humour. Terry Stamp got a very special voice, which you'll either hate or love. You can count me in for the latter. His voice is nasal, raw, hoarse definitively limited but it's warm, got plenty of soul and honesty. One of this albums weakest tracks (without being bad!), "Kid", is a funky track with the raw heavy bass of Jim Avery in the bottom. Jim Avery was together with Terry Stamp in Third World War. More of Jim's heavy bass in walking blues mode we get in the bluesy "Stage Of Fools". And now we must mention the guitarist on the album, which is no other than Ollie Halsall from Patto, but was in Boxer when this album was recorded. The drummer here, Tony Newman was also in Boxer at that time. Ollie's solo here on "Stage Of Fools" are nice and got a twangy touch to it. "Honky Honda" is a slow moody bluesy track with just a light touch of soul in it with the bass playing a leading role. But with Ollie playing an acoustic slide-solo, just beautiful! We get more slide on "Black Bomber Waltz" but now very electric and distorted. Tough! And things rocks real good on "Motorhead" with Mike Moran rolling along on piano and even more of Ollie's powerful slide-guitar. One of these albums really outstanding tracks is "Town Drunk". A slow kind of soul-ballad, intense, where Terry exceeds his vocal limitation, making his voice sounding desperate and insane. Stands up really good to the lyrics! Boxer also did this song on their debut. That's also the case with "Dinah Low", but this version here is rawer and slightly better. "Fatsticks" is a quiet really stripped down track with just Terry on vocals backed by acoustic guitar. The album closes with a wild rocker called "Itchy Feet" where Ollie once again shows us what an incredible guitarist he was. Outstanding solo on this one! This great album is not much seen nowadays and will probably not be released on cd, though you never now for sure. Let's hope that one of those good retro-labels like Second Battle, Akarma or Repertoire picks it up one day and gives it the treatment it really deserves.

STRAY

When I was 21 years old I bought my first car and to have a car without any access to music, was totally out of the question. So I had to buy a stereo music-cassette player at the same time to install in the car. I hated the music-cassette system then, and still does, but this was centuries before the cd was even at the planning stage folks! On my way home I stopped at a music store and for the first time I took a look in the bargain bin for the music-cassettes. I found a copy of Stray’s “Saturday Morning Pictures” to a ridiculous low price, so I took a chance and bought it. All I knew about the band, was that they played some kind of hard rock. I certainly did not have a clue then, that this one should turn out to be one of my all time favourites from the seventies !!
The opening track is always important, because it’s supposed to grab the attention of the listener and hold it through the whole album. And “Our Song” grabbed my attention by the balls and kept it there when it came through the car-speakers at full volume! Believe me, it nearly blew me off the road!!
An acoustic guitar starts picking a wonderful theme before vocalist Steve Gadd comes in with his raspy, strong voice full of soul and warmth. After the first verse the whole band gets along with a bang! Distorted heavy guitar from Del Bromham, deep bass from Gary Giles and powerful drums from Ritchie Cole. The acoustic theme runs along in the background all through the track and together with some nice Hammond organ and solid soulful backing vocals (delivered by P.P.Arnold, Lisa Strike, Barry St.John and Kay Gardner), makes this a winner. Del Bromham is responsible for all the guitars on the album (and all keyboards as well), and he’s bloody good! In my humble opinion one of the really underrated guitarists of all time (a position he shares with Pretty Things’ Peter Tolson!!), a riffmaster and a solo guitarist with enormous qualities!
Some noisy synthesizer, illustrating a storm, opens “After The Storm” and is a massive rocker with loads of guitars and clever riffs. It contains a lot of tempo-changes as well making drummer Ritchie Cole work for his money. A tough wah-wah solo and some harmonica delivered by Andy Bearns appears spices it up even more. “Sister Mary” continues in the same direction, with more tempo-changes and at a punishing pace at times. Another killer track! A bit more quiet is the opening of “Move That Wigwam” with some easy guitar from Del and some more harmonica from hired hand Andy Bearns. But soon the power increases considerably with more heavy riffing guitars and the backing on full power. A fast guitar-riff opens “Leave It Out” with a violin played by Mike Evans, colouring it nicely, even though this is heavy enough! A slide solo from Del is very marked as well and lifts the track up. On “How Could I Forget You” Gary Giles’ bass is very heavy, distorted and fuzzed at the beginning but sounds plain after a while. Another track with tempo-changes and different guitar sounds. Goodie! “Mr. Hobo “ is very acoustic in it’s expression, but with an electrifying solo and splendid backing vocals from the earlier mentioned quartet. “Queen Of The Sea” ends this album in a perfect way, a mid-tempo tune with the sounds from the sea in the background, seagulls screaming and waves washing up towards the beach. But with elegant tempo-changes here as always, and enough guitars to make you happy! Great track!
To sum it all up, this is a killer album in the hard rocking vein, full of strong tracks, good lyrics, lots of tempo-changes and tons of guitars of all kinds! Buy it !!
Besides this Line release (which is hard to get these days), a double cd called “All in Your Mind” contains "Saturday Morning Pictures" as it’s second part (the first part is their debut “Stray”) which has a better sound and dynamics, and is a budget release as well (with a bonus–track!), so there no excuse for having this classic in your collection! It should be available from any good record store or from any good internet shop.
Stray is still active and is on the road from time to time, but now there’s only Del Bromham left of the original line-up. But he was the main songwriter of the band, so my guess is that the band still sound like Stray. To me their classic period was their five first albums, “Stray”, “Suicide”, “Saturday Morning Pictures”, “Mudanzas” and “Move It”. It was this period that Steve Gadd was with the band and his voice gave the band a very distinct sound.

STRIFE

It was the cover of this album which caught my interest in the first place. I thought it was cool and interesting and I assumed that this was no ordinary pop album. This happened back in the good old days when you got a chance to listen to the music before you bought it. Not a practice all that common nowadays, but things seems to get a little better in some shops.
The back of the cover listed only three musicians (with a keyboard player on a few tracks), so I was hoping for some really heavy guitar freak-out here when I asked for a quick listen. I was both right and wrong. It was absolutely guitar-driven, but far from the expression of Cream, Robin Trower or Rory Gallagher that I was hoping for. But it’s a classic anyway in my humble opinion ! I’ll try to explain why.
A rasping, scratchy guitar starts “Shockproof” with a fast repeating riff which makes your boogie feet itch. John Reid is the man behind all the guitars on the album and, believe me, he’s busy here! And he takes care of all the lead vocals as well. He got a very pleasant voice, light and smooth but with the necessary power needed to cope with the music. A busy man is also the drummer David Williams, he pounds along with Gordon Rowley’s and keeping the track tight and meaty. A few bars with fat boogie is thrown in for good measure before John Reid lays on more guitars on top of the raspy riff who runs all the way through the track. I liked this track immediately, but when I heard the follower, “Let Me Down”, I was completely sold! Some fragile soft chords from John’s guitar starts the ball before a fat, bluesy guitar tops the easy riff in the background. And the bass of Gordon is far more at present here, heavy and slightly distorted. It’s powerful and full of hooks that sticks to your brain. A killer ! Much of the same is to said about “Feel So Good”, a short fast snappy tune, but with a tough wah-wah solo, which was very typical seventies. Goodie!
Don Airey is no novice when it comes to the art of keyboard playing (widely known for his work with Colosseum II, Rainbow and many others), and he’s the man hired to deal with the job on this album. We got a good feel of the man’s capabilities in “Sky” where he backs the band nicely with piano and has clever ideas when it comes to follow all John Reid’s guitars and tempo changes. Maybe the best track on the album !!
“You Are What You Are” is another track with several tempo changes, lots of guitars but where Gordon’s bass steals the show with his bending of the strings and where Don adds a few Hammond organ chords. Gordon has also written the follower, “Red Sun”, an instrumental with only his bass guitar as the only instrument. The track got this warm sound despite the fact that the bass is heavily fuzzed at times. The long “Fool Injected Overlap” opens with some nice acoustic guitar theme and some relaxed singing before both the power and tempo changes. And more tempo changes is to come, this one is a workout of dimensions for the whole band. Good one! Good is also the album closer “Weary Traveller”, a more quiet and subdued track with John’s voice full of soul and where Don’s keyboards is majestic and classical inspired. An absolutely worthy ending to a classy album!
Strife, and particularly on this album, was a band who knew a lot how to sound both heavy and simple, advanced and rocking in a way that made me playing this album a whole lot, since the day I grabbed and it will continue the occupation of both my cd-player (when I’m at work) and my record player (when I’m home) from time to time. I never get tired of this album !
So if you’re into records with tons of guitars, rocking and heavy, coupled up with shitloads of tempo changes and good songs, you could do a lot worse than get your hands on this one.
Strife released only two albums (this was their second and last) and one EP in their short career. Their debut “Rush” isn’t quite up to the standard of this one, but worth having. I’ve regrettably never heard the EP.
All I know is that when they called it a day, bass player Gordon Rowley started Nightwing, but what happened to bandleader John Reid and drummer David Williams I know nothing about.

It’s at least 25 years ago since I stumbled across this band. I don’t know exactly how, but I think I saw an advertisement in a music magazine where they sold second-hand records where Third World War was mentioned. And it was described with just one word in the listing….and that was ..”HEAVY!!”. At the time I was in a really “heavy” period musically, so I bought the album without really knowing how it sounded like. But WOW, this was really heavy at times, but discovered that it was much more to it than that. That’s why I’ve chosen to place it under rock instead of metal.
Third World War was the band of Terry Stamp and Jim Avery and was their vehicle to spread their left-winged political comments about the society, coupled up with a heavy, brutal and nearly raw muscular sound.
Terry Stamp’s voice is a chapter on its own. Very raw, nasal and not always hitting the right notes. But I just love it, cause it’s so soulful and honest. And absolutely unique! Besides the vocals, he also plays chopper guitar, a rough, raw kind of rhythm guitar. Jim Avery is responsible for the rather heavy bass, deep and sometimes distorted.
On “Ascension Day” Terry opens with his chopper guitar behind his rough vocal chords. More mighty guitar, nearly sounding something like a disturbed and distorted Hammond-organ is added by Mick Lieber, who was their lead guitarist at the time. Jim plays a melodic bass line on this brutal rocker and drummer Fred Smith ties it all up. A little more easy going is “M.I.5’s Alive” with it’s simple bass and guitar-riff, but muscular! They get some help on this one, from Speedy and Wingy on congas and harmonica respectively. Who’s hiding behind those names I know nothing about. But it’s the longest track on the album with Mick stretching out in full flight with lots of burning, noisy and intense guitar. A real killer! And a big contrast to the follower “Teddy Teeth Goes Sailing”, which is the shortest track on the album and much more relaxed with it’s economical acoustic arrangement. The power is on full again in “Working Class Man” with characteristic chopper guitar and rumbling bass. And towards the end of the song there’s some horns provided by Bobby Keyes and Jim Price, which increase the power even more. Those guys have played with everybody from Rolling Stones to Clapton and Faces. And there’s more horns on “Shepherds Bush Cowboy”, another of the albums really good tracks. Tony Ashton (RIP) is rolling along with some piano as well on it, he knew a thing or two about that as he has played with “everybody” in the business. “Stardom Road” is divided into two parts, the first one with just acoustic guitar played by Pete Martin and strings behind Terry’s voice. Just beautiful !! The second part of the song is brutal and rocks like hell with the band in full flight and where Mick’s guitar howls and screams like it was being tortured ! Tough! And certainly not for the weak hearted.
The funny thing is that an artist like Dana Gillespie covered this song, both parts, on her album “Weren’t Born A Man”. Not an obvious choice but the lady got guts !
“Get Out Of Bed You Dirty Red” is not great musically, with simple acoustic guitar strumming, belches (!) and not much more. But a real contrast to the album closer “Preaching Violence” it surely is. Here’s the brutality and power back with full force again with some more of Tony Ashton’s piano, to smooth it up a bit. Terry chops away as usual with Mick’s guitar howling and screaming again ! Stands really good up to the title of the song!
In my humble opinion, this album is a forgotten classic. I never get tired of it, but then again I guess it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. It’s raw, dirty and violent but done with a lot of soul. And there were not any band at all which sounded nowhere near Third World War……not then…not now.

A little more than a year after they left the recording studio making their debut album, Third World War went back in the studio again, to start recording their second (and what turned out to be their last) album. Same producer as last time, John Fenton but different studios. Terry Stamp and Jim Avery was of course still the core of the band, but now with a different guitarist and drummer in their ranks. John Knightsbridge was the new guitarist and Craig Collinge the new drummer. And they brought in John Hawken, earlier in The Nashville Teens, on piano.
The difference between this album and the debut, is that this time they have a richer band sound all the way, much due to John Hawken’s piano, which is at present all the time. And it’s a more mature album as well, but fear not, they’re still desperate and angry !
The opener “Yobo” sets the standard pretty well for the album, rocking and heavy! And where Terry screams his lungs out towards the end of the song with a tough heavy solo from John Knightsbridge. “Urban Rock” is one hell of a rock’n’roller with Jim’s bass sounding mighty and pushes the song forward. Great piano here as well from Hawken and more tough guitar from Knightsbridge. One of the best tracks on the album! As the title indicates, “Coshing Old Lady Blues” is a nice blues tune which is sung by Terry with his unique expression, intense and demanding. And Hawken’s piano is no less than great ! Craig Collinge shows his capabilities on “Rat Crawl”, a rocker with rolling piano and loads of tough guitar from John. It’s a long track with plenty of space for heavy riffs and intense solos. Another goodie. Plenty more of heavy riffs you find in “I Rather Cut Cane For Castro”, a typical Third World War tune if there is one. And they hired Ray Flacke for some more guitar on this track, making it a burner ! On the cd, “Factory Canteen News” follows without any break, and is included in the playing time of “I Rather Cut Cane For Castro”, which makes the track listing of the cd not correct.
Well, “Factory Canteen News” opens with a distant fragile guitar and Terry’s voice relaxed and cool. A rather quiet tune, but with Jim playing a nice bass line and some delicate piano from Hawken after awhile. The song has these bluesy feeling over it and the solo from Knightsbridge is really outstanding! Lovely song! Thing get far more heavy again in “Hammersmith Guerrilla”, which is the last track on the album. It’s a long one with horns (And it’s Jim Price who’s responsible for the horns here as he was on the debut, but he was together with Bobby Keyes at that time) and turns really noisy and heavy after awhile! It’s a really worthy ending of a great album from a great band that deserves much more than just a footnote in the history of rock!
This was the last record the band did, regrettably. But I think it’s great that Repertoire has released this albums on cd and given more people the chance to experience how fantastic they were!
John Hawken later became a member of Renaissance, Illusion and Strawbs and did a lot of session work. John Knightsbridge was also a part of Illusion together with John Hawken and has been a member of a blues band called Ruthless Blues in the nineties.
I know from Terry Stamp himself that he and Jim Avery has recorded an album together called "In Chicago" in 2000, I've not heard it but it you may check it out on this address. And from the same address solo albums from Terry is also available.

This cd called “Armageddon”, is Third World War’s whole recording career compiled on a double cd. On the first cd, it is their debut album “Third World War” plus the single version of “Ascension Day” placed at the end as track # 10. It’s not much different from the album version, it’s just edited down a bit in playing time as far I can see/hear.
On the second cd there’s the “Third World War II” album together with the version of “Urban Rock” which was released as a single. It was named “A Little Bit Of Urban Rock” when it was out on 7-inch vinyl, but this version was absolutely different from the album version. A nice surprise for all us lovers of Third World War! This version was leaning more towards an even straighter rock’n’roll approach and I can easily imagine a band like The Inmates doing a cover of this one. A good version it is and fun to hear. Also placed at the end of the cd as track #8.
The B-sides on those two mentioned singles (“Teddy Teeth Goes Sailing” and “Working Class Man”), is not on included on this double cd, so my guess is that they are identical with the versions done on the album.
Both albums have been remastered digitally by Denis Blackham and he’s done a good job. The volume has been lifted up a bit compared to the Repertoire releases and the sound is clearer and the dynamics is also better. So if you’re about to get Third World War on cd, this is where I would have put my money.
The only trouble is that it’s not easy get, I got my copy from a friend of mine (Thanks Frode!) who found two copies on Ebay. So happy hunting !
P.S. I know for sure that the record label Spalax has released “Third World War II” on cd, but about that release I know absolutely nothing........

PETE TINDAL'S RATTLEBONE - "Steel Road" Dragon Rider Records DRR0015CD
(1996)

For a long time now, I’ve been curious about what happened to the band Chainsaw Sprocket Knucklehead Tank. I’ve searched the net many times for any info about this band with zero results. A lot of bands releases one lp or cd and then disappears. And the musicians involved never appears again …..
Suddenly one day, just recently, a mail from Pete Tindal pops into my mail-box. He was the singer in Chainsaw…, he didn’t play anything, just taking care of the vocals at the time, but on this record he shows us that he’s an accomplished slide-guitar player as well! In fact he’s released both a video and a book about the art of slide-guitar playing, for beginners. For those of you who are interested in buying these gems, try this link http://www.petetindal.com/.
“Like The Dead Said” kicks off the album with distorted rhythm guitar, easy rocking, groovy, with Steve Coleman drumming along and Pete himself taking care of the bass as well as all the guitars. He does that all through the album. His vocals are easy recognisable, but he seems more relaxed now, not as affected as before, and it suits him. The title-track “Steel Road” comes next, a hard rocking little gem with some fat classy slide and much of the same can be said about the follower “Rolling Thunder”. The cd’s longest track “Pain And Punishment” slows things a bit down with a more bluesy feeling than the earlier tracks and it’s a goodie! “Stark Naked” is a very strait forward rocker, not bad but not that interesting either. “You Got Me Humming” is one of the best tracks on the album with an acoustic guitar laying beneath the slide from the start. Strong chorus and powerful vocals together with some intense slide makes this one a winner! A bluesy ballad shows up in “Stranger Than Strange”, another goodie! Relaxed vocals and loads of good slide, just delicious and with lots of hit-potential in my humble opinion! Rocking good is “My Girl Katharine” before the instrumental “Blooz” takes over, a short track which makes me think of the heydays of good old Fleetwood Mac. As an album closer, Pete has chosen a tough rocker called “Evil Hearted Woman”, with an opening riff you will swear that you’ve heard before somewhere but it doesn’t really matter because it is functioning like hell and with a stunning slide solo of course!
Pete Tindal has written all the tracks on the album by himself together with drummer Steve Coleman, and that’s a force which helps a lot to gain attention today. There are way to many bands and artist that rely on classics when it comes to recording in the blues and blues-rock genre.
It’s a good album Pete has delivered, but I’ll guess the next one will be better. There’s improvement to be made in both production and songwriting, he’s not quite up there with the big ones yet, but maybe one day ……

THE WATCHMAN - "The Watchman" Hannibal Records HNCD 1362 (1991)

It was an advertisement in the music magazine Q who caught my attention about this cd. I don't recall the exact words, but it was something like "The Watchman plays folk, blues and rock with a punky attitude". And when I saw the bottleneck on his little finger (that's the finger the good ones use for bottleneck-playing) on the front cover picture, I knew that I had to check it out. This also caught the attention of a friend of mine (Hi Atle!) and he bought it first. And we soon agreed that this man was to watch out for! The Watchman's real name is Ad van Meurs and he's what you may call a multi-instrumentalist. And he sings too of course, in a slightly nasal way, but very pleasant listening to. He plays both acoustic and electric guitars, often with the bottleneck attached to his little finger, dobro, banjo and bass guitar. And he's also done the rhythm programming. But relax folks, if you didn't know this, you probably wouldn't notice the difference between this and real drumming. In "Laundry Days" he's wondering how to escape exactly that kind of job, and I can tell you that Ad got a real good way with words! Often he describes things in a melancholy, bluesy way but not without humour. Ad van Meurs often throws in an instrumental tune or two on his releases. And the first one out here is "The Captain's Tune". An easy acoustic guitar leads the way before the rhythm is marked and the bass guitar joins in. Electric slide follows later making this track really outstanding. "Considering The Lowlands Of Holland" is just beautiful, relaxed and with Ankie Keultjes on backing vocals. Nice guitar picking here too. The following track "Lowland Tune" is a fast instrumental with beautiful slide and guitar picking. When the banjo shows up later, the tempo increases after a few seconds and turns this snappy tune into a punky bluegrass-frenzy! Great! An electric guitar leads the way in "I Wanna Be With You" but with acoustic slide as a marked contrast. Again a great tune. On "Letter To Your Wedding" Ankie Keultjes sings lead all the way and sings good. Ad just does the wonderful guitar picking here. To sum it up, this is an exceptional debut by The Watchman, good singing, good lyrics and good playing! A wonderful production job is done by the great Joe Boyd here, famous for lots of blues and folk productions with artists like Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Fairport Convention, R.E.M and 10.000 Manics just to mention a few. But there's more to come………!

THE WATCHMAN - "Narcisse" Van Record Company Van CD 997022-2 (1992)

A year has gone since the excellent debut of The Watchman and this cd is now out on a new label called Van Record Company, maybe this is a label he has created himself, I don't know, but his records in the future was to be found on this label. Well, still he got Joe Boyd as a producer here and he is responsible for the liner notes as well. From the debut "The Watchman" Ad has with him Ankie Keultjes on harmony vocals, but this time he's got a real drummer and a bass guitarist as well. Excellent musicians they are too. And we get the chance to hear Menno Romers for the first time her. A saxophonist which turns out to be real important for the whole sound for this album and albums to come. In "New York, New York" Ad expresses his frustration over the big city life. Of course in his twisted way. It's an up tempo track, catchy as hell and with Menno Romers baritone sax lifting the track to a higher level. An instrumental tune follows in "Liechtenstein Rock Tune", a really great tune with a horn section where the speed of the tune increases towards the end. An enjoyable tune which makes me smile and think of circus-music! A lone saxophone sets the tone for the wonderful "Moon Over The Wing". Nice guitar picking as usual from Ad, with Theo Wijdeven's warm, deep bass-tone and the easy drumming of Eric Vanderlest giving the track the perfect push forward. A lap-steel guitar starts up "The Belfry", one of the cd's best tracks and with a great arrangement using some keyboard and tambourine to achieve the right atmosphere. On "Sailor's Home" there's just Ad on guitar and vocal with Ankie Keultjes backing him up on the chorus before Theo Wijdeven's bass joins towards the end. "Brilliant People" starts up easy on the first verse before it develops into a powerful rock tune with some fat slide from Ad. Just great! "Walk On Boy" is the only track here which Ad has not written by himself, but it suits him fine believe me. "Northern Train" is a mid-tempo rollin' tune with a kind of country-blues flavor and definitively one of the better tracks on the album. Much of the same are to be said about "Fraternity Night", sort of. Well, The Watchman has delivered an even better album than the debut here in my opinion, much due to his excellent musical companions, and of course his strong songwriter-capabilities and slide-guitar skills.

When an artist or a band has released more than one album, there will always be one who's on top if you rank them. To me "Peaceful Artillery" is the top album from The Watchman so far (but I haven't heard his live album "Live At Anderson Fair"). Some of the reason for that statement is Menno Romers' excellent saxophones all the way. Wow! That cat is good! But that's not all, Ad's songs here are some of the best he's ever written. And there's loads of great slide-guitar playing here as well. It's Menno Romers who's got the honor of opening this great album with some honkin' baritone sax in "Storm Storm". Ad joins with a great guitar-riff over Eric Vanderlest's great drumming and percussion work. A fat howling slide solo powers it up towards the end. What an excellent album opener! The title-track follows, a beautiful song with a slow pace with Theo Wijdeven's warm bass-tone giving it depth. Menno Romers follows the melody nicely with his sax behind Ad's simple but effective slide-solo. The tempo rises in "There's A Hero" and where Ad delivers a raw, fast riffing kind of solo. Tough! Ad maybe refer to some incident in his lyrics her, mentioning Maureen Tucker and Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground, but I'm not sure. "Back To The Shore" is another outstanding track here with Ad delivering some wonderful phrasing. On "Jack And Jill" Ankie Keultjes harmonizes with Ad playing a tough distorted slide-solo. A meaty blues-rock tune shows up on "Blues As Well", very powerful and steady as hell, a real treat for the boogie-feet! Rounding off this killer album is "Carnavale", an instrumental with a Caribbean feel to it. Producer this time was Jack Clement (worked with U2 among others), and he's done a very good job. The album was recorded live in four days in January 1994. And if you never have heard anything with The Watchman before, this is the perfect place to start.

On this album it's Ad, Ankie and Eric who has produced. And it's Eric and Ankie who has been in charge of the mixing. The band is the same here as on the two previous albums, but there's a difference. All except Ankie plays other instruments as well as the one they usually do. Ad plays piano and synthesizer along with the guitars, Theo plays guitar on one track and Eric plays piano on one track. When it comes to the songwriting, Ad has written six of the tracks here all by himself, the rest with the other band members included more or less. All lyrics here are by Ad except "Gazelle" which is written by Ankie. Bart van Dongen are guesting here on Hammond-organ and the first taste of it we get on "Dried Out". A beautiful ballad with the Hammond underlining the mood and with a powerful interlude led by Ad's guitar and Menno's sax. Ankie opens "Holy" with her voice done a capella, but multitracked, before Eric starts up a steady beat over Ad's distant slide. A comment on hypocrisy packed in an infectious refrain which makes you smile! "Gazelle" is a powerful, bluesy steady tune with Menno playing both soprano and baritone sax simultaneously! And with Ad's short slide-solo it really kicks ass. The sound of a lonely slide-guitar opens "Bohemian Blues", maybe the song closest to straight blues that Ad's ever written. The mood in the song's being strengthened by Menno's dry and lonely sax here. "St. Catharines" is another outstanding track here in a ballad kind of mood. Just wonderful! On "Progress" talks on the verses but sings the refrain. A very simple song in all it's beauty where Eric plays the piano and Theo plays the guitar! Ending this album does "Direction" with a simple effective beat and where Ad philosophize over where life leads us. The conclusion here is that "Broken Lock & Rhyme" is another goodie from The Watchman. But there's less of Menno's excellent saxophones and Ad's slide-guitars here than it's predecessors. And Theo's has changed his bass guitar here I think, he's got a more varied and marked sound than before, but of course it may as well be his playing technique which causes the difference.

On this album the musicians are the same as before, except those two guests, Servais Haanen and Donnie DuVall. But here has Ankie taken the control over the studio. She has produced, recorded and mixed the whole album by herself this time. And she's done it very well. There's plenty of space and air between the instruments, and a good clean sound. But there a difference, the band-feeling of The Watchman is far more distant this time. It seems like Ad wants to go in a more straight singer/songwriter direction now. That suspicion are being strengthen when Ad and Ankie now thanks the other members of the band for their generous contribution. "Hippy's Lament" is the first one out here, and it's just Ad on guitar and Theo on bass we hear. Of course Ad takes care of the vocals as usual. It's a tale about missing those happy hippy days. A strange synthesized rhythm starts up (just to disappear seconds later) the title track "Flight Over Life", before Ad comes in with his finger picking on guitar and where Ankie harmonizes with him all the way. Servais Haanen contributes with some melodeon creating the right mood for this melancholy, but beautiful song about an old man looking back on his life. One of the best tracks on this album for sure! This time there a short instrumental piece called "The Ultimate Soap Tune" are among the tracks where Ad himself plays double bass (!) along with the guitar. Menno's sax creates a relaxed mood in "Sad Jazz", but I've loved to hear more of him. On "Faria" Ad has amplified his acoustic guitar slightly, and it's just him and Servais Haanen on melodeon who creates the sound here together with Ankie on harmony vocals. On "Sentimental Daddy" Ad tells the story of a weekend-daddy with a full band sound and one of the best tracks here. Among the best is also "Sunday", where Ad gives us a taste of lap-steel, not much but beautiful. Nearly straight country-music shows up in "Down In The Woods", again a killer track with Theo on the double bass and excellent finger-picking guitar. And it's just Ad and Theo who plays on the last track "Eric's Ship", with a short solo from Menno towards the end. A good, more up tempo track which closes the album perfectly. So, what's more to say?
Well, as you may have noticed by now, I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of The Watchman. He and the band has given me so much listening pleasure through the years, that I feel that I'm in debt to him for the rest of my life. So for you out there who's not had this pleasure yet, do something about it! But be warned, you may get seriously hooked! Start with "Peaceful Artillery" and then buy the rest. All his albums are really good. These albums are hard to get here in Norway, but it may be a piece of cake elsewhere for what I know. A special thank to Ad van Meurs himself for sending me a copy of his "Narcisse" album some years back, when I made an hour long program about him on the local-radio station where I worked as a DJ at the time.

After fronting the band Ellis for two albums, Steve Ellis moved on and was asked by Luther Grosvenor and Paul Nicholls to be the singer of a band which were to be called Widowmaker. Luther Grosvenor (which used the name Ariel Bender at the time) had just quit Mott The Hoople and Paul Nicholls came from Lindisfarne. They recruited Bob Daisley (ex-Kahvas Jute, ex-Chicken Shack) on bass and Huw Lloyd Langton on guitars to gain the power they were after. Widowmaker was, to use Steve Ellis' own words, seriously hard rock, not heavy metal.
A tough riff makes the power behind Steve's raw expression on the album opener "Such A Shame". A song that sounds very typical seventies, but closer to Led Zeppelin than Mott The Hoople. "Pin A Rose On Me" follows, a great tune which opens with ringing twelve-string acoustic guitar before some nice electric slide comes in. Steve sings here more relaxed without losing any intensity. In fact, if this song had been arranged differently, it would have fitted easily in the repertoire of any country-artist. Strong backing vocals towards the end lifts the song to a higher level. A hard straight tough rocker comes along in "On The Road" before one of this albums best tracks appear in "Straight Faced Fighter". A mid-tempo track with Steve singing like a God! Great acoustic guitar riffing behind electric leads and this one should have been a hit! But where's the justice in the musical world? Things get really heavy on "Ain't Telling You Nothing". Heavily fuzzed guitars over Bob Daisley's elegant bass-line and Paul Nicholls steady drums. Several tempo-changes here, but it rocks! Along with tons of guitars, a wild solo completes it fine. Hired hand here, Zoot Money, rocks real good on the piano in "When I Met You". Good rocking track! Who's playing the mandolin on "Leave The Kids Alone" I don't know, but it's a great track played acoustic with the exception of Bob's bass. A good singalong track it is. Gospel-drenched backing vocals and soulful organ, played by Zoot, underlines the feeling in "Shine A light On Me". A steady riff through the song get split up by some tempo-changes, but it's very hypnotizing. Good one. I don't know who's singing at first on "Running Free" but it's not Steve, he joins later in the song. Maybe it's Ariel Bender. Great riff and solo here. "Got A Dream" finishes off this album. A short acoustic piece and not very good. In fact I hate it.
But apart from that I love this album. Go and get it! Steve Ellis left after this album, leaving the vocal job to new member John Butler for the follow up "Too Late To Cry".