Dark Angel
www.roadhousegb.co.uk

By now established as one of the most distinctive sounding outfits on the English roots scene and known for delivering great live performance sets wherever they play, Roadhouse album releases are renowned for the film noir tinge of Gary Boner’s lyrics, sharp band playing and the interplay of main writer Boner’s gruff vocal delivery with that of his current chanteuses. I say ‘current’ because there are usually changes from record to record – however to say that  a high standard of female singing is maintained would be an understatement.  This time around we get to hear the rasping passion of Mandie G, the ever improving clarity and appeal of Kelly Marie Hobbs plus the knowing sexiness of Suzi D…any of these ladies would be an asset to a musical outfit but moreover they work well together.

Never to be overlooked or underrated, bassist Bill Hobley and drummer Roger Hunt provide a rock solid but nonetheless nimble backdrop to the songs. Apart from the Roadhouse live sets, the rhythm section lend their skills at live shows to guest artists, including yours truly.

Firmly rooted in US Southern rock for dynamic inspiration, the two-guitar arrangements display light and shade, a cloudborne airiness at times and a grinding metallic clout at others. The axes don’t blur out the vocals – Gary is not going to bury his own wordsmithery! The ace in the pack is the difference in the guitar styles of Boner and Danny Gwylim – the former having a classic Mick Ralphs style with biting buzzy soloing but the latter perhaps more of a Wishbone Ash style player, fluid and soaring and by no means a blues purist or rock obsessive. In fact Danny will happily take in anything you lend to him, if  a Brad Paisley touch appears, blame me…..

Inside another classy cover design by band amigo Vaughan Oliver lurk more dark compositions. Fans of US rockers Drive By Truckers would be entranced with this material but bear in mind THIS group has been in existence over twenty years and delivering original numbers all that time.

Too Tired To Play has a purposeful attack and eerie slide to kick off the collection and a fine example of the vocal arrangement skills of this crew. Already alive classic, Rainmaker has a contagious country rock bounce and twanging key riff. Dark Angel is one of what Boner himself would tag a misery-incarnate piece but shows his saturnine leaning to great effect. Dig the arpeggio intro chords overlaid with a singing lead guitar line.  So Over You has – if memory serves – a Kelly Hobbs lyric and a springheeled vibe to offset the hellbound atmosphere of several of the other compositions included here…wonder how Danny gets such a perfect Les Dudek sound on the guitar here ? ‘Play With Fire’ has Mandie G capturing a Stevie Nicks sound over guitar harmonics and pumping Hunt drumwork, a song with great impact and perhaps the one you would play to an acquaintance to illustrate the Roadhouse approach. CloserTelling Lies is a past triumph dusted off the for the present personnel.

For this writer the urgency and insistence of ‘Tornado’ make it the pick of this set but you, dear listener, will find plenty to savour on this album

Pete Sargeant         www.fairhearing.co.uk

Goodtimes Goodtimes

www.franc-cinelli.com

This deluxe edition of the new Franc Cinelli album goes some way to explaining his appeal and has no better example of his talent than the two versions of ‘Fortune Teller Song’. One is a commercial radio edit but the acoustic take is akin to a tuneful Dylan, reedy harmonica interludes and all. This is pure troubadour stuff and after repeated listens, falling somewhere in style between English song maestro Al Stewart in the songs’ clear delivery and touch of mysticism and US roots stalwart Steve Forbert in the texture of Cinelli’s edge-of-raspy voice. The way that he sings is exactly right for these easy-paced compositions and the crisp rhythms have you tapping your feet and nodding along.

Opener ‘Point One’ is a lovely rolling lope of a number with fine washes of harmonica here and there ; “Let It Begin’ a lively country rocker with a catchy chorus, probably a set-opener and a darned good one. His clarity of vocal delivery heightens the impact of each song and there is a keen sense of dynamics at work in the arrangement on this selection.

Anyone liking McGuinness Flint or Stealers Wheel ought to investigate Franc Cinelli at the first opportunity.

‘Magic Hour’ is the most evocative of Al Stewart, in his ‘Last Days Of The Century’ classic era, when the songs were rooted but had a twist away from the ordinary, the rhythm here is a stealthy tread and the singing a touch conspiratorial over some inspired chord choices…is there a neat major 7th in there ?  One thing : the production on the band numbers is never over-the-top which makes the set a comfortable listen as you are never struggling to make out the lyric. As for ‘Love’, the song should be taken immediately to Rod Stewart as recording numbers like this might just rescue him from Vegas Loungeland ….

The airy ‘Get Ready’ has a Zimmerman touch and you do wonder how often the young Cinelli might have played his copy of ‘Nashville Skyline’. Maybe as much as I played the Byrds’ ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ I suspect !

Born in Rome and brought up in London, Franc Cinelli is a natural World musician of the folkrock persuasion and I am not surprised that he has played around the US to a good response. I have no doubt that Cinelli songs could prove successful vehicles for other singers to cover – ‘Diamonds In The Sky’ for Steve Gibbons or Zucchero for example.  But like another of my favourite artists Albert Hammond, it is so good to hear the composer    perform them.

Always tuneful and with a balanced drive to his delivery, Cinelli has put together a very listenable collection with this album and I hope to catch him live in the near

Pete Sargeant            www.fairhearing.co.uk

Live at Cadogan Hall, London

The veteran bluesman and band leader always manages to pull something special out of the bag for his visits to the capital and tonight’s eve-of-halloween performance had magic and quality in equal measures. Stepping out to announce his opening band for the evening in the shape of the Oli Brown Band, Mayall mused aloud whether any of the audience might be ‘ interested  in guitar players…’ – the ultimate tease for the London blues fans as sharp six-string work is a guaranteed feature of any Bluesbreakers show.

Oli Brown and his two cohorts took the stage and take a stealthy slink into their first offering ‘I Can Make Your Day  ‘. I recognised the snare drumwork immediately as that of Wayne Proctor, band and session man par excellence and of course as any modern blues enthusiast will know, a kingpin of the admirable band Amor, tall man John Amor’s group project after the first incarnation of The Hoax. With bassist Ron Sayer aboard, not much could go wrong in the engine room with this well-chosen support slot. Ron and Wayne also sing, which brings another dimension to certain parts of the arrangements. Looking like Albert Lee’s shock-haired nephew, Brown sings and plays with a crisp mixture of abandon and precision and more to the point with his ensemble not sounding particularly like other trios past or present. One reason for this is the wide range of songs he selects. He steers his white Tele through ‘Mr Wilson’, then veers into a Robin Trower mode for a languid solo that purrs and bites. ‘Devil In Me’ has a choppy swing and emphatic vocal.  Then he does justice to a song from the late great Donny Hathaway’s ‘Extension Of A Man’ album – ‘ Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’, singing like an angel and playing with a clipped fervour. One of the best moments of the whole night. The three players sing during the funked-up fun of ‘Hot Diggity’ then a Johhny Winterish closer wraps up the set. Just right.

Oli Brown

When the star attraction takes the stage, the audience is well and truly warmed up and ready to savour the songs. Mayall blends crowd pleasers and nods to his original influences – especially Rice Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson 11 -  plus some of his superior originals.

Rightly renowned for bringing fabulous lineups out on tour, John Mayall has really found the cream in the Chicago rhythm section of drummer Jay Davenport and fusion bassist Greg Rzab. Davenport sound uncannily like an early Butterfield Blues Band sticksman a lot of the time as he rattles out breaks and rolls but at other times it’s as if ‘Spectrum’ era Billy Cobham is sitting in. When Rzab solos as Mayall often encourages him to do, the Stanley Clarke influence is manifest but deftly aimed to complement the mood of the material. The crowd take to his lively outings, as he makes the bass strings sing and sound akin to high-flying birds or even at one point a pterodactyl being evicted from a nightclub by Robocop……

John Mayall and Rocky Athas

As for Texan axeman Rocky Athas and his red Les Paul, he makes his mark in his usual subtle way. With years of experience framing the gritty vocals of the Larry the singer in the Rocky Athas Band, this guitar ace has nothing to learn about playing in a band. The guitar tone is kept on the edge-of-feedback level but at comfortable volume, enabling Athas’ lines to sing and swoop  ; and whilst others solo, he keeps up a sonic thread of chords, chugs and fills.  Tonight’s events keep him on his toes, but knowing Rocky as I do, he always welcomes the challenge to bring the right dynamics to the set.

As for Mayall, I have seen several Bluesbreakers lineups including ‘Crusade’, the Bath Festival all-star grouping with Peter Green and (at the Royal Albert Hall) the ‘USA Union” group ( with my hero Harvey Mandel and the late Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris) and I have never heard John play better than tonight. He is truly inspired, upbeat and fluid and cannot disguise his delight at the quality of his players, namechecking them when he feels appropriate. His harp work is authentic and effective, his keyboard stints organically solid and very musical and his use of his customised guitar his best ever, even taking in a variant of tapping that sound fine against the agile Gibson lines of Athas.  To see him on such form thrills the audience, it is an exciting show and not the plodding visit to the blues museum some may have feared.

From the solo set starter ‘Another Man Done Gone’ with just longform ‘G’ harp for accompaniment, Mayall drives things along, taking in Otis Rush gem ‘All Your Love’ , SBJ’s ‘Help Me’, the lament ‘Blues For The Lost Days’ complete with scorching Rocky solo, a bustling ‘Parchment Farm’ and a reflective but smoking ‘Nothing To Do With Love’ from his ‘Tough’ release.  Some neat unison harp and piano livens up ‘Early In The Morning’ and the familiar ‘I Wish You Would’ tempo of ‘Room To Move’ works pretty well.

Anything can happen in a Bluesbreakers show and the audience whoops at the arrival for encores of the teddy bear figure of former JMB guitarist and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and his gold Les Paul. Mick seems happy as Larry to be aboard as he flicks out sharp fills and then produces a slide for some eerie figures during the moody ‘California’, this evening given an airy Steely Dan touch. The evening ends with a voodoo stomp through ‘Congo Square’ but for this writer the earlier dynamite version of Mayall’s ‘Mail Order Mystic’ had alone justified the trip to the metropolis. Audiences throughout the country will find much to enjoy when these two outfits arrive and perform

Pete Sargeant        www.fairhearing.co.uk

Martamaria Q & A

Junkman

CD single  www.traciehunter.com

Well if you’re after rock pedigree, I would venture that embracing the hard-rockin’ vocalist daughter of Mott The Hoople mainman Ian Hunter plus the singer from Def Leppard AND that outfit’s ace guitarist Phil Collen ticks all the boxes !  Add to that Quireboys keys man Keith Weir and from the ingredients, this cut ought to rock.

The song ‘Junkman’ was originally recorded by dad Ian Hunter and the fiery US singer Genya Ravan. Her history takes in punchy pop in Goldie & the Gingerbreads and then time with soul-psych lost legends Ten Wheel Drive and it’s easy to see that Ravan might be an influence on Ms Hunter. I saw Tracie play an enjoyable own gig a few years back – she gave me a current single that I still have – and she does command the stage, no doubt about that. She has power without shouting, her main gift in my opinion.

An ebow’d guitar floats over a stately acoustic strum intro and Hunter’s slightly husky vocal spins the tale, answered @ 1:20 by Joe Elliott’s best Rod-meets-Dylan singing. If radio played ‘Up Where We Belong’ the Joe Cocker /Jennifer Warnes duet, then there’s no real reason they shouldn’t play this. Both singers sound top notch and soulful, the guitar solo is appropriate in a kind of mid-term Whitesnake fashion and the rhythm restful and listenable.  Tracie Hunter is easily as good as most female rock singers and better than most, so let’s have this promised third album from her please…

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk

I’ve Been Up

CD single  Size 9 Records

Mr Amadeus is German born but raised in the UK and currently London-based, involved in writing songs and producing. His fields are electro house and disco funk and his first single release ‘God Only Knows My Shoe Size’ received a chunk of mainstream radio play and attention from mix experts.

‘I’ve Been Up’ includes a contribution from London rapper Kes. It’s not a paean to Viagra but a kicking synth bass-register led repetitive song mentioning a lust for Page 3 girls that will appeal to club dancers. Ludwig keeps things interesting as something different happens in the mix as each verse and he sets the regular rather softly-delivered vocal against the rap passages

Remixes here are by house bod Justin Harris and half of Obey, namely French DJ Josh Torrent ( yeah, but THAT’s his real name..) and the disco touches are emphasised, even Moroder-era treated robotic vocals and no let up in the skipping beat. Really quite catchy as dance melodies go but to these ears unlikely to crossover into other listenerships

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk

C Sharp

D single  -  Moot Music

One of the duo’s sparking their rep per YouTube, Rendezvous members Itai Simon and Hagai Izenberg met on their first day at music college. Whilst a rendezvous is hardly a chance meeting, it is the name they have adopted for joint work.  Producer Dave Bascombe whose track record covers Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, Kylie and others should know a radio-friendly tune by now and is charged with capturing Rendezvous’ sound. Electro pop can ache with conformity and generic formula ingredients, so Rendezvous have their work cut out to sound original.   This offering was cut with analog and vintage equipment in  a bid to imbue the song with some warmth in what is a sea of brittle and vulgar dance productions. That mix man Carl Cox was interested enough in this act to work on two remixes of ‘C Sharp’ will mean much to conneisseurs of this strand of dance music.

‘C Sharp’ soon moves from a tinkling pattern into a jaunty tread over which a vintage

synth weaves a melody. It’s as though Mr Jarre has dropped in on the Yellow Magic Orchestra to concoct an early Eighties scifi film opening credits track..perfect driving music but not earth-shatteringly memorable. At the same, not dull and not too robotic and a nicely engineered short delay on the lead keys. The second track gives us the longer album version @ 6:22  and a neat tense buildup with motorik bassline building up through a light flange and puddingly drums evoking German disco genius Harry Thumann ;  what Carl Cox does is add the housey thump beat and hold back the synth melody in favour of a machine-like pulse in the bass register that makes this reviewer think of ‘ Metropolis’ the classic Lang cinematic masterpiece.

The duo are apparently working on a full album to be called ‘Another Round Please’. This cut has limited appeal to a song-based guy like me, but it’s manifestly superior fare in Rendezvous’ area of operation

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk

Sunset Scavengers / iComa

CD single – BFTI Records

Having played in the US in recent times and on bills with Band of Skulls and And So I Watch You From Afar, this Birmingham crew may be in a position to break through. So a new double-A single from this quartet is welcome and comes in a beguiling wine-red sleeve.

Main songsmith John Kelly has worked with associate Pat Donaghy on ‘Sunset Scavengers’, a band production assembled at Magic Garden in Wolverhampton.

The lead song has steady drumbeat and grinding fuzz guitar riff which starts to weave with other guitar twists against a joint vocal which has an almost clipped Soundgarden vibe. The chordal inserts are not predictable and recall Blue Oyster Cult, reaffirmed by a brief legato guitar run – presumably by Tony Wilkinson. Oddly hypnotic and happily not shouty !

Second number ‘ iComa’ has a twisted loping pace before settling into an uptempo passage dropping into a jungly pattern under the verse. The vocal sounds haunted as a sinister ascending guitar progression snakes from under it, tension maximised by drummer PaulCollins.

Plus points include the confident basslines of Jase Holgate, the original vocal sound that he and Kelly blend into and the fact that the group clearly isn’t modelled on a particular act.

These songs aren’t radio-aimed singalong anthems and all credit for that. Do they have other slightly edgy songs that would promise a distinctive album ? Can’t say, but we’ll be listening

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk