Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band

Special thanks to Dempsey for turning me on to this band.

As Dempsey mentioned, this guy does have a similar phrasing and style to Gibb Droll. But he retains more of a traditional blues sound. He does occasionally throw in a George Benson lick or a Wes Montgomery octave run. He has more of what I would call a traditional blues vocal. It sounds really good. What I like most about this album is that he does a lot of covers and they are not the average arrangements. He changes things up enough to make them interesting. I would love to see these guys live.
I’m really enjoying this album and it’s definitely a solid blues album. He does a great service to the T-Bone Shuffle. And All Your Love (I Miss Loving), which is a great blues song that I don’t think enough people cover. His version of Tin Pan Alley is just right. He doesn’t try to take over Stevie’s version but he retains that laid back groove that Stevie attributed to the song. I think I like Melvin’s vocals on this song more than Stevie’s, actually. Anyway, this is definitely my kind of album. Dempsey, you couldn’t have recommended a better album to suit my tastes.

Tuck Andress

I first saw Tuck Andress on a Showtime special about 15 years ago. He was playing with his wife, Patti, and Lee Ritenour. Andress is a jazz guitarist but he has incorporated fingerstyle to create something different from everyone else. Andress relies heavy on rhythmic bass lines while playing the melody simultaneously. The only guitarist I can think of that comes close to a similar style is Chet Atkins.

Andress does a lot of arrangements with pop or rock oriented songs. Some examples are ‘Little Wing/Castles Made Of Sand’, Santana’s ‘Europa’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror’, and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow/If I Only Had Brain’…

Andress is one of those guitarists who have reached a level of ability few will ever know. However, he’s pegged with the albatross of being a jazz musician. He’ll never be a household name and he’ll never see the money that a Jessica Simpson or Clay Aiken will. That just doesn’t seem right. If people were awarded for talent instead of popularity it would definitely be a different world.

I have the album Reckless Precision and the Tuck & Patti album Love Warriors. Patti is an amazing jazz vocalist. Both albums are wonderful.

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

Of Hendrix’s three studio albums, Electric Ladyland stands out as the most complex in writing and production. Hendrix employed several effects that I don’t think had ever been used. First, he uses the Leslie effect of panning between left and right channels to get a swirling sensation. He also starts using the univibe in conjunction with his trademark wah pedal. He uses the Tycho Brae Octavia. This combined with his Fuzz Face distortion pedal and his Marshall amps give the sound he’s famous for.

The interesting intro into this album sets the mood that carries throughout. The album has continuity, save for the few songs written by Noel Redding. Of course, the two songs everyone is familiar with are ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’. This album has a fuller sound than the other two studio albums. Part of this is because Hendrix brought in lots of people to record. He had his own studio for this album and that meant that he had access at anytime with anyone to go in and record or produce.

I think this album more accurately represents what Hendrix had in his head and was trying to express to the world. My favorite track on the album is the fourth track – ‘Voodoo Chile’. Not the familiar ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’. This track has the greatest tone of any guitar setup I’ve ever heard. This sets the standard for tone to my ears. Stevie Winwood is great on the organ, also. Out of 10 stars, this one goes to 11.

Editor’s Note: The picture that accompanies this blog hangs in my living room. It was printed in Germany and was purchased by my father when he was stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War in 1971. It’s in color but I switched it to B&W. I also threw a copyright on it. Reason being I don’t want it posted all over the net. I’ve searched the net high and low for this poster or the picture it was printed from. I’ve never found it. Also, Electric Ladyland is not my favorite Hendrix album. That title is held for Band Of Gypsies.

Request For Proposals

Having come close to running out of CDs to review, I would like to have some feedback, perhaps a recommendation of an album to review. Just leave a comment.

Gov't Mule - Deja Voodoo

Before picking up this album I had heard only a handful of Gov’t Mule songs. I was decidedly split…some songs I liked and some songs I didn’t. It was about half & half. So I never ran out and picked up any Mule. Having run out of CDs to review, I decided to pick one up. The last song that I heard that I remember liking was Slack Jawed Jezebel. So I picked up the album Deja Voodoo. All of the other albums I have reviewed have long been staples of my CD collection (save Ladell McLin). So they had been broken in and opinions had long been formed. It usually takes awhile for me to decide on an album like this.

My first impression was that Mule has a great bass player. He really keeps the bass line thumping on the upbeat songs.

My second impression was of the great equipment Warren Haynes uses. I’ve been into buying boutique effects over the last few years and I can tell ya Haynes has a magnificent setup.

Thirdly, Haynes likes to write and sing ballads. The first several songs on the album are very accessible and really groove. The second half of the album is heavy with ballads. It’s my opinion that for every couple of ballads he writes he hits upon one great one. Little Toy Brain and Wine & Blood are good examples. His other ballads are slow, a little long, and I have a hard time staying interested when his slow vocals are center stage. That being said, when he hits on a ballad that works, there’s nothing better. I would like to see him use an acoustic on his ballads. I think that would really work for him.

It seems also on his faster songs that he has trouble coming up with catchy hooks. This may be an unfair comparison but Anastasio is a great example of an artist who writes great hooks. Dave Matthews is another. All this being said, this is a rockin’ album. I can’t keep it out of my CD player. The ballads may grow on me with time but for now I tend to play tracks 1-6 over and over. For the album as a whole I give it 8 out of 10.

Editor’s note: I didn’t know until after I had written this review that Mule won a Jammy for this album. Also, I found an interview where he talks about his setup and nothing leaped out at me except one of his amps that he uses for recording. It’s a Maven Peal, which I’d never heard of. Here’s a link for you guitarists out there. http://www.mavenpeal.com/index.html It looks (and sounds) like an awesome high end amp. The price I saw on Harmony Central was $3,700.

Norman Blake

Norman Blake is one of those artists that is profound, prolific and doesn’t need my help boosting his career. Still, I would like to mention my fondness of the album Far Away, Down On A Georgia Farm. This 1999 album by Blake, which was his 28th album release, was also nominated for a Grammy. That’s not what impresses me about this album. Since I was a little kid I’ve had a soft spot for folk music and no one can touch that in my heart like Blake can. It’s hard to pigeon-hole Blake. Is he bluegrass, folk, Old Time, Americana? I’ve heard him described as all of those. He is a true amalgam of these genres. He may touch on each of these genres all within the same song. But the reason that I love this album is because he covers all types of moods and songs. The title track is particularly heartwarming. As I heard it, this song was written for Nancy, Blake’s wife. At the time it seems that Nancy had left Norman and this song was his way of reaching out to bring her back home. Apparently it worked. It exemplifies the sincerity that Blake brings in his voice. If you like Blake you’re probably familiar with this album and these songs. If that’s the case, then I’m preaching to the choir. If you don’t know who Blake is you owe it to yourself to find out. Particularly if you’re a Jambander who has heard the Dead and SCI do tons of folk and bluegrass covers. You need to go back to the source and here it from a professional like Blake. And if you do that, go back a little further and pick up Blake’s groundbreaking album Back Home In Sulfur Springs. It was released in 1972 and introduces “newgrass”, in my opinion, with the track Warp Factor #9. Before Grisman, before Newgrass Revival, before Bela stepped onstage.