Page 50 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2023

Monster Mike Welch—Nothing But Time—Gulf Coast
Records ASIN : C46KWL14

Many years ago I went to an open mic in a great club in Boston
called Johnny D’s and at the end the young man who was running
the session got up and did some numbers himself – he was
fantastic and blew all the other players away – he was (Monster)

Mike Welch and I’ve been a fan ever since. Mike has been battling
long Covid for the last 18 months but has now recovered enough
to make this record with the help of friends Mike Zito and Kid
Andersen. It was recorded in Kid’s Greaseland studio in San Jose,
California with a band consisting of Mike (vocals and guitars),
Kid (guitar, bass, keyboards and production), Bob Welsh (keyboards), Jerry Jemmott (bass),
Rick Estrin (harp) and Fabrice Bessouat (drums).

We kick off with ‘Walking to You Baby’ a B.B. King-style blues complete with brass section and
Mike’s stinging lead guitar and the album contains other similar style tracks including the title
track, ‘Hard to Get Along With’ and ‘Ten Years Ago’- although that leans more to Albert King.
There are two semi-acoustic Robert Johnson songs - ‘If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day’
done with a band, Eric Clapton-style (with Rick Estrin on harp) and also ‘Kind Hearted Woman’
which features just Mike solo. We also get two T-Bone Walker-style jump blues ‘I Ain’t Sayin’
and the rocking ‘Jump for Joy’ as well as a John Lee Hooker-style boogie ‘Losing Every Battle’.
Mike is a big Beatles fan and he does his own bluesy take on George Harrison’s ‘I Me Mine’
which is followed by a Beatle-sounding ‘Offswitch Blues’. There is also an eight-minute
instrumental track ‘Afraid of My Own Tears Parts 1 and 2’ which is melodic and catchy with
Mike’s great-sounding guitar leading the way and the band featuring organ and brass backing
him up in fine style. It’s great to see Mike back in action and Kid’s production provides the
perfect support for Mike’s authentic blues lead guitar skills as well as his improving vocals.

Graham Harrison

Vintage Trouble—Heavy Hymnal—Cooking Vinyl ASIN :
B0C2D5JB56

Opener ‘Who I Am’ gets us off with a blast, with Ty Taylor
spitting out the lyrics over driving guitar and rhythm section
complete with stabbing brass and ‘You Already Know’ maintains
the intensity, with a nice wah-wah guitar solo from Nalle Colt.
Both these tracks demonstrate the band’s knack of delivering
songs based in blues but with a modern twist, while ‘Not the One’
is one of their trademark poignant soul ballads. ‘Baby What You
Do’ and ‘Feelin’ On’ are both funk tracks - the first quite
restrained - the latter more pumped up and reminding me of
Prince.

On ‘The Love That Once Lingered’, Ty is joined on vocals by Lady Blackbird for a modern R&B
torch song and ‘Alright Alright’ is a melodic mid-tempo song complete with strings but with
the rhythm section of Rick Barrio Dill (bass) and Richard Danielson (drums) driving everything
along. While ‘Holla!’ is old skool soul with great guitar and brass, ‘Shinin’ is a catchy up-tempo