Page 51 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2023
P. 51

song and ‘Repeating History’ is a dramatic socio-political song “How many times we gonna go
    around before we stop repeating history?” with Colt wigging out with a Hendrix-style solo.

    This is Vintage Trouble’s usual mix of blues, rock, funk and soul with Mr. Taylor’s compelling
    vocals  out  front  and  the  band’s  playing  and  Chris  Seefried’s  production  all  adding  to  a
    great-sounding album.

    Graham Harrison

                                        The Teskey Brothers—The Winding Way—Decca Records
                                        ASIN: B0BV9HPZ2Y

                                        The  Teskey  Brothers  are  from  Melbourne,  Australia  but  this
                                        summer  they  are  undertaking  a  tour  of  Europe  (including
                                        Britain) followed by a tour of North America – and after listening
                                        to this CD you’ll realise why, they are the equal of any blues/roots
                                        act on either side of the Atlantic.  For a start Josh Teskey has one
                                        of the best voices around – think Joe Cocker, Frankie Miller etc.
                                        – and the album is produced by guitarist brother Sam together
                                        with  Eric  J  Dubowsky  (Chemical  Brothers  etc.).      The  three
                                        opening tracks – ‘I’m Leaving’, ‘Oceans of Emotions’ and ‘Take
    My Heart’ all have the laid-back feel of classic soul from Memphis or Muscle Shoals, indeed
    ‘Take My Heart’ with its strings could have been a track by Otis Redding.

    More strings on ‘London Bridge’, while ‘Carry Me Home’ is a nice heartfelt acoustic blues with
    slide resonator guitar and harp and ‘Blind Without You’ is a dramatic blues with Josh’s voice
    counterpointed by Sam’s subtle guitar runs.

    More drama on the mid-tempo ‘Rich Man’ and ‘Remember the Time’ ups the pace again with
    its riffing brass and Sam’s understated guitar - like a Stax classic - and we finish with the
    soul-drenched ‘What Will Be’.  Catch them if you can in a small venue on this summer’s tour –
    if they come back to Britain again I can’t help thinking that it will be in much bigger arenas.

     Graham Harrison

                                        Jabo—Jabo Blues—Momojo  ASIN : B0C3MW3CGX

                                        This is the debut recording of 78-year old James ‘Jabo’ Houston
                                        who, together with Roy Lee Crawford, has for many years been
                                        one of the main men of the Austin blues scene. Jabo was a singer.
                                        bass player and drummer but is now confined to a wheelchair
                                        and has switched to organ. Their band wanted to preserve the

                                        two men’s music and so organised this recording session – the
                                        band  are  Jack  Edery  (guitar),  Eric  Przygocki  (bass),  Nico
                                        Leophonte (drums), Bobby Terrell (sax) and Billy Cummings
                                        (organ and trumpet).

    Opener ‘Down Home Blues’ is typical of the set with Jabo on vocals and nice greasy organ and
    sax  and  ‘Woke  Up  This  Morning’  sees  Roy  Lee  doing  the  singing.  We  carry  on  with  blues
    standards like Guitar Slim’s ‘The Things I Used to Do’ and Ray Charles’ ‘Night Time is the Right
    Time’, as well as two originals ‘First Name Is Jabo’ and ‘Down in Louisiana’ with both men taking
    turns with the vocals. This isn’t the world’s greatest record, both singers have voices damaged
    by age and life but this is a lovely gesture by their band to capture their music on record for
    the first time and you can’t deny that the results have a certain charm.

    Graham Harrison
   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56