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REVIEWS

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats—The Hits Keep Coming—
Alligator Records

Rick Estrin is an award-winning songwriter and virtuoso
harmonica player from California USA. He is well known on the
blues circuit and I have fond memories of him playing in the UK
alongside the late great Little Charlie so I can vouch for him first
hand as a real top class performer.

‘Somewhere Else’ is a slick up tempo opener whilst the title track
‘The Hits Keep Coming’ has a more laid back gospel blues feel to it.
‘I Finally Hit The Bottom’ is a slow blues that showcases some
lovely lush sounding Hammond organ. ‘Diamonds At Your Feet’ is
a ‘My Babe’ style blues vamp with some awesome harp work.

‘911’ is a bit of fun style rock and roll whereas ‘I Ain’t Worried About Nothin’ is more of a steady
blues. ‘Sack O’ Kools’ is a cool harmonica led instrumental whilst ‘Time For Me To Go’ is a spoken
word blues tale. The album closes with ‘Whatever Happened To Dobie Strange’ a nice quirky
funky vibe that at times reminded me of Johnny Guitar Watson or even maybe Frank Zappa!

This is yet another great album from Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, it is slick and well produced
with great instrumentation throughout. Rick has a great vocal technique and really makes the
tongue in cheek lyrics stand out. He is also on top of his game when it comes to his harmonica, a
truly top class player. If like me you love the lush sounds of the Hammond organ then you are
going to be delighted here with Lorenzo Farrell’s magic touch. This is a great polished blues album
that I’m sure all blues fans will enjoy.
Ged Wilson

Elles Bailey—Live At The Fire Station—Outlaw Music

Elles Bailey is a multi award winning artist well known across the
whole blues community both here in her native U.K. and also across
Europe. Her latest album, “Live At The Fire Station” as the name
suggests is a live album recorded in Sunderland U.K.

‘The Game’ is a great opener to get the crowd going before she
moves onto the rootsy ‘Stones’ with a rallying cry of “Hello
Sunderland”. Things slow down a little with ‘Perfect Storm’ before
we feel the gentleness of ‘Spinning Stopped’. ‘Help Somebody’ is a
nice steady rocker that features a nice burst of Hammond from
Jonny Henderson before Joe Wilkins rips into ‘Medicine Man’ with
some great bluesy slide guitar, really liked this one.

The classic Elles Bailey tune ‘Cheats And Liars’ has a great rootsy vibe whilst there is a more rocky
feel to the John Martyn classic ‘Over The Hill’. ‘Hole In My Pocket’ brought to mind Keb Mo’s ‘I
Remember You’ before staying close to the original on ‘Long As I See The Light’ the John Fogerty
classic. The album closes in style with an encore, ‘Sunshine City’ a country rocker that Garth
Brooks would be proud of.

Being a live album, as well as the audience noise, you also pick up on the ambience of the place