Page 50 - BiTS_10_OCTOBER_2023

BluesShack—Ten To Five—Independent Release

BluesShack are a blues band from Utrecht, Netherlands and
“Ten To Five” is their third album release.

The album opens with a great rendition of the Eric Bibb tune,
‘Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down’. ‘You Say You
Love Me’ is a nice and gentle piano based blues whilst ‘That’s
Alright’ is a straight forward cover of the Jimmy Rogers num-

ber. The band slow things down with ‘Ocean Of Tears’ which
features some tasty harmonica work from Simon Bullock.

‘Why Don’t You Do It Right’ is a nice blues shuffle that features Chad Strentz (of Paul Lamb’s
Kingsnakes fame) on vocals and his voice really adds a bit of bite to the proceedings. ‘Is You Is
You (My Baby)’ is a stripped back version of this jazzy number whilst things really start to
swing with the upbeat twelve bar blues title track ‘Ten To Five’. The album closes with a bonus
track ‘That’s Alright Vintage’ which really comes to life thanks to the excellent slide guitar
work from special guest Franck L. Goldwasser.

BluesShack are a band that play their blues well with tight arrangements and a nod to the
blues tradition. Loes Jongerling has a lovely warm voice that really suits and works well with
the band’s style of jazzy blues.

Whilst I did enjoy this album in the main, I felt it a bit “samey” and restrained at times. I felt
they needed to let themselves go a little bit more. This can happen when bands go into the
studio and it was interesting to note that things perked up where their guest artists featured.
None the less a blues album well worth a spin.

Ged Wilson

Will Johns - Yin & Yang - Independent Release

Will Johns is a songwriter/performer from Brighton and is well
known across the British blues and rock circuit. His latest re-
lease “YIN & YANG” is more rock based than blues.

The album opens with ‘Do It Again’ a pop tune that leads into
some guitar fused rock. ‘Morning’ is an upbeat bass driven
rocky number with some soulful vibes. ‘Why’ has a nice 70’s feel
which allows the song to breathe so that you can pick up on the
lyrics. There is a nice organ break before the song closes with a
rocky guitar outro, really liked this one.

‘William Cooper’ is an instrumental melodic interlude with guitar synth vibes almost border-
ing on Steve Howe (Yes) territory whilst ‘Ruthless’ lives up to its name with some more guitar
driven rock. The album closes with the title track ‘Yin and Yang’ which has some infused
octaver style effect guitar action going on.