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The second half of the album is acoustic, with Muddy’s/Willie Dixon’s ‘I’m Ready’, ‘Hoochie Coochie
Man’ and Big Joe Williams’ ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ all taken at a relaxed pace, which I quite liked.
I’m sure that this was a useful project for the boys to keep their hands in while gigs have been
cancelled but for me the stripped-down nature of the line-up just focussed the attention onto the
harmonica and I'm afraid that it just wasn’t good enough.
Graham Harrison
Will Johns—Bluesdaddy—Galetone Records ASIN:
B091B8QYGS
I hadn't heard of Brighton-based guitarist/singer Will Johns
before but this is apparently his fourth CD and it marries the
original title track with eleven blues classics such as ‘Hoochie
Coochie Man’ and ‘Rolling and Tumbling’, as well as more
modern songs like Peter Green's 'Oh Well'. Will is the son of
record producer Andy Johns and this album was recorded in
Brighton's Electric Studios with a rhythm section of Chris Gale
(drums) and Richard Sadler (bass) but many of the songs like
opener 'Everyday I Have the Blues' also feature excellent
keyboards and brass to really fill out the sound.
The trouble with playing such oft-covered songs as 'High Heel Sneakers' and 'Hoochie Coochie Man'
is that the originals are so well known, I'm afraid that I didn't really think that Will's version added
anything to Tommy Tucker's original but I did like his version of Muddy's 'Hoochie Coochie Man'
which featured some blistering lead guitar and also muscular vocals. B.B. King's powerful slow
blues 'Sweet Little Angel' is also handled nicely with Clapton-esque lead guitar and both Hammond
organ and piano and there is also a poignant version of BB's 'Walking and Crying' with its beautiful
accompanying clarinet. The title song 'Bluesdaddy' was my favourite track, with its very impressive
melodic electric slide playing and it left me wanting to hear more of Will's original songs rather
than the blues covers. I was hoping that the cover of Robert Johnson's 'When You Got a Good
Friend' was going to be acoustic featuring more slide guitar but he goes down the Clapton route of a
full band version, nice enough but I would have liked an acoustic track for a bit of variety. The
album does sound really good with great playing from both Will and the band but I thought that
many of the covers just weren't distinctive enough to bring something new to these songs that we
have heard so many times.
Graham Harrison
Superdownhome—No Balls, No Blues Chips—Dixiefrog ASIN :
B08XS1Z5RW
Superdownhome are from Italy and comprise Beppe Facchetti
(bass, drums, percussion) and Enrique Sauda (vocals, guitars)
and on this record they get help from British band Nine Below
Zero's Dennis Greaves on guitar and Mark Feltham on harmonica.
'Can't Sweep Away' is a moody opener with slide guitar, while
Otis Rush's 'Homework' is rocked up and Robert Johnson's 'Stop
Breaking Down' features guest Popa Chubby on guitar. The
original songs 'Booze is My Self Control' and '24 Days' both
reflect their line-up’s similarity to the Black Keys and other
bands of limited size, while their take on the oft-covered