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Bernie Marsden—Trios—Conquest Music

This is the third in blues-rock guitarist Bernie Marsden’s
“Inspirations” series, paying tribute to his early heroes and
influences. “Trios” focuses on the power trios of the sixties
and seventies, with Bernie covering songs they recorded (so
he also tackles Blind Joe Reynolds ‘Outside Woman’, as
covered by Cream), and so it is undeniably loud and proud,
right from the opening notes.

It’s doing Bernie a little bit of a disservice to say that on this
album you’ll hear playing in the vein of the likes of Eric
Clapton, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Rory
Gallagher (the bassist here, David Levy, did play with Rory), Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck and
slightly less-expected figures such as Joe Walsh – a fine version of The James Gang’s ‘Funk #49’
– and Leslie West of Mountain. His playing throughout adds something of his own, even as he
accurately captures the spirit of the artists and the times. The vocals are strong too.

Bernie also gets to recreate his own bit of vintage history with ‘Na Na Na’ by Cozy Powell.
Bernie played on this and it brought him an appearance with Cozy on “Top Of The Pops”, an
event that is wonderfully recalled at https://youtu.be/yUpKJsI-phE

OK, I guess you may have to be of a certain age to appreciate this – or maybe not, as I suspect a
new audience is discovering this music, helped by albums like this… But it did bring back a lot
of memories.
Norman Darwen

Demetria Taylor—Doin’ What I’m Supposed to Do—
Delmark DE 875

Eddie Taylor was one of Chicago’s greats, even if he was a little
under-rated at times. His wife Vera also sang the blues, and so
it is no great surprise that the dynasty has been continued with
several of their children. Demetria recorded the acclaimed and
award-nominated album, “Bad Girl” for Delmark in 2012. This
is the long-overdue follow-up.

Demetria’s not a shouter or a wailer, but she manages the
difficult balance between the traditional Windy City blues
sound. She re-makes her father’s ‘Wreck On 83 Highway’ and
her mother’s ‘Blues Early This Morning’, a vintage Chicago item that has Deitra Farr duetting

with Demetria.
Then there are the undoubtedly contemporary sounds of ‘Bad Girl Day’, the title track, though
the blues can still be heard in these. ‘Done’ has a lengthy wah-wah guitar break, and many of

the tracks keep that soul- and funk- tinged sounds of today’s blues.

Of course, credit too should go to the musicians. Mike Wheeler and Carlos Showers shine on
guitars, and Billy Flynn also guests on two tracks, Brian James is on keyboards, Larry Williams
plays bass, “Pookie Styx” (also known as Melvin Carlisle) on drums – a straight-up Chicago
band, but one that can also turn its hand to soul and funk when called upon to do so.

All in all, a rather fine set. Let’s hope Demetria records again soon, please, Delmark!
Norman Darwen