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honking sax kick up a storm. 'Shake It and Break It' is the old Charlie Patton song,
while 'Trickster Coyote' is an original with A.W.'s sandpaper vocals and down-home
guitar and Big John's blues harp.
'What I Wouldn't Do' is a nice original late night slow blues but the ensemble also
tackle the New Orleans classic 'St. James Infirmary' with A.W.'s vocals reminding me
of Tom Waits and the piano and sax adding delicious extra texture. 'Some Ol' Day'
is a mid-tempo blues and we check out with 'Got the Blues So Bad' an old Victoria
Spivey song, sung by A.W. and with Big John's blues harp – surely Jasmine should
have sung this? This album sounds really authentic, as though it could have been
recorded anytime from the 1930's to the 1950s, there is some great playing and
although the piano and sax are at the forefront I also really liked the drumming –
basic but really swinging, obviously the bedrock of any New Orleans recordings.
A.W.'s voice is good but I would have liked to have heard more from Jasmine both as
lead singer and on back-up vocals for a bit of variety.
Graham Harrison
Terry 'Harmonica' Bean—Drop Dead In Front of
Your Door—Music Maker ASIN : B0D94G11ZC
Terry may sound like a classic old-time bluesman but
in fact he was born in 1961 and only started playing
in the late 1980’s releasing his first album in 2001. He
plays guitar and rack harmonica in the Mississippi Hill
Country-style as on his opening original track 'Boogie
with Me People', 'How Many More Years' is the Howlin'
Wolf song delivered as a rather moving slow blues. 'I
Can Be Your Man' is another Bean original, as is the
slow blues 'How Much I Love You' - but yes 'It's A Man's World' is the James Brown
song, completely subsumed in Terry's trance blues-style – and brings to mind
similarities between the repetitiveness of trance blues and Mr. Brown's later funk
tracks.
'Pretty Girl' and 'She's a Hot Baby' are two more Bean originals, while the next three
- the title song, 'She Moves Me' and 'I'm Ready' - are all Muddy Waters numbers and
again Terry manages to make them sound like Bean originals – I found 'She Moves
Me' with just Terry's vocals, harmonica and foot stomps particularly affecting. The
album closes with 'Help Me' the Sonny Boy Williamson song, again delivered Hill
Country-style. I'm not particularly a fan of Hill Country blues and Terry's playing is
very basic, unsophisticated and stripped back however, he definitely does have a
certain charm and I'm glad that someone is still producing this old skool raw,
primeval blues.
Graham Harrison