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The strange ‘High and Lonesome’ is built on strummed acoustic guitar but includes

mournful fiddle and echoey slide guitar and ‘Queen of the B-Sides’ is even more
acoustic - with both the rhythm guitar and the slide being unplugged. Then ‘It’s Like

That’, ‘Blood Red Regrets’ and ‘You Call This a Good Time’ are all straight ahead,
pedal-to-the-floor raucous rockers, with chiming guitar chords, keening slide guitar

and howled vocals, with just a touch of AC/DC. We cool down with ‘Eros Blues’
which starts slowly but builds in intensity with slamming guitar chords and even a

bit of prog keyboards and we finish with ‘Doomsday Doggerel’ which is also a bit
prog and also a bit Black Sabbath! So, OK this isn’t really blues but for me this is

blues rock that does keep the spirit of the blues with that raw, loose feel of the Stones
and the Faces, it may not be quite as good as ‘Happiness Bastards’ but few bands

can rock out in such a convincing fashion and Rich’s guitar sounds great throughout.

Graham Harrison

Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials—Slideways—
Alligator ASIN : B0G87F2VJD

I was lucky enough to see Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
at Buddy Guy’s club in Chicago in the 1990s where they
did a rip-roaring set, with Ed’s slide guitar playing really

making an impression on me. Ed formed the band in
1975 with bassist James ‘Pookie’ Williams and they have

been on Bruce Iglauer’s Alligator record label since their
debut in 1986! This new record is their first in ten years
and features Mike Garrett (guitar) and Kelly Littleton

(drums) and with Cincinnati’s Ben Levin guesting on piano and also organ. ‘Bad All
By Myself’ gets us off to a rocking start - chugging rhythm section, Mike’s rhythm

guitar and Ed’s slashing slide guitar, ‘One Foot on the Brake, One Foot on the Gas’
is more of the same with humorous lyrics which feature on many of Ed’s songs, such

as the following ‘The Flirt in the Car Wash Skirt’, with its lovely piano from Ben.

‘Homeless Blues’ is a slow blues with Ben on organ, ‘13th Street and Trouble’ is a
fabulous Elmore James-style slide blues with tinkling piano from Ben and there’s

more boogie piano on ‘More Time’, while I really liked the poignant minor key ‘If I
Should Lose Your Love’. ‘Wayward Women’ is a slow blues benefiting from Ben’s

organ, ‘Crazy Love Affair’ and ‘Cold Side of the Bed’ are both typical Chicago blues
shuffles but ‘What Kind of World is This?’ has a nice mid-tempo funky groove with

Ed and Mike’s guitars combining to great effect. Ed’s slide guitar playing (which he
learned from his uncle J.B. Hutto) is fairly basic but he has a certain charm and this
is undeniably the real raw Chicago blues with its links back to Elmore, Hound Dog

Taylor and J.B. Hutto.

Graham Harrison