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with some nice electric piano that leads into a nice warm and fuzzy vocal swirl. ‘This Old City’
is a slow blues that references their home town and its lovely heartfelt demeanour brought to
mind The Hoax no less.

‘Stronger’ is very much more 80’s influenced pop, almost bordering on Johnny Hates Jazz
territory whilst ‘Older’ continues the mellow pop vibe with lyrics that resonate with people of
a certain vintage! The album closes with ‘In Love With Life Again’ which is both gentle and

uplifting.

As with their previous releases this album follows suit with first class instrumentation and
musicianship throughout. The rhythm section of Graeme Carswell on bass and Malcolm Button
on drums really lock things together. There is a great mix of guitar styles that drive the band
forward from John Gilmour Smith and I really enjoyed the first rate jazz infused piano work
from Steven Radziwonik. Paul Sloway has a great voice and the way they blend, harmonise and
deliver the vocals really makes this band stand out.

All the songs are well constructed and the album has been well produced, a great album well
worth checking out and I wonder where the Bison will roam to next?

Ged Wilson

Cyril Davies—Hullabaloo—Rhythm and Blues Records ASIN
: B0BXM7C8BW

Along with Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies was one of the pioneers of
blues in Britain with both emerging from the jazz scene where
amongst others they worked with Chris Barber, before swerving
into skiffle and then opening Britain’s first blues club. However,
sadly Cyril died of endocarditis in 1964 at the age of only 31
leaving a very small recorded legacy. I still have my copies of the
Ace of Clubs LP ‘R&B from the Marquee’ by Cyril and Alexis’ Blues
Incorporated and also the Pye International R&B series EP of ‘The
Sound of Cyril Davies’ by Cyril and his R&B All Stars – but there
was very little else until the 2014 Highnote CD which gave us Cyril’s skiffle recordings, the Blues
Incorporated tracks and the five R&B All Stars’ sides.

Until now - Rhythm and Blues Records give us 29 tracks (albeit that some are very short), 21
from the ATV TV show ‘Hullabaloo’, also two tracks from a BBC TV show ‘Pop Goes the Beatles’
as well as five tracks from the July 1963 BBC radio show ‘Saturday Club’. (As the shows were
recorded over a relatively short period it does mean that several of the tracks are repeated –
in fact we have four versions of the iconic instrumental ‘Country Line Special’.) The ‘Hullabaloo’
shows were recorded in late 1963 but by this time the band had changed from the line-up that
recorded the Pye International material. Out went Nicky Hopkins (keyboards), Bernie Watson
(guitar) and Rick Brown (bass) and in came Keith Scott (then Johnny Parker), Geoff Bradford
and Cliff Barton and while Carlo Little was still on drums he’d soon be replaced by Micky Waller.
Also added to the line-up were Long John Baldry on vocals, as well as the female vocal trio The
Velvettes – Hazel Futa, Patience Gcwabe and Mamsie Mthomben. The recording quality isn’t
brilliant (particularly on the Saturday Club tracks) but the Hullabaloo cuts do capture the
excitement of the band playing live, complete with audience applause. The record comes with
informative notes by Dave Stephens (Toppermost) including some good B&W photographs.