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Mitch Laddie—Faith and Other Bad Habits—
Test Dream Productions

County Durham’s Mitch Laddie’s new album
apparently “explores themes of belief, struggle
and redemption” but from the opening track ’50
Shades of Blue’ Mitch puts a modern, soulful spin

on the blues. ‘She Keeps Me Down’ is a much more
traditional-sounding blues with Will Wilde’s
harmonica—great track! ‘Angels and Demons’ is
a soulful ballad and ‘The Way It Goes with Love’

is a moody slow blues reminiscent of Gary Moore.
‘A Day in the Life of a Broken Man’ is a lovely
semi-acoustic melodic song that reminded me of another northeast
singer/guitarist – Mark Knopfler.

Mitch is joined here by long-time band mates Rhian Wilkinson (bass) and Matt

Connor (drums) and although ‘Sugar Man’ is essentially another slow blues it is
also so much more, with influences from jazz and modern R&B and the
instrumental ‘Hinode’ carries on those influences in a very impressive track that
really highlights Mitch’s guitar playing.

‘Faith’ is another nod to modern R&B, a laid-back song with nice breathy brass

and Mitch’s soulful vocals and the closing ‘Worth the Fall’ is an acoustic song with
just Mitch’s voice and acoustic guitar. This album isn’t quite as bluesy as some of
Mitch’s other records but it does show his and the band’s versatility and will
probably appeal to a wider audience.

Graham Harrison

Bobby Parker Band—New George’s San Rafael

1993—Rhythm & Blues Records RANDB102
(www.rhythmandbluesrecords.co.uk)

It is of course obligatory to mention that Bobby

Parker is known for the riff that The Beatles
ripped-off for ‘I Feel Fine’ and then Led Zeppelin

“borrowed” it (uncredited) for ‘Moby Dick’. OK,
that’s that out of the way.

Singer and guitarist Bobby made some very fine
records himself over the years, many of them
gathered together on a double CD on this very

same label entitled “Soul Of The Blues” covering his 45s from 1954 to 1968. Some
may have a dim memory of the two sides he recorded for Blue Horizon, and others

may recall his albums for Black Top, work for JSP, and his appearance at the
Burnley Blues Festival in 2003. I do recall Bobby from his tracks on Blue Horizon’s
“Oldies But Goodies”, but only really noticed him some years later, when I came