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roots very strongly – the first few times I played it I was waiting for the praise to
start – but it’s for Tad’s lady, not The Lord. Note the superb guitar work of Alex

Schultz on this one too. ‘Deeper Than You Think’ is southern soul styled – and listen
to those horns.

There are two cover songs on the set: Wilson Pickett’s ‘(I’m) Down To My Last

Heartbreak’ is given a fine bluesy soul treatment, reminiscent of Syl Johnson, whilst
Arthur Adams’ ‘It’s Private Tonight’ is taken fairly straight. Dave Specter adds fine

guitar to the subtly West Side Chicago-tinted ‘Keep Your Heart Open For Love’, and
Tad himself plays fine harp on ‘Up In The Air’. The tasty ‘Forgive And Forget’ sounds
like Robert Cray on a Chicago club blues.

In short, the whole set has a class about it that comes along all too rarely these days.
Well worth your money and time.

Norman Darwen

Micke Bjorklof—Outtakes—Continental Record

Services CRS

This is a rather fine release from this long-standing
Finnish blues-rock outfit. It contains material

recorded over the years since around 2000 but for
various reasons not included on their album

releases – though certainly there seem to be no
reasons to do with the quality of the performances
or songs.

They do stick close to the blues throughout, but
over the course of the album, various other
influences also come into play. So, there is the hardcore funk on ‘Bedtime Bomber’,

a tinge of Americana with Lefty Leppänen’s accomplished dobro playing on the Bo
Diddley beat ‘Silver Moon’, and a hint of rockabilly on the opener, ‘On Vacation’. ‘Keep
In Mind’ has a fine rocking beat – hints of The Fabulous Thunderbirds maybe in the

blues harp and guitar work – and Micke and the boys can also turn in a fine boogie
with a couple of examples here, plus ‘Spooky Ride’, an instrumental with plenty of
vibraphone!

Micke shows himself to be a fine singer, harp player and guitarist throughout. Some
might quibble over the term “blues-rock” – plenty of “blues” acts these days are
rockier than these guys, but this album is generally loud and good fun, so take your

pick and enjoy!

Norman Darwen