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‘Late Night Get Down’ and ‘Rum Boogie’ are both very bluesy based on Ori’s slide
guitar with added keyboards and the girls soaring over the top, while ‘Gotta Keep
the Love’ is mid-tempo funk. Right from the start ‘Sisters’ reminded me of The
Staple Singers with Ori’s guitar sounding very much like Pops Staples’ guitar style
but the Jackson sisters put their own completely original spin on the vocals.

That same original vocal approach can be heard on ‘Back to What Feels Right’ and
‘Flying’ with lightning-fast changes from solo to ensemble singing with those perfect
sibling harmonies and the closing track ‘We Are’ sees the track built up from
marching drums, with gradually added hill-country guitar, plus organ and funk
bass.

This album just seems so different to anything else around on the scene at the
moment – like The Supremes jamming with the Allman Brothers – and while the
sisters do bring to mind The Pointer Sisters and maybe The Staples - they also
bring an originality in their approach to mixing their gospel background to Ori’s
obvious love of the blues.

Graham Harrison

Tony Holiday—Keep Your Head Up—Forty
Below Studios ASIN :B0DT1L814S

Singer/harp player Tony Holiday has come a long
way since his 2019 debut ‘Porch Sessions’ where
he recorded bluesmen on their porches, he’s now
moved to Memphis where some of the 8 tracks
here were recorded at Archer Studios, with others
being put down at Love Street Sound and Forty
Below Studios in California. Indeed, the album is
produced by Eric Corne Forty Below Records owner
and it features only one Holiday original with the
others being covers, including two songs written
by Corne. We start with a cover of Jerry Ragavoy’s
blues ‘I’m a Burglar’ (as also covered by Freddy King) with Eddie 9V on lead guitar
and with stabbing brass, this is followed by ‘Twist My Fate’ a funky soulful song
with fabulous harp and Tony sharing the vocals with Kevin Burt. ‘Woman Named
Trouble’ is a cover of an old Stax record by Little Sonny with Stax-style brass,
complete with a trumpet solo by Mark Pender, and ‘Good Times’ is a similar soul
stomper.

‘Shoulda Known Better’ is a brass-led soul song by AJ Fullerton with Laura Chavez
contributing a Steve Cropper-style guitar solo and Corne’s ‘Walk on the Water’ is
a laid-back, strangely catchy song. ‘Drive It Home’ is the old Clovers’ doo-wop
song given a bluesy makeover with Albert Castiglia on guitar and harp from Tony
and we finish with Holiday’s own number ‘I Can Not Feel the Rain’ a reflective,
atmospheric gospel song. I’m afraid that for me there were too many soul styles
on offer here with little of the lowdown blues and harmonica playing that I normally
associate with Tony, everything is well-played and Corne’s production is spot-on
but the album comes in at under 30 minutes which seems a tad short.

Graham Harrison