Page 42 - BiTS_02_FEBRUARY_2023_Neat

Johnny Mars + The Cold Heart Revue—The Reunion—

Independent Release
Johnny Mars needs no introduction, this veteran American
blues harmonica virtuoso now resident in the UK has
teamed up with David Robinson aka The Cold Heart Review

to record a new album “The Reunion”. David too is known
on the British blues circuit not only as a great solo perform-
er but also for his journalistic skills, putting together count-
less interviews and reviews for the blues community.
The album opens with ‘The Man In The Red Hat’ (I think we

know who that might be!) a slow blues with a strong vocal line laid over some simple
but effective acoustic guitar. The title track ‘The Reunion’ is a chugging 12 bar blues
with a nice guitar break. ‘The Role Of Love’ is a bluesy ballad with some lovely cupped
harmonica playing from Johnny. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll On The Beach’ is a classic rocking blues

boogie whilst ‘Hate’ carries a message full of riffs and energy.

‘It Began With St Peter’ has a nice rootsy feel with some great acoustic guitar that car-
ries this song along, I really liked this one. There is a nice dark gospel feel to ‘Rising
Water’ before the album closes with ‘Mary And Joseph Are On The Road’.

Apparently David attended one of Johnny Mars harmonica classes back in the 1990’s
hence this album being a reunion. I too attended one of Johnny’s classes back in the
1990’s at the Burnley blues festival so I can vouch first hand what a great player and

what a lovely man Johnny is.

The harmonica playing on this album is first class as you would expect with Johnny
capturing all the different styles and nuances and his vocal is there too, strong and dy-
namic. All the songs are penned by David and he plays some nice guitar and adds some

vocals as well. One slight criticism of this album is that despite being well recorded and
produced, tracks based on electric guitar alone can sometimes seem a bit lacking with-
out percussion, bass or accompaniment and can lack the balance and tone that an
acoustic guitar can give. However, this is a great springboard for David (who comes

from Portsmouth, Hants (ED)) and I look forward to his next release.

Ged Wilson

DC Blues—Live at Sedgefield Rock & Blues Club—In-
dependent Release

DC Blues are a well known band on the British blues cir-
cuit particularly around the north and bandleader Paul
Winn and bass player Ben Darwin also host the fantastic

Blues From The Ouse radio show. This album is a live re-
cording taken from Sedgefield Rock & Blues Club just as
the name suggests.