Page 40 - BiTS_02_FEBRUARY_2022

REVIEWS

The Fabulous Thunderbirds—Lovin’ Worth Walkin’ For (Live
Washington ’79)
I've seen Kim Wilson and various incarnations of the Thunderbirds three
times over the years and felt guilty because I've always been a bit
disappointed when comparing them with the original 70's version of the
band. Hearing them blast through the opening track here Slim Harpo's
'Scratch My Back' I don't feel guilty anymore - this was just great old skool
R&B - basic, no-frills, rocking and with great playing and singing from Kim,
Jimmy Vaughan (guitar), Keith Ferguson (bass) and Mike Buck (drums).
This is a recording of an FM broadcast recorded live at the Bayou Club in
Georgetown, Washington DC in 1979 with the band playing material from
their recently released 'Girls Go Wold' LP, this has long been available on
bootleg. Recording quality isn't brilliant - bass is a bit too loud - but it does
perfectly capture the band in their prime playing live. The opening four tracks are all rockers, then Frankie Lee
Jones' slow blues 'Full Time Lover' slows things down and gives Jimmy Vaughan a chance to play some nice lead
guitar. We get to hear Jerry McCain's 'She's Tough' - which was later a chart hit for the band and also the old
chestnut 'Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White' transformed by Kim into a funky instrumental (as featured on the
Butt Rockin' LP). Then we finish with more rocking including versions of Li'l Millet's 'Rich Woman', Mercy Baby's
'Marked Deck' and a blasting instrumental 'Down at Antone's' with Kim on fire on harp. This is just a superb record
of a great band at the beginning of their career, lean and hungry and really laying down a tough, raw and dirty sound
that for me is just the pure essence of the blues.

Graham Harrison

Scott Ellison—There’s Something about the Night—Liberation Hall

Singer, guitarist and bandleader Scott Ellison, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a
remarkably consistent blues performer. This is his thirteenth album and I’ve
yet to hear one that is less than extremely listenable and thoroughly
enjoyable. That statement does of course include this, his latest release.
Recorded in lockdown, with members of his own band and musicians from
Eric Clapton’s Los Angeles group, the set includes ten songs Scott co-wrote
with Michael Price—the same Michael Price who wrote the classic ‘Ain’t No
Love (In The Heart Of The City)’ for Bobby Bland in the early 70s. Scott
remakes that song to very fine effect here.

The set though actually opens with a raw-sounding, traditional styled shuffle,
‘Half A Bottle Down’, followed up by the slow- to mid-tempo blues of the
title song. The Albert King-ish ‘Good Year For The Blues’ references the
pandemic. Then there are the slide-driven blues-rockers; the driving ‘Blowin’ Like A Hurricane’, the rather
distinctive ‘Salina’, all soaring slide and an accordion in the backing, and the more traditional ‘Meat And Potatoes’,
the kind of thing J.B. Hutto might be playing these days if he were still walking the Earth.
‘Feast Or Famine’ has a big brassy intro, backing vocalists and a soul-blues approach; ‘Chains Of Love’ (not the Big
Joe Turner song) also has a soul tinge. This admirable set closes out with the fine modern blues of ‘Where Do You
Go When You Leave’, containing just a hint of Ray Charles. Not a single track here is less than excellent. Do check
out Scott Ellison!
Norman Darwen

(www.scottellisonband.com)