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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There are many ways to remember the people we loved in our lives. Those very same people who played an important part for us and left an inner and indelible mark in our existences.
Omar Dykes and his Howlers decided, through their new album, to honor some of their friends they lost in 2014 in the only way that suited them the most, through music. Twelve songs that show a perfect caption of the band's music philosophy, throughout their whole career. Every Omar & The Howlers album has always an intense, visceral, direct and distinctive sound and, above all, always respects the music roots closer to the band's hearts.
At first, The Kitchen Sink may seem an album divided into two segments, with seven songs all completely original and five covers. Given the theme of the album, though, even the choice of the covers makes lyrically sense and the whole album comes together as a unique core. From the Western music shades coming from I'll Keep On Dreamin, through the Country-esque and easygoing Dixie's All Night Bar until the firing, in every sense of the word, Fire And Gasoline, where Dykes' guitar offers sumptuous, delicate arpeggios, belonging to, perhaps, the finest moments of the repertoire of this giant of the blues.
Even when Omar & The Howlers do covers, they manage spectacularly to put their music signature on each songs, making them sound like they are almost their own. Dykes proves, once again, besides being a great guitar player, to be also a fabulous singer in the old classic Cutie Named Judy, by Jerry McCain. Throughout the whole record, The Howlers sound in great shape and a front man like Dykes could not wish to have a better group of musicians accompanying him. On this particular tune, they succeed beautifully in re-creating an highly entertaining 50's rock type of sound.
The cover of Who Do You Love is perhaps the most intense moment of the album. This celebrated masterpiece, originally from Bo Diddley, is executed so masterfully by The Howlers which, despite the turnover of musicians throughout the years and within the band, manage to mantain a robust and highly refined sound, so intense to sound like a real blues war machine. This version is certainly a true testimony of their musical artistry.
The album closes with another original by Omar & The Howlers, Climb On Board, where Nick Connolly's piano solo stands out in a tune that resembles Western atmospheres and carries an intrinsic message of love and devotion to the band's friends sadly passed in 2014.
"Climb on board and ride this gospel train with me," sings Dykes, almost to invite the listener on this journey made of memories and very personal to Dykes and his band. Omar & The Howlers, once again, have not only made another great record but also created a labour of love and respect for life and that great value which is friendship.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Kitchen Sink can be purchased as a download via Amazon
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Few people have the ability to talk about the pain, the suffering and the return to life in the way Walter Trout does. Few, very few, believed and hoped to be able to hear a new album from Trout, given the heavy health issues in which the American artist had been through in the last 24 months. Whereas The Blues Came Calling drew almost an artistic testament, Battle Scars, Walter Trout's new album, marks instead the struggle and the physical and artistic resurrection of this incredible artist.
By Trout's admission, Battle Scars is a Concept Album that, through its lyrics, describes the moments of despair and the desire to fight against the painful physical ordeal Trout has lived in recent times. Despite the hard lyrics, Trout honesty and immediacy of his words go straight to the heart of any listeners. Sonically, the album is a complete triumph. Battle Scars reaches such levels of musical excellence that perhaps the American artist had managed to achieve as a soloist only with albums such as Blues For A Modern Daze or Full Circle in his long and glorious career.
Produced very accurately and beautifully once again by Eric Corne, Battle Scars finds Trout and his band in top form. Trout's guitar has that sound of a lion kept in a cage for a long, long time. Michael Leisure and Sammy Avila, faithful "Compadres" of Trout for many years, combine their talent in playing their instruments with Trout's guitar and harmonica so perfectly and in unison with the American Guitar Maestro, almost sounding like a unique sonic core throughout the album.
Walter Trout's new album is perhaps one of the most rock sounding records he has ever done and the sound that echoes out of Battle Scars goes in perfect harmony with the concept of the album. At first dark and almost sinister in the lyrics, then increasingly steady and powerful, especially through Trout's Wall Of Sound, as to symbolize the will to fight with all his strength against the pain.
Playin 'Hideaway, Fly Away and Move On exude powerful and lightning hard-rock, for which bands such as AC/DC now would sell their souls to the devil, in order to be able to emulate what Trout and his band manage to put together, on Battle Scars.
My Ship Came In and Tomorrow Seems So Far Away are so perfect that not a single note is out of place on those tracks. Cold, Cold Ground, despite the gloomy lyrics, summarizes beautifully in its majestic blues tempo all about Trout's talent, both as a guitarist and as a singer/songwriter.
It is rather difficult, if not impossible, to find any low points in a flawless album like this, that shows so many traces of sonic and lyrical peaks of great artistic value. The acoustic ballad Gonna Live Again that closes the album, sums up everything that Battle Scars is all about. The fears, the hopes, the desire to fight and never give up. And for Trout and all his fans, the absolute certainty to have found once again, through this album, one of the most inspired and talented music artists of this generation.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Battle Scars is available worldwide via Mascot Label Group
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Leeds in England is maybe not the most obvious place in the world to listen to music that echoes genres such as Rootsy and Americana. Dave Hanson, however, manages very successfully to put together a music package that fuses the tradition of the best British songwriting with American West Coast music style, in an excellent mini EP album that offers many promises for a full length debut album to come expected for this winter.
Blind Faith, the title track of Hanson's mini album, is catchy and radio friendly. The song recalls echoes of JJ Cale and Black Keys at the same time, artists which are very close to Dave Hanson's heart.
Four songs that offer different shades of a musician who has, undoubtedly, very interesting artistic intuitions. One of such intuitions is expressed through the sinuous Island Sky, which transports the listeners into a tropical oasis, suspended half a way between the Caribbean and the M6, one of the most well-known British motorways.
If this EP is a taste of things to come, we may expect even more fireworks from the forthcoming album that Dave Hanson will release later this winter. In the meantime, Blind Faith is certainly an EP of great quality and depth that deserves the attention of all the fans of great music at 360 degrees.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Blind Faith EP can be purchased via Amazon
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The hardest working man in music, the self-made blues/rock Titan, Bonamassa must have heard these comments a thousand times in his career. Music cliches aside, Live At Radio City Music Hall, his new live album (the 14th one in 13 years) offers a different take on the many abilities of the Guitar Virtuoso from Utica, NY.
From Bonamassa's personal perspective, this new live album has many significances. It is the Grand Finale of 36 months spent with his half-acoustic and half-electric band on Tour and also a dream come true, by playing in such iconic venue for a born and bred New Yorker like Bonamassa.
Given the importance of the event and the special location in his heart, Jo-Bo showcases his class and talent in many different ways, by re-dressing some of the songs from his latest studio album under form of more bluesy, folk or even funky shaped tunes. In the acoustic part of the show, with what Bonamassa called The Huckleberries part of the band, songs like Different Shades Of Blue or Happier Times dazzle the crowd with a new light.
The electric part of the show is equally intense. Bonamassa, maybe feeling a little bit the tension of playing on home ground, loses no time in onstage banters or indulging himself on long guitar solos. There is an excellent array of musicians on stage with him and the Guitar Maestro uses their skills and artistry in full. From the raw blues atmosphere of Double Trouble (sadly absent from the cd tracklist) to the rampant blues/rock of One Less Cross To Bear, a new track, in which the Horns Session adds an extra spice to the swaggering sound of this fabulous tune.
Many underestimate a vital point, about Joe Bonamassa. He is not just a hugely talented guitarist but he is a very good singer too. The closing version of So, What I Would Do?, offers one of the best vocal live takes this artist has ever given in his long and glorious career. The standing ovation from the crowd, in the end, is totally deserved.
The Radio City Music Hall live recording is, perhaps, one of the best live albums Bonamassa has recorded. There is a real desire and drive, from the American Guitarist, to showcase his knowledge and understanding of different music genres, without falling into the temptation to play his hits over and over again. And he certainly succeeded in doing so.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Live At Radio City Music Hall will be released on 2nd October 2015 and can be purchased at Mascot Label Group or Amazon
Joe Bonamassa World Tour Dates
Uk Tour:
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The aim of who creates art, any form of art, is to bring to the masses that message of culture that, in an era like this, too often get soffocated or totally nullified by the Internet and the various Social Networks.
Fabrizio Poggi from Italy is an artist that respects such statement right to the bone. His new record, Il Soffio Della Liberta' (The Murmur Of Freedom) is a labour of love, inspired by the blues culture and the values and the richness of history that this genre carries. The album has been inspired by a theatrical music performance of the Italian Bluesman, celebrating a century of blues through the songs and the stories of those human heroes that have brought the Afro-American population from slavery to freedom.
The album features some brilliantly revised classics, such as Seeger's We Shall Overcome or Dylan's I Shall Be Released and some powerful Traditionals of the Blues, like Oh Freedom or I Want Jesus To Walk With Me.
Poggi has, in this record, stellar Special Guests to help him accomplishing this splendid music project, artists of the highest calibre like The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Eric Bibb, Charlie Musselwhite, Garth Hudson and many more. Musically, Poggi challenges himself in performing those classics, by offering an highly palatable ensemble of Blues, Folk and Americana. And where his voice can't reach, then there is his fabulous harmonica and the class of the musicians accompanying Poggi, creating some really special vibes on this musical history ride. To hear the closing track of the album, the evergreen Amazing Grace, just on harmonica and voice, it is really something special and almost goose-pumping.
There are several references, on Il Soffio Della Liberta', to Martin Luther King and his importance on inspiring Poggi to create this concept album. In one of his most famous quotes, King once said "You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream". That is the way in which the Italian Artist lives and has always lived his life, by breathing, thinking and living the dream of Blues every single day through his enormous talent.
A work of love, honesty and class. Il Soffio Della Liberta' is musical food for soul.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Il Soffio Della Liberta' can be purchased via Amazon Italia.
Fabrizio Poggi will be touring the United States, please see Tour Dates below:
September 27th - Gruene Hall, New Braunfels, TX
October 2nd - Hondo's On Main, Fredericksburgh, TX
October 3rd - Poodie's Party, Spicewood, TX
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's quite remarkable that some artists like Joe Louis Walker manage to sustain an incredible quality of sound and energy as the years go by, even after something like 20 plus albums recorded. Everybody Wants A Piece, out on 9th October, is his new, highly entertaining album, that travels across Walker's music influences since he was a teenager.
On his own admission, to record this album was almost a "no brainer" for Walker and his band, an ensemble of highly skilled musicians that fuses perfectly the spirit and the style of this guitarist Virtuoso.
Walker, together with an indisputable ability as a guitarist, has also the gift to be highly versatile as a songwriter too. Black & Blue is almost a R&B ballad, on which JL Walker talks about conflicts of the heart between a couple and is perhaps one of the songs where the whole band has the opportunity to flex their musical muscles splendidly.
Witchcraft has got a very sinuous 70's funky tempo. One Sunny Day carries instead that blues/rock torch so much loved by Walker throughout his career. Gospel Blues is a delicate instrumental blues piece, where the ability and the class of the American Artist in playing guitar, with that nocturnal, almost intimate sound, raises straight to bar 10 in excellence and talent.
Buddy Guy's cover of Man Of Many Words has got that real depth and intensity able to rival even the original, through the powerful voice of Walker, his formidable band and a horn section that gives the feeling of being in the presence of a true R&B orchestra.
A record that oozes authenticity and passion for the blues and all the different musical shades or colors applicable to the genre.
Everybody Wants A Piece offers exactly what the album describes in his title. Eleven songs that each contain a piece of the talent of this gifted musician. A truly beautiful album.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Everybody Wants A Piece can be pre-ordered on Mascot Label Group website or through Amazon
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It is always very refreshing to see artists that love to progress their musical education. Chantel McGregor is one of the most gifted artists of the Nouvelle Vague of the English Blues/Rock Invasion. Through her new album, Lose Control, she moves into darker territories, whilst maintaining a refreshing sound, suspended half a way between the 90's rock/grungy style and the lyrical approach of a modern troubadour.
Lose Control has been labelled by the Artist Herself as a "Southern Gothic" music style, with McGregor's guitar leading occasionally into heavier sounds, such as the trilogy of songs that open the album (Take The Power, Your Fever, Burn Your Anger) or walking into acoustic escapisms in delicate tracks such as Home, in which McGregor's voice becomes the centrepiece of the song, showcasing her amazing singing style.
There are some sublime surprises in this highly interesting album. Eternal Dream is a true homage to artists like Jeff Buckley, in which the English artist manages to create an ethereal atmosphere, through the sound of her dreamy guitar and the timeless magic that resonates from McGregor's voice.
Killing Time is a rock riff-packed song, with an angry, racous sound that echoes that wonderful pastiche of sound that bands like Smashing Pumpkins loved to create in the 90s, with McGregor's guitar offering, in our view, the best guitar arpeggios of the entire album.
Chantel McGregor didn't yet finish though, to surprise the listeners. The closing track, Walk On Land, is a contemporary take on the Progressive Rock of the 70's, with a powerful, solid, masterly solo from McGregor's guitar that showcases, once again, her incredible ability.
A strong album, both lyrically and sonically and a solid step ahead in McGregor's career. Lose Control is the resounding message of an artist determined to leave her mark in the future of music.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Lose Control will be released in October 2015 and can be purchased on Chantel McGregor Official Website