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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
For a music writer, it gets increasingly difficult, in these days and age, to remove the earphones from the HI-Fi after listening to an album, to smile and to remain completely speechless about the quality and the stature of the record he just listened to. For Yours Truly, this is exactly what happened with Ride, the brand new album from the American guitarist, singer/songwriter and Blues/Rock veteran Walter Trout.
There is no way to hide the obvious, when talking about an artist of the quality of Trout; since his early days with Canned Heat and Bluesbreakers, his talent as a guitar player was clear to everyone that has followed the history and development of Blues/Rock, throughout the last century. Then, when it was time for Walter Trout to start his solo career, so many more qualities came to surface, about his artistry, especially from a songwriting and a vocal perspective, both aspects well documented through albums symbol of the Blues/Rock genre like Prisoner Of A Dream, The Outsider, Common Ground, Blues For A Modern Daze and Battle Scars, among many more.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Fate can be a very strange thing, in the world of music. When in 2005 the Northern Irish singer/songwriter Lee Rogers published his debut album called Drawing Clocks through the record label Zenith Cafe', an album that enclosed elements of Folk, Gospel and Soul, said record made such an impact that became welcomed, back then, as one of the freshest, most remarkable debut albums of 2005.
Then, suddenly and very unexpectedly, due to financial issues that a (now infamous) banking scandal brought to Rogers' label, it forced the international launch of the record to a halt, a halt that lasted, unbeknown to everyone, until 2020, when the case was fortunately resolved in favor of the record label.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
In many ways, it was almost inevitable that the one of South California's well respected and talented pianists and composers, Danny Holt, was going to immerse himself in the vast body of work of one of the biggest piano geniuses of this generation, Mike Garson.
Through a friendship that goes way back to 2004, at the time that Holt was still a graduate student at CalArts, the American pianist has carefully learned and studied Garson's compositions and the way Garson "feels" music and translate it in a very unique style. Furthermore, given the magnitude of Garson's musical vault, Holt wanted to be sure to select those pieces that ended up on the record to which he felt more inclined to, ensuring to translate Garson's music in a very respectful way still and maintaining his trademark playing style at the same time.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Blues, as a genre, keeps on evolving, as the years go by and very often, many contemporary artists of this genre do not think about paying respect enough to those Founding Fathers that have created, close to a century ago, the musical platform to their love for this wonderful genre.
It's therefore a blessing, for our website, to stumble from time to time to records that celebrate and homage those aforementioned fabulous artists that so much have done for the birth and development of the genre, just like the new one from the Italian Bluesman Hubert Dorigatti called A Walk With Blind Boy, a tribute to the musical career of one of the greatest of Blues music, the late great Blind Boy Fuller.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There have always been and perhaps, there will always be different schools of thought, when it comes to music and the way it should be represented.
Many artists prefer to opt for a much more straight forward approach, at times, even a minimalistic one, for some, while other prefer instead to create more textures and sonic complexities, just to show that music can be "contaminated" in a beneficial way with different soundscapes and still delivering a suave and sophisticated outcome.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is a total sense of beauty and freedom, in the brand new record from New Jersey's Powerhouse Singer/Songwriter Dana Fuchs, called Borrowed Time.
Naturally, one needs to be familiar not only with Fuchs complete songbook, when it comes to highly appreciate a record like Borrowed Time, but also with the artist's personal life.
Throughout her career, Dana Fuchs' talent on many levels has never been in discussion, especially through records like Love To Beg, Bliss Avenue and Love Lives On, among others but often her songwriting style was tinged with melancholy, due to personal traumas caused by unexpected tragedies in the artist's personal life (loss of family members at very young ages).
Borrowed Time is an album that perfectly frames a new and exciting chapter, not only in the singer/songwriter's remarkable career but also as a human being. The last years have seen a drastic change for good happening in Dana Fuchs' life, through the marriage of Fuchs with her long time Manager and friend and the arrival of two beautiful children. A positive, happy change that, somehow, reflects itself perfectly well throughout the whole of Borrowed Time, a record where Dana Fuchs unleashes so much musical electricity, power, swagger and intensity like we never heard before.
The genesis of the record saw the inspired decision of recording the new album last winter at Black River House Studio, owned by multi-instrumentalist and producer Kenny Tudrick, who co-produced Borrowed Time together with Bobby Harlow, the latter, providing also great musical experience and influences in the making of Fuchs' new album.
Familiar presence were also very important, in the recording of Borrowed Time; together with Tudrick himself on guitar playing duties, Fuchs' lifetime musical companion, renowned guitarist and co-songwriter Jon Diamond and bass player Jack Daley played certainly a big role, in the sonic building of every song included in Borrowed Time. To top an already very strong line-up of studio musicians, the arrival of a highly skilled drummer like Todd Glass and such an accomplished musician like Jordan Champion on keyboards helped to fortify even further the overall tremendous wall of sound generated by Fuchs and Co. on the new record.
The songs chosen to best express the record's concept built on the idea that the time of the world we are living in is just a Borrowed one and, as such, it should be lived day by day and by loving every minute of it, are some of the best that Dana Fuchs has ever written in her successful career so far.
Fuchs' new record is the complete manifestation of an artist that is, right now, at the top of her game, at complete peace with herself and in harmony with the world surrounding the artist herself. Most importantly, for her fans and any music listener, Dana Fuchs manifests complete freedom on letting loose her total devotion for music, no matter whether it is R&B, Gospel, Soul, Southern Rock or 70's Psychedelia.
To highlight few of the songs included in the album's track-list would be a total injustice, because each individual songs tells a story, a story which narrative is always, per each song, lucid, measured and honest. Moreover, a story that requires every time a different musical palette, something that Dana Fuchs manages to nail in full on each individual song with disarming and effortless ease.
Last but not least, there is Dana Fuchs' voice; a voice that erupts passion, sensitivity, strength, vulnerability and love. A voice that has remained untouched by the years and that instead, gains even more power and swagger on each passing record.
Borrowed Time is, undoubtedly, Dana Fuchs' record of a lifetime. An album that displays musically and vocally a great depth of strength and musicianship each step of the way and requires the listener to inhale every note sang and played within the record with the greatest attention and devotion.
Above all, Borrowed Time is, unquestionably, a musical masterpiece of our time that reminds music lovers once again that,
in the starred firmament of music, Dana Fuchs' own star keeps on shining with increasing brightness and, very likely, will do so for many decades to come.
Borrowed Time is out now and it is available to be purchased via Ruf Records
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It is very rewarding, for who writes about music, to notice young artists embracing more and more the idea to combine contemporary approach to music with a deep attention to the lessons and the experience coming from giants of the past generations.
Some may call it Sonic Extravaganza but the reality is that modern music artists are entitled to have their own vision, still respecting though the musical archetypes that have made music genres well known and accessible to the masses through the decades