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JOE BONAMASSA - YOU AND ME

Provogue Records
Out Now

www.jbonamassa.com

Joe Bonamassa, a household name in the blues community, was recently elected as the youngest member of the board of directors of The Blues Foundation, the USA's largest and most respected blues music organisation - quite an honour, yet give the quality and quick turnaround of his last five albums you can see why. “You and Me” is Bonamassa’s sixth studio CD and contains 11 brand new tracks and is home to a monster backing band in Jason Bonham on drums (yes John's son) and Carmine Rojas on Bass Guitar and Rick Melick on Organ and Tambourine.  Bonamassa is clearly in music for one reason - the music.  This shines through his relentless non stop touring (always on the road) or recording new material when not on tour.  Bonamassa is taking blues back to the people and at his tender age don't be surpised if this guy really hits in the next couple of years - much as Stevie Ray Vaughan did. 

What Joe has going for him, moreso than many other US blues players is a strong British vibe in his work, you can hear the influences the like of Clapton, Page and Beck have had on him and the majority of his material reflects the heavier guitar side of blues - albeit with more tradition and soul than Gary Moore has shown on his last few "through the motions" blues releases. 

Stylistically this is a great mix of tunes from the traditional opener "High Water Everywhere"  to the blistering blues rock of "Bridge To Better Days", the slow blues of "Asking Around For You" and the musically rich instrmental "Django"  .  The album even features a faithful cover of Led Zeppelin's Tea For One (one of their often overlooked gems), really the guitar playing is faultless, the songwriting top notich and performances superb.  My only real gripe is Kevin Shirley's production which to these ears has added an overly dark edge to Bonmassa's raw tone (I prefer the production on the previous 'Had To Cry Today') but this is a minor niggle. 

Overall You and Me is another quality release from this blues hound which is as good as the previous release 'Had To Cry Today'.

Rating - 90%
 

FABRIZIO LEO - CUTAWAY

 


Mascot Records
Out Now

Italian guitarist Fabrizio Leo covers pretty standard instrumental guitar waters on his latest release ‘Cutaway’.  Clearly influences by the likes of Greg Howe, Brett Garsed and Frank Gambale and Vinnie Moore.  Frabrizo certainly has the techniques down needed to perform this type of music convincingly. Unfortunately whilst there is no denying his command of the instrument these compositions for some reason leave me a little short of enthusiasm.  

Opener ‘Total Eclipse’ and its rockier Vai-ish counterpart ‘Metal Bragalini’ are good enough, but as the album progressed I found my interest waning the longer it went on with each track fusing into one another.  To be honest things aren’t helped by Mike Varney and Frabrizio’s own rather too polite production, a less smooth sound may have brought more life to the album.  The album also sees a lot of styles covered, but whilst someone like Milan Polak manages to inflect his sound into whatever genre he puts his hands to some of these come across as quite faceless. 

There are some moments further into the album that standout; such as ‘Cutaway’ and the closing track ‘Depression’. But even these cannot rescue an album that is in my book overlong and never really stands out from anything other than average.

Rating - 60%

ZEELION - STEEL ATTACK

Lion Music
Out Now

Zeelion are back after a hiatus of six years with album number two entitled 'Steel Attack'. Led by the soaring vocals of Lenny DeRose and the guitar genius of Sudden (aka Magnus Soderman), Steel Attack is home to 10 tracks that flirt around the edges of neo-classical and classic hard rock. The rest of the band is made up by Jonathan Oke on bass, Fredo on drums and keyboardist M. Olzon who has a more dynamic role that on the bands self-titled debut.

For anyone that heard the bands debut (home to the stunning track Crying) then you will have some idea of what to expect on Steel Attack. However, album number two sees the more overly commercial tracks of the debut replaced by darker numbers that still carry the bands trademark Scandinavian magic - no bad thing.  The new album is a little darker than the debut and also sees the more Van Halen arena numbers that didn't sit quite right on that release replaced by tracks more inline with what the band excel at e.g. neo-classical tinted metal / hard rock.  Guitarist Sudden is arguably the star of the show with his fleeting fretwork on the likes of I Remember, the 'Stargazer meets Kashmir' grind of Shadows, and Wind Of The Time with its neo-classical inflections.

Whether the six year delay between releases will hinder the band remains to be seen as I doubt too many people were aware of the debut, but the music shown on Steel Attack could well see a new start with a Lion Music able to provide a better push. 

Fans of Rainbow, Malmsteen and Nation add this to your check out list.

Rating - 85%

ERIC GALES - CRYSTAL VISION

Provogue
Out Now

Blues guitar phenom Eric Gales was born and raised in Memphis, learning to play at age four from older brothers Eugene and Manuel in imitation of their upside-down, left-handed style (a tradition actually passed down from their grandfather, Dempsey Garrett, Sr., who was known to jam with the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf). Winning his first blues contest at 11, four years later Eric signed to Elektra to issue his 1991 debut LP, recorded with Eugene on bass; Picture of a Thousand Faces followed in 1993. Manuel (who previously performed under the alias Little Jimmy King) reunited with his siblings for 1995's Left Hand Brand, credited to the Gales Brothers. A newly matured Gales returned in spring 2001 to release his debut for MCA, That's What I Am.  Rumours of drug problems then emerged and the future looked bleak.  However 2006 sees Eric back clean with ‘Crystal Vision’.

 Stylistically the album is heavy blues with a strong Hendrix vibe (albeit updated) and one can’t deny that Eric can play the guitar and backed up by a good production courtesy of Mike Varney (see we don’t always slate his productions!).  Opener “Retribution” is a strong opener with good riff and all round delivery before the more funky “Are You My Friend?”.  “I Got Me A Woman” is a slow muddy waters type track (again updated) before the gloriously funky ‘I Don’t Want You Around’ begs for your stereo to be turned up.  “Freedom From My Demons” (is anyone else getting post drug habit references here?) is a classy slow blues that sees Eric dig in deep and come out with the goods.  “Trouble” sees the Hendrix-isms come back into play with a funky riff and some good pentatonic box play.  The title track “Crystal Vision”  is home to a dark vibe that verges close to classically tinted hard rock, its also home to excellent vocals and a stunning solo and is the highlight of the album.  Next up is a cover of the Joe South classic “Hush” (perhaps best known by Deep Purple), good track but nothing new here.  “Me & My Guitar” is a down-home boogie shuffle which is quite authentic but Joe Bonamassa does this sort of thing much better.  “Plastic Girl” is another heavy riff fuelled track that has an strong Kings X vibe to these ears, Eric’s vocals are not a million miles away from those of Kings X vocalist Doug Pinnick further enhancing this connotation.  “Old School” is a turn into the avenues of 70’s fusion/funk merged with the blues and is the only instrumental on the album.  The restraint “That’s Just How It Is” sounds like Eric’s attempt at writing a hit single as its ten times more commercial than anything else on the album, it does however sound a little contrived and to be honest I feel this would work better as an instrumental yet Eric vocals are well done and the guitar inflections strong.

 Overall “Crystal Vision” marks a strong return from a lengthy absence for Eric and fans of blues rock and the rockier side of Hendrix inspired music will enjoy this.  Its by no means a classic but is an enjoyable listen with the title track standing a few feet above the rest of the material on offer.

Rating – 78%