REVUE FROM BLUEPRINT MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 1998

GRANVILLES, STONE - 13/09/98

Just occasionally a band comes along who dare to be just that little bit different. There are a lot of very good blues bands around, playing some excellent music, but sometimes you turn up at the local club week after week and you think you are watching the same - albeit good - band, playing the same - albeit classic - songs, in the same - albeit loud - way. So it was a real treat when Divorced From Reality took the stage before a packed Sunday evening crowd at Granville's. As soon as this four-piece combo powered into the first number it was apparent that we were in for something different. How can I describe it ? Blues - most definitely. Jazz - well yes, sort of. Do you remember ( come on, time to admit to a few greying hairs ) those early days when blues hit Britain in the sixties. When Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner gathered around them the cream of the young jazz players of the day and sat them around old "Dancette" record players, spinning Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters records till the early hours. Well the sound that they came up with - that is it jazz or is it blues sort of mixture - that seems to be where Divorced From Reality have chosen to start from.

Early in the evening we were treated to a few excellent original songs interspersed with DFR's own interpretation of some old blues numbers. Refreshingly, not the same old chestnuts that seem to get churned out again and again, but numbers that appear to have been carefully chosen to sound fresh and original. The only concession to this being T Bone Walker's timeless classic "Stormy Monday". I must admit to thinking "oh no not that song again", but to my surprise I was treated to one of the most emotional and powerful renditions of this number that I have ever heard. The thing that struck me most about this band was the way they went from the most rousing crescendos to lilting, moody solos without any fear of silence. This is blues without a safety net.

Fronted by the curiously named Banana Joe Truelove - a big man with a big voice and a penchant for big clean guitar licks - the band launched into a second set that showed that they can turn up the heat and rock it up with the best of them. David Withington's smouldering sax lines intertwining with Banana Joe's guitar licks in such a way that the two of them appeared locked in some strange dance, sometimes clinging together, occasionally almost doing battle. All the time riding high on one of the most dynamic rhythm sections you could hope for, made up of Blind Boy on bass and Mad Dog on drums.

By the time they launched into the final number of the night, a powerhouse of a rendition of Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips", Divorced From Reality had really shown us what the blues is all about. It's hard to describe, but there is something fresh and honest about this band. It's as if something from the past has been dragged forward into 1998 to be given a whole new interpretation at the hands of these four spirited musicians from the midlands. Definitely an experience not to be missed - I, for one, am hooked.

ANNE SEARLE