| CD REVIEW (This review was also published at www.701.com and in the WBS Bluesletter) |
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| Deja-Vu Baby is a charm bracelet of songs that shines individually and, as a whole package, makes for a treasured possession! The entire CD is immensely danceable, upbeat and rarely predictable. It's another excellent production by Alec Fraser, a long-time friend of Jerome, who also provides his own superb back-up vocals on the title track. I dare anyone to categorize this CD into a single genre of music, especially when Jerome's mastery of different playing styles on the harmonica, at times even creating a synthetic gulping sound ("Jungle"), is displayed in such a kaleidoscopic showcase. Although he has a reputation for being somewhat of a "wild and crazy guy", his recent embracing of fatherhood seems to have tamed him a bit, but not much! Combining his unique and wide-ranging vocals with the deep-throated, bawdy vocals of Suzie McNeil was a veritable stroke of genius. (If you've ever seen this duo perform live, you'll know what I mean!) Also performing on the CD are JJ T-Bone White on bass and backing vocals, Gregory-Ray Tunis (also from the Phantoms) on lead guitar and backing vocals, Derek Lindo on drums, John Daly (the executive producer) on guitars, and Jos� Gonzales on various percussive instruments. There's a whole lot of funky rhythm & blues going down throughout the CD (especially on "Cook It Up", which might be referring to something else besides food, sex or music), but to avoid falling into the standard chord and rhythm patterns, there are sporadic injections of psychedelic jazz and blues-rock - "Deja-Vu Baby" and "Mr. Natural" (a.k.a. Hugh Shankland, who also provided vocals on "Cook It Up"). The instrumental "Street Detective" is the essence of "cool" in which the players create a brilliant jazz-blues tapestry. Rock-reggae lovers will enjoy the immediately catchy and somewhat colourful "High School Reunion", which brought to mind Sublime's "Down at the Pawnshop". You can also hear Bob Seger and Stones influences on "Go Go" and the country-rocker, "Home", a Phantoms collaboration and tribute to parents. "Bye Bye Love" (not to be confused with the Everly Brothers tune) seems to be a total send-off of James Bond theme songs, on which he sounds remarkably like Paul Anka. At one point he tosses in a harmonica sample of "My Favourite Things" (from The Sound of Music) - totally bizarre but just one of his well-known trademarks! "I Wanna Go Home" is the only conventional slow blues tune, featuring some very fine blues guitar, and it's followed up with the explosive and socially and ecologically sensitive "Culture Vulture" - a fusion of rap, rock and blues featuring percussion work by Sha Sha, drums by Chris Perra, and keyboards by Phil Emond, who also did the mix and production on this track. Long-time pal and bassist Ben Richardson (Backbone, Phantoms and Saints & Sinners) has mixing credits on the CD as well. Among his other musical projects, Jerome currently performs live in Hamilton with the Blues Angels (with Phantoms mate Damian Arokium and the Lincolns' Prakash John) at Tailgate's every Wednesday night. |
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| DEJA-VU BABY - JEROME GODBOO |