| CD REVIEW (This review has also been published at www.701.com and www.smokingun.com and www.wablues.org) |
| LIVE ROUNDS FROM SEATTLE - SMOKIN' GUN |
| Smokin' Gun (www.smokingun.com), a blues-rock outfit from Seattle, last year won an award for Best Northwest Blues Recording from the Washington Blues Society (WBS) for their debut CD, "Bad Luck Blues" and have further been nominated for 7 awards for the WBS 2001 Best of the Blues Award. It's not hard to tell why, either - this band is tighter than a push-up bra at the end of the day, but without the discomfort! Fronted by Jamie Phalen on lead vocals, congas and percussion, alternately accompanied by Jack Johnston and Brad Spear on lead and slide guitars, Rick Ulsky on Hammond B3 and keyboards, Bill Majkut on 4 and 6-string bass guitar, and last but certainly not least, multi-nominated, award-winning Bill Brammer on drums and vocals. Recorded "live" at The Central in Seattle, Washington, with an introductory salutation by Vic The Dude of KZOK 102.5 FM (himself a big fan since hearing them at the Classic Rock Festival in Darrington in August 1999), the enthusiastic anticipation from the audience is evident right from the start and never wavers throughout the CD. The sonic show-down starts off with a big bang on "Don't Go" (not a chance of that!) and continues in the rockin' vein with "Don't Touch My Girl". Then things starting getting really sexy with Z.Z. Top's "Fool For Your Stocking" and "Need You Baby". There's some cheerful bantering/marketing ("Buy up our CD - we're disease-free!") in between tracks to reinforce their aim to please. Then it's back to the hard-core vocal and guitar attack with "Bad Luck Blues" and "Too Tired". When Jamie Phalen growls those famous four words, "I've got the blues", it conjures up heavy memories of John Belushi and Dan Akroyd's Blues Brothers. Jack Johnston goes absolutely guitar-ballistic on "Nothing Good to Say", which perfectly complements the explosive vocals! Then there's a radically different interpretation of the Allman Brothers' "One Way Out", without losing emphasis on slide guitar, naturally, and with a cool conga break. Bill Brammer also gets to strut his stuff on this highly-appreciated track but really comes into his own on another Z.Z. top "hit song with a bullet" ("La Grange"), which then segues into King Biscuit Boy's (and Pat Travers') "Boom, Boom, Out Go the Lights", which drives the crowd into a frenzy! I would equate this American blues-rock band to Toronto-based Coldsweat, which song by the same name was popularized by James Brown and is also featured as the first encore track. The second encore track is a funked-up "Forecast Calls for Pain", which could have been limited strictly to the instrumental showcase it eventually became, as Jamie's vocals had become quite raunchy after 13 "live" rounds ("They let me sing 'cuz I was the loudest guy in the room")! All in all, this gun was DEFINITELY smokin'! |
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