| CD REVIEW |
| THE DOG ON GUARD - SWEET TASTE KENNEDY |
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| I bought this acoustic blues CD from Mr. Kennedy himself, back in late 2002, I believe, at the now-closed Mermaid�s Lounge in Hess Village, Hamilton, the hometown of this bona fide bluesman. I didn�t know it was a limited edition meant basically for promotional purposes (and therefore a collector�s item) until I read a review shortly thereafter of its electrified successor, Sweet Taste, which was released under his real name of Harrison Kennedy.
Kennedy�s live performance that night (accompanied by Ron Cole on accordion) of some of these songs was impressive enough to warrant the purchase, even though I had no idea of his history with Stone Soul Children and Chairmen of the Board. �Commercial Tools� starts off the disc, drawing attention to the vagaries of modern technology versus environmental concerns, but I found the harmonica a bit too shrill on this one. �Early Start to a Broken Heart� is a great bit of fast-paced funkness with a straightforward rhythm to it, but his vocals took on a rare whininess here that is nevertheless pleasantly whistled away. One of my favourite tracks is �Ain�t No Puppy, Baby�, which contains the title lyrics. It�s a lively song about territorial rights in the love department. If you have ever met Harrison in person, you will know he carries himself with an imposing sense of dignity. However, all that comportment goes out the window during this emulation of a lovesick canine. Creating the rhythm with only finger-picked bass lines on an acoustic guitar and the melody sung a cappella (interspersed with some howling and growling) is a brilliant musical technique that could be mistaken as being deceptively easy to perform. �It�s Hard�, on which he accompanies himself on harmonica and guitar, is a laid-back, melancholy chant about poverty and urban strife that nevertheless brings to mind an African chain-gang in rural America. �Sylvie�, in fact, lyrically refers to the prison chain-gang and is an even more obvious example that Otis Taylor is not the only man who �has the blues but is too damn mean to cry�. Harrison uses only his percussive talents and layered vocals on this one � perfect. Kennedy displays his sensual tendencies with a walk on the wild side on the naughty, uptempo title strummer, where he sings about jellyrolls and �That sweet taste I�m talking about, If I told my mother, She�d wash my mouth�. �That�s Enuff� is characterized by his vocal emulation of a Kazoo, a bit of scatting, a rollicking guitar strum, and the lyrics again addressing the struggle against poverty. �You Left� is a funky little charmer about the blindness of love, and I hear some Elmore James and Mississippi Fred McDowall influences on �What a Way to Go�. His vocal range gets a great workout here. The closing �Bob Lo Bob Lo� is a cheerful, guitar-and-harmonica-driven workman�s song with a Caribbean flavour (despite the island�s location near �Detroy-it�) that will leave you humming the refrain long after it�s finished. |
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