| CD REVIEWS |
| These superb interpretations of diverse blues-based compositions lend credence to Muddy Waters� adage, �The Blues had a Baby and They Named it Rock and Roll�. I�ve been enjoying it repeatedly over the last month or so, and it continues to retain every bit of the initial �oomph� it projected the first time I listened to it. One might think the explosive version of Ike Turner�s classic �Rocket 88� opening the CD would be anti-climactic for the rest of the CD, but it gets even better from there. The following extended blues-rock showcase of Billy Boy Arnold�s �I Wish You Would� (come back, baby), driven by a straight-ahead, full-throttle tom-tom drumbeat, will make you wish you were blasting down the highway behind the wheel of a souped-up Mustang. You would think they were chasing The Devil himself instead of an errant woman. While there is nothing wrong with the original Anson Funderburgh and Sam Myers� �Suggestion Blues� (recorded on either the My Love is Here to Stay or the Black Top Blues-a-Rama Volume 1 CDs), I prefer the harmonica-enhanced version here. Ditto with �Fine Young Girl�. Rob Rio�s erotic brass and piano-based rhythm & blues precursor to �You Can Leave Your Hat On� is made even sexier here with electric blues guitar and harmonica. While it took me a while to groove on the improvised keyboard licks, I now find them much tastier than the original. As well, Rob�s somewhat spooky vocals are outdone by Dean Dupuis�s more sensually powerful style. I haven�t had a chance to hear the original Sonny Boy Williamson�s rollicking strutter �Better Cut That Out� (entitled �Cut That Out� here), but the Mud Boys� rendition incorporates more of Steve Ridgely�s spontaneous injection of intriguing jazz trills on his keyboard. �Love and War�, a basic blues rumba, is an anomaly to me. As none of the songs were officially credited, my exhaustive research on this one turned up zip. �Hoodoo Man Blues� is a further reworking of a song that is historically and variously attributed to Louis Jordan, Lightnin� Slim and Sonny Boy Williamson (the latter whose song was called �Hoodoo Hoodoo�). The lyrics contained on the bass-heavy Mud Boys� version more closely follow that of Junior Wells� �Hoodoo Man Blues�. The CD, which was recorded by Peter Gilroy live off the floor in a mere 12 hours, at Distortion Studios, closes with �Seven Faces�, the only other slow-blues that takes up where �Fine Young Girl� leaves off. Chris �Jarhead� Breitner gets into that scorching electric blues guitar thang, offset by Steve Ridgely�s sensuous B-3 wash chords and tripling piano noodles, backed more than just solidly throughout the CD by Mike Ktenas on bass on Gary Epton on drums. I�d love to see a double-bill with Ottawa�s The Mud Boys and Coldsweat, an excellent band I consider to be their musical counterpart in the Toronto area, the only difference being that Coldsweat do not usually perform live with a keyboardist � an essential ingredient for a blues band of any type, in my humble opinion. |
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| SEVEN FACES - THE MUD BOYS CD Review by Diane Wells |
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