Review – Gwyn Ashton ‘Fang It’
album on Riverside Records through Apex/BMG
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dave Hole,
Robert
Cray, Chris
Turner, Kevin
Borich – in Australia and around the
world these names have been part of the Blues Rock legend that has kept pubs
pumping since way back when. And in the use of those names you have already got
some idea of a sound or two that you might hear when listening to the new album
by Gwyn
Ashton: “Fang It” on Riverside Records through BMG/Apex.
Eleven
ball-tearing blues-rock tracks is what you get from
this Welsh-born Adelaide-bred London-based blues man. Right from the opening of
Breakin’ All The Rules through the
smooth almost-blues/jazz of It’s Hot In Here to the close of Faded
Memory (the latter proving that he can lay it back and strip it down as good as anyone else) you hear
how it takes a certain type of person to play and write R&B (Rock &
Blues) and how Gwyn
is up there with all of the aforementioned and more. The stunning array of
instrument-and-amplifier combinations adds further depth to this presentation,
breaking all preconceptions of which should be played through what (don’t be
fooled by the Stratocaster-focus through the cover-art!)
This
style of blues-rock may come and go in general favour but it always makes for
the soundtrack of choice for either a balmy Saturday night or motorcycle-riding
Sunday afternoon. Gwyn Ashton is sure to grown as an artist among
the vanguard of this genre and to be around for many, many years to come.