Let me immediately declare an interest. Having promoted the band for more years than I care to remember, and having spent over 7 years of my life keeping the legendary Torrington going, it is only fit and proper that this long awaited album should be heralded from the roof tops. In fact the title has changed to become “Live at The Torrington”, but you get the original idea, which got lost in the mad shuffle to issue the cd before the current tour.

The original title of the album was also to have the extra appendix – “Warts and All”. It was thought that this didn’t sound so good, but it would have been a fair appraisal of that rare beast, a real live album, on which the band rock out, have lots of fun, and totally engage their devoted audience. Ultimately this scorching live album makes you realise exactly what was so good about the best of Pub Rock!

That said, the playing on here is worthy of a bigger venue, being excellent throughout with Tony Fernandez and Andy Herbert a powerhouse of a rhythm section, backing up guitarist Martyn Taylor’s fiery lines. Then of course there is “Mr Personality” Stevie Smith, who gives his all on harp, vocals and spontaneity. A memorable night, a cracking band, and a real audio document of what happened when London’s premier Blues Rockers played the last ever night at the Torrington.

To crib a line from his own bio; “There’s the entire New Orleans musical tradition, and then there’s Mem Shannon”. Essentially what this means is that Mem Shannon has rediscovered the oft forgotten virtues of feel, a blues groove and autobiographical stories, that make his subtle blend of funk and blues so memorable.

Primarily Mem is a song writer from the heart. He is an observer of life, who culled his ideas and raw material from years spent driving his cab in New Orleans. But unlike so many other of his contemporaries, his songs are imbued with the minutae of life’s characters that helped give him a living before he became a blues man. There is of course not a huge dividing line, as his New Orleans mellange is all about people, relationships, and life, blended into his unique post Robert Cray style blues.

Aside from the magnificent heartfelt songs such as “A Perfect World”, perhaps only Mem could have transformed the Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” into an even more moving observation of loneliness.

On top of that, Mem has a deep smoky vocal style that delivers each lyrical nuance with enough gravitas, emotion and at times good humour, to suggest he is a true blues heavy weight. Oh, yes and his guitar playing has a rich sumptuous tone that is an extension of the man’s groove laden take on the blues.

Make no mistake Mem Shannon is the real deal, and he is as good as it gets. Quite simply “I’m From Phunkville” is an album that sets the standard for all other to follow.

To be honest, had this not been a special bumper play list, this album would have crashed in a number one any other time. He may hail from Chicago, via Colarado, and he may play in the blue genre (Otis calls it “Trance Blues”), but this is not blues as most people would know it.

“Below The Fold” is the kind of album that once heard, is a must buy cd, that will undoubtedly make even the most cursory listener, ask “Who is that?”

So where to begin? Well, “Trance Blues” is a clever way of marketing a compelling mix of folk, psychedelia, jazz and blues. Lead instruments vary from banjo’s, cello, guitar to muted trumpet - as on the confusingly titled “Boy Plays Mandolin”. Otis songs do indeed engage the listener in a trance, as he vamps on a chord, and adds layer upon layer of coloured aural textures, over which he delivers his aching vocal style.

Just like Charlie Patton there are murder songs, and just like John Lee Hooker there is the primacy of the groove, if not boogie. Otis’s biographical approach spans generations from stories handed down from his parents to hard hitting reflections on a gay mum, as in “Mamma’s Got A Friend”.

But don’t be thinking this is some sort of album you should have, but never get round to exploring, because the music here is truly mesmerising, the style is totally original, and any connection to the blues is merely as a conduit to delivering the most nakedly soulful music I’ve heard in years.

Fender guitar demonstrator, Greg Koch a top session player, a Mid West guitar legend and one of the hottest players on the planet.

But then again there are countless other great players about, but what sets “4 Days In The South” apart from Greg’s previous recorded output, and indeed apart from his contemporaries is his willingness to shift styles at the drop of a hat, moving from Rock/Blues with an Allman Brothers feel to gentle funk, via some warped country and even a brilliantly conceived stab at Zappa on the self penned ‘Chicken From Hell’.

This “twisted guitar genius”, with some frightningly catholic musical tastes isn’t the world’s greats singer, but there’s so much depth to his playing and variety to his oeuvre, that you can overlook this shortfall, and revel in the magisterial playing.
There’s something for everyone from the steam train shuffle, ‘Bored To Tears’ which features some of Greg’s incredible tone, and exhilarating playing to the Duane Allman style slide piece ‘When Were The Good Old Days?” and even an unlikely but totally convincing rendition of Johnny Cash’s ‘Fulsom Prison Blues’.

Guitar fans and rock/blues fans alike will sure love this latest “king of the strings”, best summarised as virtuoso playing made fun.

It’s been a long time coming. First of all Sherman disappeared from the Euro live scene for a good number of years, and secondly aside from a limited release cd for Audioquest, he has kept fans waiting for the best part of a decade. And then suddenly he is back, touring every corner of the globe, and then finally releasing the live album, which tells it like it is.
“Guitar Man” doesn’t so much break new ground as rake over some coals, and reignite the spark of one of the blues scene’s most enamoured performers. And it is the last point that is the most important aspect of the whole project. For this former Paul Simon and Zydeco playing guitar man, who was moulded in the mid 90’s to become the new Robert Cray, has gone back to his roots.
Sure excellent songs like the Chris Youlden composed “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” still remains a live set staple, as does the show stopping “Make It Rain”, but on the extended closing “Tin Pan Alley” and the title track, Sherman toughens up, kicks his band hard, and does what he always wanted to do, play with fire in his belly an stoke up a crowd. To that end “Guitar Man – Live” is everything long time Sherman fans have waited for.

An essential purchase for all Rock Blues fans and the gateway to some of the hottest axe slingers on the planet; And frankly you don’t get two bigger hitters that Walter Trout and Joe Bonamssa to start with, followed by some scorching Leslie West of Mountain fame, and the technical brilliance of Greg Koch.

I could list all the players here, as there really is something for everyone, but a special note may be made of the powerful Stoney Curtis - all bluster and tone - the Johnny Winter style crunching boogie of Jay Hooks and the boogie meister Michael Katon.

There’s fiery slide guitar, fierce solo’s, subtle solo’s, sledgehammer blues, low down nasty boogie and rock & roll; A great album that is perfect for a live gig warm up.

Well the leader after all these years remains Dave Brock – king of the Space Rock Guitar. And its good to report if nothing else that after 36 or so years at the helm, Brock has not so much dragged the band kicking and screaming into the new era, as glide into it on the back of a new generation of Hawkfans comprising a bewildering musical watering hole that includes everything from Trance, Techno, to Metal and Punk. The most obvious clue to Dave’s forward thinking is the contemporary remake of “the Robert Calvert/Brock penned “Spirit of the Age” – a Hawkwind catalogue classic that was penned back in 77, some 8 years after the band’s original inception.

DJ Matthew Wright has a fair stab at Calvert’s warped lyrics, and just about pulls it all off. For the rest the album lurches stylistically from the techno/Trance/and Punky feel of Richard Chadwick’s “Digital Nation” to the Arthur Brown piece “Sunray”, and the human/machine axis of Brock’s “To Love A Machine”. The latter is a cute idea but has ready been covered in Zappa warped sexual lyrics on Joe’s Garage”;

That said, this is a welcome return to the middle ground by a bunch of hippy survivors who have successfully made themselves relevant to a new generation of fans.

Take three innovative young South West French musicians, sprinkle liberally with quirky lyrics, add the zaniness of Zappa, the angst of Radiohead, and mix together, and you get a compelling left field album full of lightning time changes, a Jim Morrison meets Talking Heads lead vocal, and even occasional little Beatles collages, as on “Don’t Forget Your Parachute”.
The sweet vocal timbre belongs to guitarist Eric Cihigoyenetche, while the rock solid bass and backing vox comes from Emily Soler. Laurent Mounier supplies drums, percussion and keyboards.

Aside form the myriad complex ideas at play, there’s some classy production values here – incredible when you consider this project was hatched in a bedroom. The keen sense of dynamics throughout, are best exemplified by the eclectic ode to London’s gherkin building, in “Zonked”.

Eric explores his impressive vocal range on “I Am An Exile” a dreamy number that twist and turns and bursts into life on the back of a retro rock & roll riff, and resolves the tension in a powerful chorus. The judicious use a mid number ebow solo adds a psychedelic feel to the piece.

All the album is sung in English, but given the sometimes obscure nature of the lyrics, this doesn’t always help. “Glasses Song” for example skips from pillar to post and ends up using Beatles style bv’s over military beat, before a rare beefy guitar led outro takes the number home.

This is nicely juxtaposed by the hugely impressive “Cartoon Cavalcade”, a quirky piece that reminds this 50 year old reviewer of Sparks’ “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us”, while the following “Hemeralopic” comes straight from the B52’s song writing cannon.

Given that is album will undoubtedly be bought by younger music fans, People On Holiday have that rare ability to fuse the past with the present with their own spirited brand of fun.

This double album is an essential purchase for fans of one of the great rock and r&b vocalist of our time. It is instructive to remember that by the time of its release Roger Chapman had well and truly laid the ghost of Family behind him. Best known as the ‘Wildman of Rock’, Roger has reshaped his career on the back of gruelling road work across Europe, and just as importantly some huge TV exposure, of which Germany’s Rock Palast was the most important.

This double live set was released shortly after such a block busting TV appearance, and combined with the fact that thousands of East European fans wanted to see the band, Roger was enjoying his most successful period since the 60’s.
Just as important as this album proves, was the fact that Roger had written some of is strongest songs for years. Live favourites such as “Prisoner”, and “Unknown Soldier” are brilliantly covered here, as is “Who Pulled The Night Down” - the latter having previously been released live on the “Live In Hamburg “ cd.

“He Was” is simply one of Chappo’s and Rock’s best ever live albums. Everything you hear is real, the playing is inspired, right down to Geoffrey Whitehorn’s simmering solo on “Juke Boy Mama”. Then of course there is Chappo, at the very top of his form, veins popping, fingers jabbing, and voice bleating. It doesn’t get much better than this!

An album that should have been on the playlist some considerable time ago, but wasn’t by virtue of the fact of an empty cd case. Problem now rectified, this Michael Hill collaboration with Colin John his touring partner and fellow guitarist, opens with a stonking rocker “Let the Ladies Have The Floor”. And from then on in it’s Michael Hill’s usual powerful mix of politics – as in the magnificent title track, and the pull no punches “By George” and his love of women – check out the opening title track, and “New York Doll”

For a number of years now Michael Hill has become a powerful voice on the blues scene, playing his blues the way he sees them. A great guitarist and expressive vocalist, Michael’s talent lies in seeing the big picture, so for every political point there’s a dollop of self deprecating humour. Together with Colin John there an obvious emphasis on guitars, but it works brilliantly, toughening up the grooves as on “Specialization”, and laying back a little as on the reggae inflected “Fear Itself”.
Hubert Sumlin joins the fun on the aptly titled “Mr.Hubert Sumlin”, a slide guitar led piece, with high in the mix drums and Michael’s rapped out Sumlin biography. Half way through he formally introduces his guest on the track. Hubert adds some telling sinuous lines, and as Michael exclaims, “The truth gets in your ears”…...”pickin’ and strumming with Hubert Sumlin’, great fun! The album closes on the very poignant “Home I Love”, a bluesy commentary of contemporary times in the USA.