OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'BLUES OVERDRIVE, THE'
'Clinch!'   

-  Label: 'Gateway Music'
-  Genre: 'Blues' -  Release Date: '2015'-  Catalogue No: 'TBO-030515'

Our Rating:
When this CD arrived I was quite excited as by the look of it I was in for some proper overdriven blues mania in the style of, say, Jim Jones revue or Heavy Trash with maybe a side order of Powersolo and as they come from Copenhagen the odd nod at Peps Persson's Copenhagen Blues.

Seeing the album has Duke Robillard as special guest only upped the ante and then I pressed play expecting a contender for blues album of the year...

Well from that point onwards it was clear that the band's name is a case of false advertising. Yes, they are a blues band but no there is nothing whatsoever overdriven about them as they mainly sound like JJ Cale on valium. The slow opener Pistol Blues is more back wash than up front blue and I was wondering if this was just to lure me in.

Well, Rolling Thunder might pick up the pace a tad and is a good blues song but it's so damned restrained, like they are afraid to set the amps above 3 or 4. The vocals are decent but I was expecting something a whole lot wilder than this with a name like The Blues Overdrive.

Three Time Lover is the sort of blues tune that Hound Dog Taylor could write in his sleep. Really well played, but just slightly too pedestrian to be considered Over driven. Woman Of Love seems to share a musical heritage with, say, Black Magic Woman as played by Fleetwood Mac but with JJ Cale-style vocals which is fine if that's your bag.

The Daughter Of The Devil is a slow ponderous blues with some very nice playing but, damn, it doesn't sound very devilish. It should at least sound as wicked as a good Koko Taylor song but this is sass free; almost back porch-style carefully picked blues.

Things then slow down ever further for the torpid blues crawl of Jealous. No wonder she left if he's this morose all the time. Even JJ Cale would have complained this was too slow, so the Valium must really have kicked in. Cherry is a plea for love that is so laid back you wonder if he's going to make it out of his rocking chair to get to the bar to seduce the woman of his dreams. It's doubtful, but maybe she'll hear this and pop on over anyway and it does have some brilliant lap steel on it designed to melt Cherry's heart.

Lay Your Burden down is still laid back as all hell but with some mighty guitar work that reminds me a bit of Peps Blues Quality. It's cool enough to drink Iced tea to. Living Here Without You is like a Memphis Slim song only played with a little bit too much care as it's a bit too smooth for its own good.

The album closes with Aurora: a song so relaxed that I'd be surprised if anyone playing on it was sitting up. I imagine them lying on their backs half asleep strumming this one as they all fall asleep at the end.

If you like very laid back, totally not overdriven in any way at all blues then this is actually a really good album. It's just a shame the band's name is a misnomer as I was expecting something a whole lot more raucous than this album.

Find out more at Blues Overdrive online

Blues Overdrive Facebook page
  author: simonovitch

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------



BLUES OVERDRIVE, THE - Clinch!