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NOTES ON
IMMORTAL
Jay Gordon ought to be a
household name. He has recorded so many albums that even he can’t
remember them all, including a bunch for the French label Dixie Frog.
Jay can fill a stadium in Europe, and he was invited by none other than
Eric Clapton himself to play at a guitar summit. So why doesn’t he
record for a major label? And why isn’t he known coast-to-coast in the
USA, his own country?
In a word: Blues. Jay is the
quintessential blues guitarist. He can play gutbucket stuff right out of
Lightin’ Hopkins or he can dazzle you with scintillating electric runs
in the 12-bar structure that would make Mike Bloomfield or Alberrt
Collins sit up and say howdy. Truth: The blues—unlike back in the 60s
and 70s—now has a narrow audience, so Jay’s career has been
circumscribed recently to mostly aficionados of that form.
Can’t teach a salty dog new
tricks? Dead wrong.
Jay and his band, The
Penetrators, have switched gears and released this rock album, Immortal.
Not a by-the-numbers rock album, either, but an arena-rock concept
album, complex and textured, that explores good and evil. And not in any
kind of academic way, mind you, but from the heart with lots of heat.
Immortal is an album that will get you shouting, get your butt out of
the chair and onto the dance floor, and bust your speakers into shreds
and sawdust if you crank the juice up enough.
Of course, this being Jay, there’s
a sweet side, too.
The proceedings kick off with “Rock
and Roll - Lock and Load,” a hard-driving anthem that states the modus
operandi musically speaking for the entire proceedings to follow. “My
blood is pumpin,’ Jay shouts right up front, “Rock has set me free.”
To prove it, he blasts out a great, wailing riff in the break that’s
pure chromatic honey to the ears. Right on the heels of this manifesto
comes another, “Ride to Heaven,” a celebration of Harley Davidsons,
the freedom of the road, and the celestial possibilities of wind in your
hair. The sound of a burbling chopper begins and ends the song. In the
middle, Sharon Butcher’s bass anchors the track and proves women have
the outlaw spirit down deep as much as any man. Meanwhile, Abe Perez, a
prodigious percussionist, carves up the beats and the off beats and
drives the whole song right down the road to the far horizon. These two
superb musicians back up Jay to the max, as though the trio were born
under the same bad (meaning good) sign. And to get this out of the way
right here: The production values and mixing are top shelf.
Tune Number 3, “The Sunlight
Guards The Day,” is a wonder. For nearly 50 seconds of the intro—an
eternity in a pop song—and before we’ve heard a single word—Ms.
Butcher lays down the sweetest, slow-walking bass you’ll ever hear,
and Mr. Gordon, all macho bravado laid aside, picks a beautiful melodic
treble on his six-string. For a couple of minutes the lyrical impulse
continues, the guitarists singing plaintively about a lost paradise.
This yearning gives way suddenly to a rocker that complicates the
sweetness by means of both words and the plunging, forceful lead.
Finally, the tenderness returns, and the song fades out. “Sunlight
Guards The Day” is a magnum opus, more than ten minutes long, and it’s
genius, really, in the way it expands the world of the album.
Tracks four, five, and six, “Set
The River on Fire,” “Way Down Inside,” and “Electric Redemption,”
constitute a trinity in the way they each separately explore the sorrow,
anger, and angst of living—and the possibility of a way out.. “Every
day the war gets stronger,” Jay sings to a chucka-chucka beat and some
mean, descending chords in the first of these tunes. In the second, the
singer has “been away so long now,” though he keeps chasing his
dream, and there is some light at the end of the tunnel, as he manages
somehow to keep his faith “in the higher power.” “Electric
Redemption” uses the vocabulary of faith, of hell and redemption, to
lay out the polarities of what it means to be human and struggling to
understand our plight and to survive and triumph. These three powerful
songs demonstrate how Jay can use his guitar to so masterfully to
inflect the emotion in the lyrics as he gets his instrument to cry his
sorrow seemingly from the depth of his soul.
“Rockin’ Woman” is a kind of
secular hymn and enters well-known rock and roll territory while showing
a way out of the darkness explored in the three previous songs. In
sexual love between men and women, that “warm and tender feeling,”
the song insists there is a possibility of redemption. This is a theme
as old as poetry itself. But of course sex isn’t everything, as the
next song, “The Magic of Love,” makes clear. Returning to a slower
lyricism, this next-to-last tune explores the better side of life’s
dualism and insists that we thank god for who we are and that we “just
be happy.”
And yet the album ends with “Hell’s
Kitchen,” taking that image as a metaphor for the world in which we
live, a world of “evil eyes,” and “witchcraft,” and “black
magic,” with Lucifer himself orchestrating the “horrors” and “shooting
fire upon the lamb.” At first, this song, straight out of The Book of
Revelations in tone, seems an odd way to end this concept album of the
struggle between good and evil. Wouldn’t the happier ending of “The
Magic of Love” be a better way to go out? Yet maybe that’s too
Hollywood an ending for Jay, who literally lived in Hollywood for many
years, and so has seen up close what the world looks like for real,
rather than in celluloid dreams. Or maybe he just wants to scare us, to
get us back to the magic of love. Anyway you look at it, it’s a circle
and rock and roll is the vehicle that gets us around that uroboros—that
snake with a tail in its mouth.
Finally, one thing that not every
listener may notice right up front, but which makes Jay Gordon such a
fine—such a genuine—musician, is that although his music is blues
and rock based, he does not just play routine, programmatic “box”
scales. Instead he mixes up major and minor scales, using varied
tonalities to draw out the emotional nature and quality of any given
song. Also, his solos, present in every song, can be passionate and
fiery, of course, and he can blaze as well as anyone. But that’s not
the whole of his guitar work by any means. He doesn’t play just to
impress by virtuosity. He’s no egotist or showboat who rips off runs
to wow you just because he can. Instead, his solos are always tasteful
and well orchestrated; and they are always integrated into the context
of the tune at hand. This makes him second to none in the guitar-slinger
business, and when I say that I do mean that he is up there—way up
there—with the big guys like T-Bone, Duane, Jimi, and Jeff Healey. As
a result, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a straight-up
blues fan, a rocker, or a metal freak. If you know the electric ax and
what it can do in any of those genres, you will be digging the action of
Jay’s fretwork.
And finally, finally: There are a
couple of bonus tracks on this amazing CD, two different takes of “Set
The River On Fire” and “Hell’s Kitchen.” They’re good too. And
so is the flaming guitar artwork for the CD cover! Immortal, indeed. Now
where’s that major label?
Neil Flowers is a writer, editor,
film, book and music critic, and theatre director.
He can be reached at flowersneil4494@yahoo.com for professional
engagements
Jay
Gordon And The Penetrators unleash their brand new Single
White
Rabbit
Truly a
explosive performance. Pure magic
and energy.
One hundred percent pure rock.
No doubt that this song stands the test of time.
A very
rare recording for
Jay Gordon and the Penetrators.
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FRESH BLOOD - LIVE - NEW LIFE –
Liner Notes
SOON TO BE RELEASED
Once again Jay Gordon the legendary rock blues
guitar virtuoso and vocalist proves there are no limitations or boundaries
within rock and blues music. Fresh Blood - Live - New Life, is captivating and
penetrating, filled with shredding and tasteful innovative guitar solos and
killer soulful vocals, a powerful trio second to none, bringing new life to
these classic tracks and turning the old into new gems.
Throughout his career, Jay Gordon has become
famous for his slashing guitar solos, his passionate vocals, and his dedication
to the blues. While his inspirations have included Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter,
Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he does not sound like any of his
predecessors and has long had his own distinctive voice. Never interested in
merely recreating the past, Jay has moved the blues forward to the 21st century,
infusing the music with the fire and power of rock while carving out his own
place in the music world. Others have taken notice and he was honored as the
best blues/rock guitarist at the 2007 Real Blues Annual Awards in Canada , his
latest in a long series of awards. Crowds throughout the United States and
Europe have been very impressed by his intense playing and his series of
memorable recordings.
On New Life, Jay Gordon presents his new band,
the Penetrators. In 2007 while playing at a jam session that he was running at
Lake Elsinore , he heard a female voice repeatedly shouting “Turn the guitar
up!” After the set, he met the blues lover, a talented bassist and singer,
Sharon Butcher. Soon they were jamming together and Jay was very impressed. “
Sharon is a very solid bass player who never overplays and likes to lock in with
the drummer. She is also a very good rock and blues singer, putting a lot of
emotion into her singing, and she has great phrasing.” Within a short time,
Jay and Sharon decided to team up and form a new trio. They played concerts with
different drummers, going through 15 before they found the right one, Abe Perez. “Abe and Sharon really rock. From the first time Sharon,
Abe and I jammed, I knew it was right. Abe is powerful and understands the
concept of playing what is needed for a song. They both play with feeling,
leaving me free to do what I want. It is rare to get a group together that has
this kind of chemistry.”
Jay Gordon is a talented songwriter and he
loves to really stretch out during his dazzling solos, so New Life is a
change-of-pace although a logical evolution from his past recordings. The
performances are concise and the repertoire is comprised of eight standards from
the rock and blues worlds. But these are not mere revivals or recreations for
Jay and his group reinvent and modernize the classics. “Whenever I choose to
perform a cover song, I wouldn’t do it unless I can make the song mine,
putting my own stamp on it while doing the song justice. On this program, I take
older songs and rock them, changing the melody, adding new guitar leads, and
coming up with completely new arrangements than the earlier versions.”
The eight performances on New Life were
recorded at 2008’s first Bike Rally of the year in San Bernardino . The music
was performed at the Screaming Chicken, an old roadhouse that has a large
outside stage with room for 2,000-3,000 enthusiastic fans. There are no overdubs
so this is what the trio sounds like live in concert, and they sound unlike any
other group.
The set begins with Willie Dixon’s “Good
Morning Little School Girl.” Jay gives the standard a brand new guitar pattern
that makes the tune sound brand new. He takes an expressive vocal (with Sharon
singing background) and unleashes his guitar in an explosive solo.
Sharon Butcher is in the spotlight during the
Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” Her voice is haunting, she puts
plenty of feeling into the words, and she makes the 40-year old song sound
modern. “Heartbreaker,” from Grand Funk Railroad, has a powerful and
impassioned vocal duet with both Jay and Sharon sharing the spotlight and
singing their hearts out. It is a joy to hear the two of them interacting and
singing with such passion.
While “Honky Tonk Woman” was made famous
by the Rolling Stones, it is fair to say that the Penetrators sound nothing at
all like the Stones. Jay belts out his vocal while his guitar rages. His solo is
both intense and melodic, and Sharon is quite effective singing in the
background behind his vocal. A lot of music takes place within this concise
performance.
Bon Jovi’s/Del Shannon/Bonnie Raitt “Runaway”
is a perfect vehicle for Sharon ’s vocals. Her voice is not one that can be
forgotten easily for she sings with passion, sincerity and a great deal of
musicality. Her singing clearly inspires Jay’s blazing guitar.
“Rock Me” gives Jay Gordon an
opportunity to stretch out on a low-down blues. While he has performed many
different arrangements of this song in his career, each version sounds fresh for
Jay is a blues man to the core.
Wynonna Judd’s “That Was Yesterday” is a
different kind of blues and showcases Sharon ’s voice, making the song sound
as if it were written for her. The set concludes with Marshall Tucker’s “Can’t
You See,” a famous rock number performed by the Penetrators in a catchy,
inviting and fresh new way.
One of the most accessible of Jay Gordon’s
recordings, New Life features the guitarist staying true to his roots in blues
and rock while introducing his new band featuring the memorable Sharon Butcher
and Abe Perez. It is not at all surprising that the crowd at the
Screaming Chicken went crazy over the music, for the brilliance and passion of
the playing and singing, along with the creative arrangements, are not to be
denied.
With the right distribution and marketing,
this cd will be in the hearts and homes of every rock and blues fan.
Scott Yanow,
Author of ten books including The Jazz Singers, Trumpet Kings, Jazz On Film and
Bebop, All Music Guide
It is sometimes said by those who do
not follow the scene very closely that the evolution of the blues is
near its end, with the last blues innovator being the late Stevie Ray
Vaughan. It can sometimes seem that
way since a countless number of so-called blues bands grind out the same
unimaginative repertoire (how many
more versions do we need of “Stormy Monday?”), ideas and frameworks
in predictable fashion night after night.
Jay Gordon stands far apart from the crowd. There is nothing predictable
about his music and his playing
does not sound like anyone else’s. He is inspired by such masters as
John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Stevie
Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Buddy Guy but has his own
distinctive style, extending and
pushing the blues tradition ahead. He infuses the blues with the sound,
power and fire of rock and
creates consistently fresh ideas. “The blues is about the struggles of
life,” says Gordon. “It is filled
with emotions, both good and bad. The blues make you feel happy and to
me the blues is life.”
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Gordon grew up in Chicago, the center
of the blues world. He began
playing guitar when he was nine and within three years was performing in
bars. “When I was a teenager in
Chicago, I was lucky enough to be around Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters,
Luther Allison, Hound Dog Taylor and so many others. They planted the seed inside of me to always want to play
the blues.” Since moving to Los
Angeles in 1985, Gordon has recorded nine CDs, toured the world and
gained a worldwide reputation, being
particularly well known in Europe. He was one of 50 guitarists picked by
Eric Clapton (who was very
impressed after hearing one of his CDs) to perform at the Crossroads
Guitar Festival, sharing the bill with
such greats as Santana, Jeff Beck, B.B. King and Buddy Guy.
Gold Rings, Silver Bullets is Jay Gordon’s finest recording to date.
The performances are concise and
make every moment count, Gordon’s guitar playing is as passionate as
ever, his vocals are both intense and
personable, the material is new, and his lyrics tell meaningful stories.
“We used a lot of different
grooves including rock and roll, funk and boogie, with the blues always
being a large part of the music.”
A very good place to start is with “Six String Outlaw.” “Being a
traveling blues musician, it is easy
to feel like an outlaw, always on the road.” Eight thuds on the bass
drum precede Gordon’s wailing slide
guitar. His vocals talk about the blues life and the role of the guitar
as a six-string outlaw. It is
immediately obvious that he is a true original, both as a guitarist and
as a singer.
They were playing together before 250,000
people at an all-star concert in Sturgis,
South Dakota.” The three musicians with Jay Gordon in the lead
consistently
think as one, driving the music to the edge while remaining true to the
blues.
The music on Gold Rings, Silver Bullets includes songs about overcoming
heartache (“Blue Hearts”), being an
outcast (“Black Sheep”), partying (“Juke Joint”) and starting
relationships (“Thing Going On” and “You’re
Driving Me Wild”). “‘Picking On This Piece Of Wood’ is
autobiographical. It is about how I was brought up,
where I was raised, and about how people I knew early on went on to
other things but I’m still picking on
this piece of wood, refusing to give up on my dreams.”
Gordon’s singing on this set is as powerful as his intense guitar, and
his lyrics are well worth
listening to closely. Other performances include the explosive “Fire
& Brimstone Boogie,” the intense “Let
It Ring” (“about love, death and just making it through the madness
of life”), a lowdown “The Original
Sin,” the hard-driving rock song “Freight Train,” “Lost In Time”
(about being oneself without fear),
“Pain,” the socially topical “Propaganda,” an emotional “My
Heart Is Heavy” and “Love’s Emotions”
(“the battle to be loved”). Every selection on Gold Rings, Silver
Bullets is memorable in its own way with
Gordon contributing not only his remarkable technique and creativity to
the music but his life’s
experiences. One has to live the blues to really be able to play the
blues.
Jay Gordon looks forward enthusiastically to the future. “With the
release of this record, I plan to go
back on the road and have the music be bigger and better than ever. One
day I may stretch out and record
a jazz or a fusion album but the blues is always where my heart is so I
plan to stay rooted in the blues and
rock & roll for many years to come. Music is a journey and, no
matter how good you get, you can never be good
enough. My goal is to take it as far as I can.”
Scott Yanow,
Author of nine books including Jazz On Record 1917-76,
Jazz On Film and ~~~~~~
WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING AND WRITING ABOUT
JAY GORDON AND THE PENETRATOR’S NEW CD:
VALLEY MAGAZINE
JAY GORDON: IT'S A CRYIN' SHAME
By Neil Flowers
June 1, 2007
It's a damned shame. I'll say it again. It's a lowdown, dirty, rotten,
stinkin' shame.
One a.m. My nephew Jesse and I sit in a bar and eatery at 1331 North
Hollywood Way, Burbank. Goes by the name of "Mr. B’s." The
room's divided in two. One side sports red naugahyde booths and white
tablecloths for the food crowd. The other half has a long bar and tables
and chairs scattered around the floor. This furniture is aimed at a
bandstand so cramped and nondescript it would suit perfectly an east
Texas honky-tonk circa 1957.
The man up on that little stage, Jay Gordon - Mr. Gordon, that is-is a
blues, rock, boogie guitarist and singer who plays his own work, and
covers such as "Sympathy for the Devil." He gives so much of
himself in playing that it's a wonder the walls at Mr. B’s don't just
give up, bust out, and collapse all around us.
Jay Gordon? Ever heard of him? Me neither. Not, at least, until VSM
asked me to review his show and CD. Now I'll never forget him, because
he puts on the greatest guitar show that I have ever seen in my life,
and I saw Buddy Guy play live in the 60s.
Buddy Guy. Clapton. BB King. Hendrix. Townsend. Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Guitar gods every one. Now maybe you won't believe what you are about to
read because this report comes from a tiny bar in Burbank and concerns a
musician you almost certainly have never heard of.
But here's the truth flat out straight as I can put it: Add Mr. Gordon's
name to the six that begin the previous paragraph. And I declare by
Willie McTell, Elmore James, and everything holy th at this ain't hype.
More superlatives? Following are a few lifted straight from scribbles in
my notebook as my jaw was dropping to the floor hearing Mr. Gordon play.
Fantastic, amazing, incredible, unbelievable, impossible, imp-assioned.
Musicianship max! Energy! Blazing arpeggios! Sweet high bends. Covers
entire fret board. Throws fistfuls of notes. Master at bottleneck slide.
Plays slide in standard tuning! Peerless tone arm and wah-wah
complexity/control. As Lizst was to piano, JG is to Stratocaster.
And then there are these two sentences that I wrote down between sets.
(1) Can play straight 12-bar blues as well or better than anybody past
or present, but in 10-minute jam he kicked the stuffing out of that
repetitive structure so much that his music transcended blues clichés
to become free-form jazz-rock fusion. (2) When he's so into playing that
he leans back and throws his chin and nose at the stars, he seems to be
channeling all at once every note it's possible to squeeze out of an
electric guitar.
One small quibble: Mr. Gordon's sets would profit by a couple of choice
slow tunes sung and played simply.
Still, you get the picture. Mr. Gordon is a phenom. Not a kid phenom
like Jeff Healey was. Mr. Gordon's not a kid, though he plays with such
physicality you could be excused for thinking so. How old he is exactly?
Mr. Gordon is a bit shy on telling. But when he was knee-high to a
grasshopper, his grandmother took him 'round to famous clubs on
Chicago's south side-like Pepper's Lounge-when those venues were hot hot
hot with acts that became legends. Acts like Muddy Waters, Little
Walter, Otis Spann.
This is where the lowdown dirty shame part comes in. Seventeen
spectators in all turn up at Mr. B to hear Mr. Gordon-a world-class
talent-play. And this is the town he calls home, in a bar where there is
no cover charge. When he plays Europe, where he is revered, the joints
and the arenas are packed.
Look at this way: If Robert Johnson, Luther Allison, Jimi, Eric, or
Robbie were playing Burbank, the crowds would be lined up to Santa
Monica. Well, you can hear a guitar master the equal of any of them when
and wherever Jay Gordon wails.
Finally, the newest Jay Gordon and The Penetrators CD has just been
released. It's called Gold Rings and Silver Bullets and has great work
on it, including my faves, "Love's Emotion,"
"Propaganda," and, especially, "Juke Joint." Mr.
Gordon needs to be seen to be believed -and hopefully we'll see him at
the Staples Center sometime soon, where he belongs. Meanwhile, catch the
CD at
www.cdbaby.com/cd/jaygordon6, and clap an ear on one of the planet's
greats.
Special thanks to Jessie- a heck of a blues guitarist himself- for his
invaluable help in writing this piece on Jay Gordon and the Penetrators.
Neil Flowers
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Jay Gordon, renowned throughout both Europe and the U.S. for his
over-the-top, sizzling live performances, recorded a series of albums
for Blue Ace that have inspired comparisons to such legendary guitarists
as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Beginning with "Blues
Infested" (1994), Gordon won much praise from the blues community.
Each successive album became increasingly successful -
"Broadcasting The Blues Live" (1996), "Electric
Redemption" (1998), and so on - and the guitarist soon found
himself being compared to some of the most legendary guitarists to ever
play electric blues. Jay's song "Drippin' Blues" is featured
on the current Electric Blues Radio Playlist. In 2000, Gordon
collaborated with Phillip Walker on the "Jaywalkin" album for
Blue Ace, yet another accomplishment for the celebrated guitarist.
Scott Yanow/ALL MUSIC GUIDE
~~~~~~~~~
***Gordon will be featured on nationally
syndicated radio program, Blues Deluxe, during the week of June 10-16.
"Jay Gordon and the Penetrators are one of our favorite ways to
rock the blues!" said Dave Johnson, host of BLUES DELUXE - which is
heard weekly on over 100 stations across the U.S. with a two
million-plus listenership.
~~~~~~~~~
“Jay Gordon has always been a great
player. His new CD, GOLD RINGS,SILVER BULLETS, shows Jay as a burning
slide player as well. GRSB rocks!"
BLUEPOWER.COM
***
“Aggressive slide guitar - and then some! Really, it doesn't begin to
describe what Jay Gordon brings to the blues party. For proof, check out
the amazing slide
guitar, vocals, and overall energy found on Gold Rings Silver Bullets,
the latest from
Jay Gordon And The Penetrators. Fans of Blues Bureau International's
rockers-turned-bluesmen Pat Travers and Rick Derringer need to check out
the axe work and intensity emanating from Gordon's six string - it hits
you right in the gut like an Oscar De La Hoya body blow. Many find it
hard to distinguish themselves when they play blues, but Gordon and his
band immediately impress because they do
have their unique presence that allows the listener to identify them
after only listening to a couple of bars. Looking for passion, blood,
guts and scraped knuckles from
your blues? Check out the latest offering from Jay Gordon - Gold Rings
Silver Bullets. Wow!
GUITAR 9 RECORDS MAGAZINE
***
"On Day #2 of the Crossroads Guitar Festival, Jay Gordon ignited
the day with an opening performance at 10 a.m. Those who were ready to
rock were treated to an awesome show! As soon as Jay and his bandmates
began with "Big Boss Man the trio moved easily into "Hootchie
Cootchie Man. " Their interpretations of these blues standard
coaxed more festival goers to the Ernie Ball Stage. Attired in black
leather and suede, Jay and his Fender Strat created metallic blues…Jay’s
vocals are vibrant and intense. This is definitely a power trio!”
***
From the Electric Blues Site
Texas enjoys a reputation for
putting out more top notch contemporary blues and blues-rock guitar
players than any other state in the US, and considering the rich history
of players coming out of that state, few can argue. One state that may
have a legitimate contention for equal rights however is California.
While many of the top players from the West Coast may not be as well
known, there are quite a number of them non the less. Jay Gordon is
among those making a strong case for the capabilities of guitar players
from California.
As electric blues has migrated into the contemporary music scene, it's
been broken down into several sub-categories, including Chicago blues,
Texas blues, blues-rock, and what I had considered to be the last
frontier and farthest reaching boundries of the blues, Heavy-blues. But
Jay's style necessitates a new classification, at least one I haven't
considered before. Shred-blues is the best description I can come up
with that aptly describes Jay's style of play. Even though I'm a major
league fan of seriously guitar oriented blues, I recognize that as the
boundries are move outward there's the risk that emphisis on speed and
technique will undue the passion. However, Jay plays with fiery passion
that matches the power and ferocity of his style.
Jay's guitar playing talents are amazing to say the least. His picking
attack is fast and furious, and he's also very capable on slide guitar.
His axe has a piercingly crisp, heavily over-driven tone with tons of
sustain and bite. Vocals are on the hard side and a bit harsh at times,
but for the most part they're solid and a good match for his style of
blues. The band is a minimal three piece arrangement of guitar, bass
& drums.
Divided into two parts, part one opens with the powerful instrumental
"Message to Collins", and the listener learns right up front
what Jay Gordon style blues is all about. The second song, "Drippin
Blues", features Jay doing some serious cuttin' on slide guitar and
by the end of that song most serious guitar fans should be hooked. After
a somewhat more rock oriented "Lucky 13" comes the slow
(slow?) blues song, "Stretchneck Lill", a tribute to the tool
of his trade. If you hadn't yet acquired a good feel for what is meant
by "Shred-guitar", you will be well educated after
experiencing this song.
The torrid pace is maintained throughout the first half of the disc.
Settings are turned down a tick or two for "Blacktop Alley",
which leads into an honest to gosh acoustic mini-set including
"Farmdog" and "Tears", both of which feature some
nice acoustic slide work. Then, all the dials are reset to 12 as Part II
begins. Here Jay really pushes the limits, exceeding even my liberal
definition of blues and gets more into a heavy-metal mode. This is
especially true in "Savage Resurrection", a tribute meant for
Jimi Hendrix, but which has a decidedly Frank Marino feel to it. In
fact, 70's fans of early Marino will relate quite well to all of Part
II.
This disc is heavy-duty, highly animated, guitar-driven blues and heavy
rock that will send most traditional blues fans running for cover. Only
those interested in seeing just how far the blues can be stretched need
dwell here. Or, if you're a cocky guitar player looking for some
challenging new chops, this disc should keep you busy for quite a while,
if not totally frustrate.
Electric Blues
Herm
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