Complimentary Medicine

The last time I played drums on an album – 'In Love With Trouble' by the Shark Dentists – the reviewer in Blues Matters magazine complimented me... on my harmonica playing. That was, of course, welcome – although the drums are my first instrument, I do like to contribute a bit of blues harp on the side.

But it was good to find my drumming has finally been noted by Blues Matters, in its review of the new album 'Liquor And Iron' from Russ Payne and Unison Bends. (I did also play four bars of wistful harmonica to set the scene for the epic track 'Heading Out East' but, understandably, that didn't get a mention.)

Anyway, we're all grateful for the positive comments about our work. So here is the full review:

RUSS PAYNE AND THE UNISON BENDS

LIQUOR AND IRON

(Thousand Smiles Records)

The album opens brightly with the funky This Life (Gonna Be The Death Of Me), Russ Payne’s vocals and guitar riffs distinctive and engaging. Nigel Summerley’s infectious rhythmic drumming on Saskia’s Got A Gun provides the perfect backcloth to the conversational vocals and clipped guitar style. The pace slows with the balladic It Could Have Been Me; the textured vocal harmonies, Saal Seniveratne’s fluent keyboard skills and Payne’s soulful guitar interludes create mood-inducing crescendos. The clever tempo changes on All Talk add to the atmosphere of another good original song. The slower burning Waiting At The Gate, Certain Tears and the title track showcase the versatility of Russ and confirms his status as a very fine singer, songwriter and guitarist. Bassist Bill Keller and drummer Summerley maintain the high-energy grooves of Sometimes and Oughta Know By Now in the tradition of great, explosive power trios. Payne’s searing guitar solo and vocal harmonies with Jake Rousham stand out on the catchy, up tempo Good Luck. An impressive album, Liquor and Iron proves that the gap between relative unknown bands and those at the forefront of the current UK blues explosion is very narrow indeed.

Master Of Funk

It's sad to hear of the death of Clyde Stubblefield – one of the drumming legends who helped create the James Brown sound.

His playing on 'Funky Drummer' is said to be the most 'sampled' of all time – and has turned up on countless recordings.

For 'sampled', read 'ripped off'... Clyde Stubblefield received nothing for this. Apart from huge respect from other drummers.

For wonderful insights into the inventive achievements of Stubblefield and fellow James Brown drummer Jabo Starks, you can't do better than study 'Groove Alchemy' by Stanton Moore, a book that I've mentioned before but which deserves special mention for being one of the finest drumming books ever written.

Getting Back To The Garden

"I can't watch. And I can't look away." That was the one comment on the Trump presidency that really hit home. That's exactly how it has affected me and, no doubt, millions of others. And that's my excuse for not writing much for a while.

The antidote to Trump and the nastiness that surrounds him? As is so often the case, it's music.

Thankfully, I've recently been introduced to Radio Garden, the beautiful website that allows you to travel the world and alight wherever you please and listen to what's on the radio there.

I'm currently in Abuja, in Nigeria, but have also been having much musical pleasure in Havana, Cuba, and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Now more than ever, we need to be reminded that there is a whole non-Trump, non-Brexit, non-fascist world out there – a world of music – that is positive, uplifting and inspiring.

Deep Covers

First the good news... a new and triple album from Bob Dylan. Then what seemed like not such good news... it's all covers. Again. 'Shadows In The Night' and 'Fallen Angels' were both brilliant records. But with Mount Sinatra climbed, the expectation was that, as after those other writer's block classics 'Good As I Been To You' and 'World Gone Wrong', Dylan would get back to Dylan.

However, after a listen to 'I Could Have Told You' from the new album, with its exquisite musical backing from Dylan's road band and a vocal that no one else could come close to for feeling and meaning, you realise that he had to do this...

3 Doors Closed

Watching Donald Trump become president of the United States might have left you feeling dismayed.

The fact that any musicians had anything to do with the inauguration was disturbing. 

Lots of them said no, of course. But not the band 3 Doors Down. And that left me feeling, at several removes, a little let down.

My old band the Shark Dentists used to play a good and thoughtful song by 3 Doors Down called "Be Like That". These were good guys, I thought. It goes to show you never can tell...

Trump is a huge 3 Doors Down fan apparently... Right or wrong, I've kind of gone off them...

Time Piece

Virgil Donati is an amazing drummer. Understatement. And now he is also a classical composer. He wedded these two talents together for "The Dawn Of Time", an album which is breathtaking in its ambition and achievement.

Any drummer who has attended a classical concert must have tapped a foot or two to some powerful rhythms – and wondered why the band doesn't have a proper drum kit and instead limits itself to a few timpani and a couple of cymbals.

But Donati hasn't just added drums to a series of orchestral pieces, he has enmeshed the drums into the music, giving them equal billing with the other instruments and sometimes taking centre stage. On top of this he has mixed up some stunning time signature changes and juxtapositions. And, as with Frank Zappa's orchestral work, he has created something new and urgent inside an established genre.

Wonder Man

The phrase "one-hit wonder" has seldom been as apt as it was when applied to Peter Sarstedt, the singer/songwriter who is one of the first casualties of 2017. He was – and long will be – remembered for "Where Do You Go To My Lovely", which was a wonderful song.

Somehow it shouldn't have worked, but somehow it did. It was slightly corny and it rolled along as if it were a sort of gentle "Like A Rolling Stone" in reverse: a rags-to-riches "how does it feel?" instead of a riches-to-rags one.

And similarly, you could never hear it too many times. It was a classic and a wonder...