Scanning through the new releases back before Christmas, I was drawn to this by the "Company" listed down the side. That is a helluva lot of good company to keep. So why are they hanging with this Vargas guy? Made the educated guess that he's a guitarist. Hmmm, the "company" includes guitarists, bassists, singers, drummers, keyboardists, even a producer. I had no idea what to expect. This is how the record opens...
Now how about that? There's Carmine Appice on drums and the singer is a guy who was in a bad 80's hair band called Rough Cutt. Pat Travers is credited on guitar but isn't in the video. More on that in a minute. Track #2 features the unmistakable voice of Jack Bruce in a tune that gets a tad tedious towards its conclusion. Next is one of my favorite songs of the past 30+ years, Parisienne Walkways, co-written by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott. Don't believe the originators will ever be topped, but this was a serviceable cover.
This is track #4 and now the brain finally kicked in. Junior Wells was credited on this song and the Junior Wells I know has been dead some fifteen years. I have no idea who that cat is singing on this live take from three weeks ago but I'm positive it isn't Jr. Wells. Time to start the research...
This album proved to be the most difficult to investigate in the history of this blog. Easy enough to find Javier Vargas. The dude is a big deal in his home country of Spain with approximately twenty full-lengths to his credit, most of which, if not all, are on Warner Bros.. I also found that he has worked with many of these guys in the "company" before. Then I discover that many of these songs are found in his earlier works. Wait a minute.......well, sonuvabitch, it looks like all these songs are lifted from his past works. The track that features Chris Rea appears to come from a 2006 release called "Chris Rea & Friends," so VBB is the "friend/company."
Only reason I'm embedding another video is because the guest vocalist here has a new record coming next month and the great BKP has sent me a pre-release copy...
I'll get to Mr. Allman's "Turquoise" in a few weeks.
The only method of purchase in America for VBB & Company is via download for $12. It's not for the blues purists like BKP, but if you enjoy blues/rock a la Jonny Lang or maybe latter-day SRV, you will find this quite pleasurable.
I loved it.
Not too bad of a compilation, especially if you're not familiar with the previous releases. No way you can sell me on Parisenne Walkways though. It's a solid cover, but I much prefer the soulfullness exuded by Gary Moore on any of the several versions that I own. The Devon Allman cut is one of the best!
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