Craig Chaquico "Fire Red Moon"

 

BKP sent this to me at the end of 2012 along with the latest Sweet album.  I had already given the thumbs down to Sweet, a favorite band of my youth, during the sampling process and told him so.  Four days later, I get a text from him saying, "Sweet Stunk.  Craig Chaquico same so far."  Did not receive any additional opinions, and aware of his purist tilt as far as Blues goes, doubt it changed.  I truly hope he was able to soldier through a couple additional plays because I believe there are some gems to be mined on "Fire Red Moon."

My age demographic knows his work but maybe not his moniker.  He was the guitarist/songwriter ("Jane" & "Find Your Way Back," for example) in the Starship portion of Jefferson from 1974 through its demise in 1990.  His solo work afterwards was acoustic and back then was considered New Age.  There was a World Music vibe in it, too. Smooth Jazz would be the best descriptor for his most recent work.  In the last twenty years, nine of his albums have charted via the ones deemed New Age or Contemporary Jazz.  Make that ten with "FRM" and add Blues to the charts. 

The album is on Blind Pig Records whose artist stable includes Buddy Guy, Coco Montoya, Charlie Musselwhite, etc., so I understand the confusion and frustration of the blues purists.  I called this album "Smooth Blues," and I swear I didn't see that term anywhere else.  Copyright!  I've seen 5-Star reviews and 1-Star opinions calling "FRM" "pure pop, not blues," "basically rock with weak vocals," but also "rockin', smokin' hot blues," and "great guest singers and blues feeling."  Since there doesn't appear to be much, if any, promotional support for the album as of yet, I'll link you to a couple of standout tracks. The opener features the fine vocals of Noah Hunt from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Band. The Eagles' might have an infringement case against track #2 as it could be easily mistaken for one of their compositions. My favorite song is "Bad Woman," which produced a wave of goosebumps across my arms. I don't know who the cat is singing but WOW! These are two of the seven original creations, a couple more are instrumental. Of the three well-known covers, two are instrumentals as well, one of which is a favorite blues tune of mine, "Born Under A Bad Sign." It's a touch too happy-sounding, though. The final cover is the closing track, "Crossroads." Yes, that one. This has the other unknown (to me) vocalist yet he does a great job. I get a kind of ZZ Top "Legs" treatment, don't you?

I did not own any Craig Chaquico solo albums...until now....

Devon Allman "Turquoise"

Yep, the same family the name suggests.  Greg's boy borne out of a short-lived marriage in the mid-Seventies.  The story goes that he didn't meet his dad until he was a teenager and therefore wasn't influenced by pops until much later in his musical development.  Riiiiggghhtt...  Based in St. Louis, he started a band called Honeytribe, which received some positive press, but I wasn't particularly moved by either album released.  From what I can gather, that ensemble has been put in storage and Allman is sketchy on any revival plans.  There was another assembly last year called Royal Southern Brotherhood that I completely missed, and after hearing "Turquoise," I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. 

This solo record, released two days ago, is apparently an escape into a different musical setting for him.  It's not southern or blues or jam-mish, it's.....I can't really say.....uh, multi-directional.  But all the roads lead to nowhere.  His unique, soulful vocal style doesn't fit any of the genres utilized, coupled with the unfortunate placement of  his voice up front and center.  What the hell is wrong with legendary producer, Jim Gaines (Santana, SRV, Journey), and that decision?  Well, it's only fair I give you an official album teaser...



Sophomoric lyrics, generic playing, and absolutely the worst version of "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" I've ever experienced.  I've heard better at karaoke night.  Tom Petty has to be mortified that he sold him the rights...

Plenty will like it and there are some early positive reviews.  To each his own...

I'm glad this was a donated copy.  I'd be extremely pissed if I had paid for it.  How many tracks am I keeping?

Zero...

Soundgarden "King Animal"

 

When Soundgarden's "Louder Than Love" hit our shelves in September, '89, I popped the promo into the store's player and by the end of the second song, "Hands All Over," I was all in.  Over the next few years, I had declared Chris Cornell to be the second coming of Ian Gillan and the band to be one of the best around in heavy metal at the time, which was not their perceived genre since they rode the Grunge wave out of Seattle.  A short eight years pass and it was all over.  There were three more tremendous albums released in that span.  Cornell goes solo, then starts Audioslave, then back to solo.  Drummer Matt Cameron ends up in Pearl Jam (too bad they didn't have a real vocalist like Cornell). Guitarist Kim Thayil and his heavy, inventive style basically goes AWOL, and bassist Ben Shepherd essentially ends up broke.  How they all decided to get back together a couple of years ago doesn't matter, the fact they did was all that I cared.  Many speculated that it was all about the money, cashing in on their influence. I'll admit the rumors had me wary, and then I read several negative initial reviews.  A month later I finally sit down to decide for myself, hitting up the sampler page of my favorite music site.  One minute each of the first four songs was all I needed... "add to cart."    

      

Exactly...they've been away too long.  The Chris Cornell I once praised is back in full squall.  Those first four tracks I mentioned...so much heaviness in four minutes!  This is a professional, precise and complex rock recording.  Certainly blows the Aerosmith album completely away...



Sell-out?  Bullshit.  Any reviewer you happen to read that says so isn't worthy of your attention ever again. 

Welcome back, gentlemen...

ZZ Ward "Til The Casket Drops"

 

Heard a track from her EP last summer and deemed it worthy of future consideration for the debut full-length, which was released early in the big 4th Q of 2012.  Knew I'd recall her name due to the the ZZ aspect of it, you know, Top or Hill (her age demographic won't get that), plus I didn't have to store the info for very long...  Discovered it was on a major-distributed label and I immediately went into skeptical mode.  Kept seeing her name pop up over the following couple of months and again liked what I was hearing.  Finally made the purchase just before Christmas, so it's been in my rotation for nearly eight weeks.  I've hemmed and hawed over it, giving the record several more spins than the minimum required amount, and I've finally made my decision.

First, I'll tell you that she is a domestic product, growing up on a farm in Oregon.  She's taken her love of the blues and hip-hop and deftly merged the two with some excellent songwriting skills.  I hear Joan Osbourne but my wife and her friend hear Adele.  I also jotted down maybe a little Grace Potter attitude in a G. Love & Special Sauce sauce.  My first observation was to partake in the record two or three tracks at a time.  In a complete spin it gets somewhat repetitive.  It starts strong...



...(while researching I was truly surprised at the amount of promotional work done on this girl's behalf as early as a year ago), has an accessible middle portion and finishes in a sprint at the end...



So it's a little distorted but it was uploaded just three days ago and I was view #9.  You know how I like to find these sorts of things... 

I'm going to have to be tough on this album since it's a major-label product but I will say there are lots of good ideas and good songs with enough potential that I will certainly investigate her next record.  I'm keeping five out of the thirteen selections so it's not quite enough to justify a new artist entry into the vault. 

How about one more so she can get paid for the view...

Chickenfoot "LV"

This was originally a limited release in Europe only, with 10,000 numbered copies, but now I understand it is part of the box set that dropped ten days ago.  Hey, that's what supergroups can get away with.  LV is an hour of live selections from the two support tours.  The first four songs are from last year's trek to promote "III", but drummer Chad Smith was off working with that other band, Red Hot Chicken Peppers.  As I made my first spin through, I could sense a difference in the performances.  The last five songs are from a show in Phoenix on the initial tour in '09, and the vibe was much better with all the superstars in the house. 

Sammy knows how to milk the cash cow, doesn't he?  The live DVD from the first tour, bonus tracks, import-only, box set...
  

Love how honest Sammy is by keeping the flaws in his released product.  He's on the record as saying that song would have been a huge hit decades ago when radio had a conscience, and he's probably right.  He's also just announced he's doing another solo record this year...

Ride the big wave, Red Rocker...

Black Country Communion "Afterglow"

 

Well, I can't tell you why (The Eagles) I didn't get this immediately upon release in late October, especially after the brilliant "2" from the summer of '11.  Their "Live Over Europe" set was fantastic, as well.  I had yet to hear the rumors which were swirling about that this would be the supergroup's swan song.  Maybe deep down I was afraid of being disappointed.  As I trolled the first few cuts, those fears were realized. 

Let's get this straight, "Afterglow" is still superior to 95% of the "Rock" music out there.  That said, my ears didn't perk up until midway through the record at the title cut.  BKP picked up on it, too, texting me that it "started weak, almost rushed in studio."  Guess that's how it goes when you bang out twelve tracks in six days.  First, you have Joe Bonamassa, the hardest working man in American music, who barely takes a day off.  Second, Kevin Shirley has to be the most in-demand producer in rock music today (there is a quick video of him summing up the sessions as he's driving away, and I do mean that he is driving!  Somebody get the man a chauffeur!)  Then there is Jason Bonham, who has been promoting with his dad's old pals and doing his own thing in Led Zep Experience, and I believe he was touring with Mick Jones' Foreigner, too.  Simple math puts that at 60% of the unit which functions as BCC is busy as hell!  Looks like Glenn Hughes did more of the writing for this album, so of course he's pissed that there hasn't been time for any promotional support from anyone else but himself.  A YouTube search for anything worthy to link was futile. 

So thank goodness the album was back-heavy with quality tunes.  Here's one that Hughes brought to the table called "The Circle."  For you old-fart rockers like me, this a track you once fired up a fatty for and flicked your Bic at the end.  "Common Man" is vintage mid-70's Deep Purple or Ian Gillan's work shortly thereafter.  Bonamassa said this album went back to the 70's British rock era after "2" strayed into heavy metal territory, and he was right on the money. 

I'll still say that "2" is one of this century's greatest rock albums out there.  Let me cherry-pick a few songs from the debut release and "Afterglow," and I would give you BCC 4 that would rank right up there with it.