CD Review - Bare Bones Boogie Band
The Bare Bones Boogie Band released their first CD early in January 2010. This four piece rock/blues band hail from the South East of England and are made up of Helen Turner is the vocalist, Iain Black plays guitars is the band’s songwriter, Trev Turley plays Bass and Andy Jones is the band’s drummer. It is clear from the first few minutes that the Bare Bones Boogie Band are all very experienced and very good at what they do. Helen’s vocals hint at evidence of gargling of razor blades giving her voice a great gravelly edge on the rockier songs but not at the expense of melodic quality on the quieter songs. Iain’s guitar playing is well balanced between “less is more” and some storming solo breaks when required. Since I was playing the album quite loud, at times Trev’s bass was reverberating in my chest, plucking at my very heart strings – noticeable in particular on the cover of the Janis Joplin song “One Good Man”. Backing all this up is Andy, clearly a versatile drummer with great sensitivity when required, for example, on “Black Cat Strikes Back” and then on the faster paced songs thumping out a great solid back-beat for the band.
The album is a very good indeed, but I have to admit that on first listen it didn’t quite grab me. I’ve had it in my car looping around for a couple of weeks now wherever I drive and it has definitely grown on me over that time. So why didn’t it grab me first time around?
Well today, as I wrote my notes for this review, listening to the CD at home I realised why. The album opens up with “Baby, Baby Be Mine” & “Black Cat Strikes Back” followed by “Full Tilt Boogie Man” and for me these 3 tracks come in the wrong order, I would have reversed the order and opened the album with “Full Tilt Boogie Man” because it really grabs the listener’s attention – well it does mine anyway.
The other main comment I would make about this album is that the covers are the highlights. They’re excellent covers – Joplin’s “One Good Man”, Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind”. the Stones’ “Live With Me” and Vinegar Joe’s “Early Monday Morning” – top marks for all of these, but they do put the band’s own material slightly in the shadows. Only slightly though! I am sure that would have been less noticeable to me if only 2 of the 10 tracks had been covers, rather than 4.
However, that said, I heartily recommend that you support the Bare Bones Boogie Band, buy their CD and check them out live – full details on their myspace site (http://www.myspace.com/barebonesboogieband).
Simon J. Gledhill for www.stillgigging.com
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