Ole Frimer Band – Live at Blues Baltica | Album Review

olefrimercdOle Frimer Band – Live at Blues Baltica

LongLife Records

www.facebook.com/olefrimerband/

CD: 8 Songs; 45:32 Minutes         

Styles: Contemporary Electric Blues and Blues Rock, Live Albums

What famous things come from Denmark? To name a few: the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, imported Danish Butter Cookies, Shakespeare’s Hamlet (he was a Dane), and the Ole Frimer Band (also composed of Danes). The fourth item on this list may not be as renowned as the other three. However, if their work is consistently as high-quality as their latest album, Live at Blues Baltica, they’ll soon be on their way to worldwide recognition. They’re already pretty popular in Deutschland, which is where this live album was recorded in 2014. The Blues Baltica Festival, also known as Bluesfest Eutin, is an annual extravaganza held in that particular German city.

According to the festival’s website (http://bluesfest-eutin.de/index-en.html), it won the 2015 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award for an International Festival. The Ole Frimer Band (“Ole” rhymes with “cola”, and “Frimer” rhymes with “dreamer”) certainly deserved the honor of performing there two years ago. Their resulting CD, although rather short, is top-notch.

Fans of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Veldman Brothers will love the musical style of Ole Frimer and company, featuring crisp guitar and smooth vocals that sound as American as the blues they play. They strike a balance of traditional and contemporary blues, mixing original numbers such as “Sheltered Roads” with catchy covers like Hob Wilson’s “Black Cat Bone”, Al Kooper’s “I Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes”, and Johnny Winter’s “Hustled Down in Texas”.

Complementing guitarist and lead vocalist Ole Frimer are Palle Hjorth on organ, Jesper Bylling on bass and background vocals, and Claus Daugaard on drums.

The following three original songs made the festival-going crowd in Eutin go wild:

Track 01: “If You Only Could Forgive Me” – The band counts this as one of its signature selections, and it’s clear why. With a swinging beat and a guitar riff SRV would’ve treasured, track one has earned its spot as this CD’s opener. “I know I wasn’t easy,” Ole points out. “I didn’t intend to treat you bad. You did anything to please me, baby, gave me everything you had. I know you say it’s too late, but I bet you’ve grown to wait, ‘cause I’m so sad.”

Track 03: “The Way You Move” – Who needs techno/trance music to have a dance party? The blues is just as addicting, as this band proves. Everyone goes all out, especially Palle Hjorth on organ and Claus Daugaard on a challenging drumbeat. Combining 1950’s-style fun with 1970’s-style funk, number three wends its way through quick tempos and reflective, slow melodies – a musical science experiment.

Track 04: “Workin’ Too Much” – Employees all over the world know the feeling: slowly burning away at their dead-end jobs, as traditional, smoldering number four burns through listeners’ ears and into their hearts. “I thought my woman loved me, but it turned out to be wrong. When I came home late last night, she’d packed all her stuff and gone. Claimed I’ve been working too much.”

Live at Blues Baltica, four Danes became famous in 2014!

Please follow and like us:
0