The Bluesbones – Saved By The Blues
self release
11 songs time-57:16
I got dem ‘ol Belgian blues again mama…Or in this case blues-rock with a bit more emphasis on blues than usual.. This Belgian blues-rock crew has surely been doing its’ homework as far creating potent and hard-rockin’ blues-rock. It is sure a relief to have a foreign lead vocalist without an accent in Nico De Cook. It makes for a smoother listening experience. In fact his confident blues-worthy voice is a big plus for this well-versed unit. The guitar playing of Stef Paglia is spot on whether it’s in high or low gear. Drummer Dominique Christens applies a more spare and stylized approach instead of beating the listener over the head. All the way around this is a band to be reckoned with.
Drum sticks and bass drum lead into a boogie entitled “Find Me A Woman” that brings Canned Heat to mind with its’ infectious slide guitar pattern. Stef contributes two guitar parts here as he does on most of the tunes. “I’m On The Road Again” contains a Stevie Ray Vaughn style rhythm guitar part as it show cases Nico’s vocals and Stef’s guitar magic.
After a slow build up “I Try” progresses to some screaming blues-rock guitar soloing, slows again, revs up and finishes out with some quiet piano by producer Tim Jaanssens. The only song not composed by the band, “The Devil’s Bride”, is a hard rocker that finds Edwin Risbourg’s Hammond organ low in the mix until the finale. Hammond organ returns on the slow blues of “I’m Still Your Man”.
The title track is upbeat blues-rock, short and sweet punctuated by horns. Acoustic guitar and drums start off “Moonshine”, the tale of a man driven to drink by his nagging wife. It contains some nice and lazy slide guitar that eventually ignites, sending out sparks. Nico shows the first signs of being the Belgian Eric Burdon with a bit of jive rapping on “Crazy”, that also features electric piano, mellow guitar and some nice short bass runs by Ronald Burssens.
The following two songs continue the Eric Burdon similarities. The narrator on “Call Me’ declares that he is his girl’s love machine…Oy Vey! He then goes into Burdon-style rapping. Slow “stringy” guitar is the background for the poignant “Wrong”. Some crystal clear guitar changes to distorted guitar backed by what appears to be synthesizer-strings.
This record is definitely a “keeper”. Well-executed and produced blues-rock is done here in fast and slow tempos. This band knows what it is doing and does it superbly. We have here further evidence that great blues inspired music knows no boundaries.
