The Pat Fulgoni Blues Experience
Chocolate Fireguard – 2024
www.facebook.com/PatFulgoniOfficial
9 tracks; 47 minutes
Pat Fulgoni is an experienced singer from Yorkshire, U.K. with the sort of vocal power one associates with the likes of Free’s Paul Rogers, combined with a soulful feel. His current band has been together for three years and this is their first studio release. Alongside Pat are Jacob Beckwith on guitar, Sam Bolt on keys, Rory Wells on bass and Zebedee Sylvester on drums; studio engineer Alex Eden adds harp to a few numbers. There are four originals, two written by Pat alone and two with help from band members, alongside five diverse covers.
The first original builds slowly with Jacob’s guitar nicely underpinned by harp and piano as Pat confesses that he is a “Drifter”, the tune taking on a funkier approach as it goes along. “Keep The Blues Alive” does what the title suggests as the band strikes up a Muddy Waters-style riff over which Pat gives us an excellent vocal performance, the tune being long enough to give solo space to guitar and piano; the lyrics suggest that “in these times of isolation we’ve got to keep the blues alive, it’s the only thing that speaks to me”, so Pat lets the blues wash over him. “Bleeding Heart” is stripped-back with Pat wailing the blues over just piano and harp and, placed at the half-way point in the album, makes a good interlude between the full band performances. The final original is attributed to the whole band, an eight minute twelve bar blues they call “Stickin’ The Knife In Blues”. Pat condemns those who are “on the take”, finding that there is a lot that hurts him in the world today, giving him the feeling that someone is sticking a knife into him. The whole band steps up in support and the extended length gives space for everyone to demonstrate their chops.
The originals include an intriguing re-working of “The Thrill Is Gone” in which Pat sings the lyrics over superb solo piano, far removed from the usual covers of BB King’s familiar version. The result is excellent, the piano having both jazz and classical music influences, Pat’s restrained vocals complementing the music perfectly – impressive! “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” is perhaps best known from Albert King’s version and makes a fine opener to the album with strong guitar work and solid vocals and the band tackles another blues great with a heavy version of “Midnight Train”, a song recorded by Buddy Guy on his 1998 album Heavy Love. While working on the greats, why not T-Bone Walker, who recorded “Confusion Blues” late in his career; Pat and the band’s take is quite funky. The final cover is Gil Scott-Heron’s “Lady Day & John Coltrane”, given a light and funky treatment that works well with some dazzling electric piano work and a great guitar outro.
This is a pleasingly varied album with plenty of light and shade and suggests that this is a band that may have a lot more to say on future releases.
