Andrew Riverstone – Pushing Against The Flow
Atlantic Highway Records
10 songs time – 39:47
Seasoned British session guitarist-singer-songwriter Andrew Riverstone manages to play everything but the proverbial kitchen sink, save for an additional vocalist on one song. The thrust of his musicianship is mainly his electric guitar, but he also fleshes out the sound quite nicely with keyboards, bass, garden spade(?), drums, percussion and his own backing vocals. If that isn’t enough, he is a good hand at crafting creative songs and producing them. I wouldn’t doubt that he makes nifty cup of tea as well. His credits include working with record producers Gus Dudgeon and John Burns.
The one thing that I thoroughly enjoy is electric guitar playing and tone. It rivetingly shoots through the songs seemingly effortlessly. The title song “Pushing Against The Flow” speaks to his aversion to following musical trends. He chooses to let his own muse lead him. A few Who-like acoustic guitar power chords lead right into his burning guitar licks propping up his forceful lyrics. A ringing guitar riff heralds the arrival of “White Flag Burning”, a song full of earnest lyrical content.
“He’s The Richest Man” bares a similarity to Simon And Garfunkel’s “Richard Cory”. “The richest man in the graveyard”. He does one of his influences Peter Green proud with his majestic electric guitar intro on “Into The Storm(Beaches Of Pentewan)”, a saga of the sinking of the ship The Darlwyne in 1966. Sprightly electric slide guitar carries the groove in “Back In The Cool House”, another term for “The Doghouse”. “Here Comes The Shakerman” is a tribute to music superfan Jesus Jellet, who famously appeared in “The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus” performing his hypnotic maraca dance, as well as supposedly jamming with Jimi Hendrix and The Who. Claire Lucas contributes additional vocals. Of course, there is plenty of maracas on this one.
Andrew pays tribute to one of his favorite sites in North Devon and Peter Green in the haunting instrumental “Ancient Valley Of The Rocks”. The gist of “Dust Left Behind” is “Eat my dust”. Seminal bassist Busta Jones lays down a beautifully heavy bass line from an archival jam audio against rumbling percussion on “Out On The Money Go Round”. “No more working, working for the man”. Scurrying guitar lines bounce all around “Shades Of Blue(Highwire)”.
Wow! The man just does it well and so spectacularly. His guitar steals the show and although his drumming and percussion work isn’t virtuosic, it surely gets the job done. Considering all the overdubbing required with such an undertaking, the sound is seamless and not stiff at all. This record is great and I really can’t get enough of his guitar tone.
