Bey Paule Band – Not Goin’ Away
Blue Dot Records
12 tracks/51 minutes running time
Not Goin’ Away is a strong followup to the Bey/Paule band’s multi-nominated (BMA’s ,BBMA’s & Best of Living Blues) album effort of 2013 Soul For Your Blues.
From the biographical opening strains of Black Bottom to the final phrases of If I Could Reach Out, the Bey Paule Band continues their dazzling display of Soul Blues prowess with their 4rth collaborative offering, Not Goin’ Away. Frank Bey and Anthony Paule have marshalled a muscular convention of Bay Area first call musicians that instantly calls to mind the apex of the Stax Volt sound.
Oakland’s Own Tony “Macaroni” Lufrano conjures up shades of Booker T. on the Hammond B-3. He wrote one and co-wrote two other tunes on this project. He has worked stages with Taj Mahal, Steve Miller, Carla Thomas, Ernie K-Doe and many others including Booker T. himself.
Kickin’ the skins is San Francisco native Paul Revelli who spent five years as drummer for Joe Louis Walker & the Boss Talkers.
Monster tenor player Nancy Wright is one third of a murderous horn section that includes trombonist Mike Rinta and Tom Poole. This horn section sets further apart a band that’s already set apart by it’s one off rhythm section.
Bass veteran Paul Olguin is a much sought after bassist whose credits read like the history of West Coast session work, anchors the bottom end of the BeyPaule Band.
Standout tracks include; “Noel’s Haze,” an instrumental ode ( in the vein of Booker T’s Memphis Group) to executive producer Noel Hayes who actually brought Bey and Paule together in 2011. “Kiss Me Like You Mean It,” a catchy bounce of a tune co written by Paule and his wife Christine Vitale. The background vocals sound like they could’ve been the Chips or the Veltones from the early Stax years. Bey takes the song out with classic Otis Redding consonance/alliterative scatting, if you will (Ga ga ga gotta, you, you you!)
“Next To My Heart” kills from the gate with its Memphis Horns/Bar Kays opening horn lines. This is another Anthony Paule/Christine Vitale composition with a melody line similar to the obscure Atlantic 1964 single, “I Found A Love,” by Rockabilly turned R & B for a season, singers Jo Ann & Troy. For the record, two great yet dissimilar songs.
Essentially, one could make a case for every song on this disk being superlative. this product is a must have for the collector. It is engineered and co-produced by the great Kid Andersen of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats who plays slide guitar on “Nodbody’s Angel,” and second guitar on “If I Reach Out.” Backup vocals by Lisa Andersen, Loralee Christensen and Larry Batiste further augment this production
This group has unlimited potential. Their live stage shows are equally powerful. As the title suggests, they ain’t goin’ nowhere. This record smokes!
