Blood Brothers – Live in Canada
12 songs, 1 hour 18 minutes
You might be a music critic if… you create a playlist of a band’s new live album with the studio versions and play each song, studio to live, in sequence. That’s what your intrepid reviewer did with Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia’s new Blood Brothers Live in Canada, and it was a gratifying listen. A document of one night of the raucous Blood Brothers tour that has continued to accompany the early 2023 correspondingly named studio album, Live in Canada is a looser, more emotive presentation of the Blood Brothers music.
The core band is the same on studio album and live show: Mike Zito – vocals/guitars; Albert Castiglia – vocals/guitars; Doug Byrkit – bass guitar; Matt Johnson – drums/percussion; Ephraim Lowell – drums/percussion; and, Lewis Stephens – piano/organ. The band not only recreates the music from the album, but like good road musicians, have clearly been living the music. It is a skill that touring musicians have to have to keep the music you have played literally hundreds of times fresh and vibrant. This crack unit does it effortlessly. There is such joy and spontaneity, it sounds like the first time these guys have ever played together. But, these talented musicians also have such connection and interplay the listener feels enveloped by their mastery and comforted by the capability.
The set list of Live in Canada is the same as the album save only omitting the studio album’s acoustic turned jam closer “One Step Ahead of the Blues.” There is also the live addition of one Zito solo trademark and an absolutely incendiary cover. There are none of the horn flourishes or female backup singing on the live album. But, what this live record lacks in studio finish it more than triumphs in power, energy and interplay.
Zito and Castiglia are well suited partners. Their styles are complimentary. Zito has a polish and fluidity that has made his Blues shine and sparkle even when they are full of gut bucket dirt. Castiglia has a raw and powerful delivery that has made his Blues the next step in the evolution of the type of Chicago informed Blues Rock his old boss Junior Wells helped create. In the live setting, Castiglia delivers his features like “You’re Gonna Burn” and “A Thousand Heartaches” with an unhinged exuberance that the more sterile studio setting couldn’t capture. Zito soars and swoops to dramatic heights in highlights “In My Soul” and “My Business” that the studio didn’t have the head room for.
These guys are GUIT-TAR players too. Swapping sides of the speakers from the studio record, Zito is in your left ear and Castiglia in the right. In total sync Zito with his bright up front Fender tone and Castiglia with his maniacal dark Gibson wailing blast through instrumental “Hill Country Jam.” Zito’s signature solo tune “Gone To Texas” gets turned into an almost 10 minute Allman Brothers reverie resplendent with a comping of “Mountain Jam.” This is really a dream co-lead guitar front.
Live in Canada ends with a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” This encore to the set is a fitting final message. Absolutely melting your speakers with guitar interplay and vocal harmony, the co-leaders stand and deliver a message of hope and concern. There is a kind of Blues Rock that influenced generations of music. Zito and Castiglia are in every way the masters and leading proponents of this music. These two powerhouse solo performers show again that they are also sensitive artists who can make room for each other, draw the audience into a shared communion and preach about the healing redemption Blues and Rock have for us all.
