Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip – Colors of Jealousy
Hokahey! Records
11 Tracks – 44 Minutes
At age twelve, Micke started playing drums. As time passed, he added guitar and harmonica to his instruments and started stepping forward for vocals. In 1991, the Finnish born musician formed the band Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip. Bass player Seppo Nuolikoski and guitarist Lefty Leppanen on guitar, slide guitar, mandolin and backing vocals joined in with him. As is common with a band, a few line-up changes occurred in the initial band, but the current group including Teemu Vuorela on drums and Timi Roiko-Jokela on percussion and malletkat (a midi percussion controller) have remained in place since 1998.
The group has traveled exclusively throughout Europe with side trips to the U.S. and Japan. Micke states in his background material “It’s all the blues for me! We are five guys with very different backgrounds. I think that’s our strength also to our distinct sound. We try to do our best to follow the path of Muddy and Howlin’, they did not sound like anything that had been in blues before. You have to keep that kind of fire and spirit going.”
Micke and Lefty also formed a side band, Micke & Lefty featuring Chef. This band was formed to allow the twosome to play acoustic delta and country blues rather than the blues-rock that the main band was currently playing. Micke was also scheduled to join the 2021 RUF Records Blues Caravan with Ghalia Volt and Eliana Carnelutti, but that tour like so many others was canceled as a result of Covid.
This album is their eighth release and features eleven original songs. the album partially recorded in 2017 was intended to be released in 2021, but as with the RUF tour, the final production of the album was also stopped by the pandemic. As the pandemic ebbed and surged, so did the production of the album and finally six years later, the album was finally completed.
“Highway Highway” kicks off the album with some tasteful Texas styled blues with the call of the highway studied. “Feel It in My Bones” features Micke’s harmonica as he states that “I don’t need no blue pill, just my wife” but notes that “I am at a crossroads”. Lefty’s slide guitar also jumps into the mix. The title song addresses a lost love as he begs “Let me hold your hand. Don’t you understand. The man you call your friend if I see him around it’s gonna be his end.”
On “Missing That Woman”, he identifies that his traveling just makes him miss his wife and notes “Stuck in this town. Nothing I can do. Maybe I sit down and write a song about you.” “Are you Real” slows things down as Lefty makes his guitar cry and Micke relates a dark story about his own insecurities and religious uncertainty and asks “Oh Lord, should I believe in you. Are you real, should I believe in you?” “Long Ago” moves into Memphis soul as Micke notes “There was a time I wanted to be your man. I almost lost my mind tryin’ to understand” “But that train left the station long ago.” That theme moves forward in “I thought You Were Mine” as Micke says “The day I met you was too good to be true. Now that I know better there’s nothing I can do.” “I’m standing at the station feelin’ chill down to the bone”.
The mandolin takes on a bit of a sitar feel on “Good Times Somehow” as Micke states “Good Times might take fat lies coz good times gotta come somehow.” Lefty’s slide guitar again holds court as Micke tells a former lover to “Get Out” of my life”. ” At the end of an affair, Micke declares that everything must go “Into the Fire”, a rocking guitar driven number. The album concludes with “It Takes Two” starting with a slow moan, a snare drum and a Hammond organ roll by Harri Taitonen that slowly builds into a bursting guitar solo as Micke advises “It takes two in love to make it work.”
While it easy to focus on the instrumental work and the stories told in the lyrics, it must be noted that Micke has a strong, compelling voice that draws you into the songs and certainly makes the album stand out in the mix of other similar recordings.
