Namedroppers – Blue Diamonds
Horizon Music Group
10 tracks – 36 minutes
The Name Droppers were originally the backing band for harp player Charlie Karp. Charlie died before finishing the album that ultimately became their debut release. The Connecticut based band consists of Rafe Klein on guitar and vocals, Bobby T Torello on drums, Scott Spray on bass and Ron Rifkin on piano and organ. Spray and Torello previously played with Johnny Winter. Spray played bass on Johnny’s 2015 Grammy winning album and also played in Edgar Winter’s band. Torello has been inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame and the New England Hall of Fame. Klein and Rifkin played with Charlie Karp for many years prior to his death in 2019.
The album consists of eight originals, seven of which were penned by Torello and one by Klein, and two covers. The album opens with the title track. Klein’s vocal is paired with a gospel-like backing from Heather Joseph. Ron Rifkin is in the lead for much of the song and Al Ferrante guests on guitar. The song deals with drug abuse and how he cannot escape the damage done by the drug.
Bill Holloman guests on sax on a rocking number, “Hollywood” that features Torello’s somewhat raspy vocals and a fine organ run mixed with excellent guitar work. He tells her that she should “go to Hollywood cause the walk would do you good”. Klein takes the vocals again on an R&B plea for her to “Just Come Home” and declaring that he “did not mean what he said”. Holloman also adds sax to this cut.
The first cover is of the Joe Medwick and Don Robey penned “Further on up the Road”, which was originally performed by Bobby “Blue” Bland. The song is a driving blues rock number again offering a nice mix of organ and guitar. Jay Willie guests on slide guitar and immediately tears up the music with a Bo Diddley-reminiscent beat delivered by Torello on “Back to Chicago” as Torello cites his desire to get back to his woman and the sights of the Windy City. The music slows down with a ballad comparing “New York” to Chicago and San Francisco. He says the city “let me down again last night” noting that the city has “so much class and twice as much trash”.
The group pulls a cover, Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House”, out of their vaults that has Charlie Karp on guitar and features Mark Naftalin guesting on piano. Klein again provides the vocals. The song is from a 2018 studio session. Following considerable strife shown in the media surrounding the conflict in Ukraine, the band wrote the military sounding “Ukraine We Stand” with the blues snaking through on Torello’s snare drum beat. Jay Willie’s slide guitar also runs through the song.
Klein asks, “Are You Lonely” and declares “I can give you real, true love” and “will be there whenever you need me”. Carol Sylvan adds backing vocals. They end the album with a Chuck Berry – styled rock number, “Blue Guitar”, that also adds some Jerry Lee Lewis piano riffs into the mix and gives Torello an opportunity to throw in some surf style drum rhythms. Torello finds that “women you can’t trust them; she stole my blue guitar”.
The Namedroppers continue to provide fun albums that cross through many genres.
