Pass Over Blues – No Fruits – Without Roots
snnstft Verlag
15 songs time-50:26
Blues based music delving into singer-song writer territory with a slant on the state of the world’s condition and personal relations delivered from the German perspective of Pass Over Blues and it’s guiding light Harro Hubner. The band employs blues instrumentation in songs that have a modern bent. There isn’t too much of anything here that you could call straight ahead blues, but there is a definite blues attitude and much creative energy at work. The instrumentation ranges from spare to full ahead band pieces. The core band of electric and acoustic stringed instruments harmonica and a drummer is supplemented by keyboards and sax. Harro supplies the weather worn gravelly vocals with blues attitude.
A brief spoken word intro leads into a Bo Diddley beat on a bass drum before being picked up by the full band on “The Life”. It’s a pondering on life. “I Got The Blues So Bad” is a generic I got the blues song taken slow with mournful harmonica and nice and bluesy guitar. Harro speaks about the fall of communist East Berlin, his home town, on “What They Said”. He basically talks his way through it. Andreas Geyer lays down a comfortable cushion of mellow Hammond-B3 organ to nicely compliment Harro’s harp. An old timey string band feel is brought to the playful “Get Off Your Tush”, a plea to couch potatoes to get off their a**es. Harp, banjo and Dobro create the laid back vibe.
Thomas Hahnemann’s sax plays tandem lines with Roland Beeg’s electric guitar on the snappy instrumental “Fat Mama”. “Nobody” is about personal freedoms presented over bluesy-jazzy guitar along with Harro’s excellent harmonica playing. Focusing on nature to take one’s mind off of the bad state of world affairs is the thrust of “That’s What’s On My Mind”. “Speechless” covers a similar topic as it speaks about the corrupt values of much of the human race. Melodic sax kicks off a song about relationship confusion in “The Distance-Part Two”. “Hello Old Friend” is a lovingly tender bit of heartfelt advice to a friend where the music matches the message as it is sung over acoustic guitar, upright bass, sax and spare percussion.
Personal relationships are revisited on “The Way Back”, a tune that features some intense guitar soloing. A melancholy mood is portrayed on the short and sweet “It’s Summertime”, a back porch-y Dobro and harp tune. “There Was A Time” is a short upbeat piece about being freed from desperation. The band wraps things up with the slow instrumental “In The Middle Of The Forrest” that incorporates some exquisitely pensive electric guitar that ends the recording with a moment of Zen.
Great creativity and thought was put into this project. It is in many ways devoted to the world outlook and personal issues. The choice of instrumentation takes the listener through many atmospheric moments. It is no small task to pull fifteen well crafted songs out of the air. This band should be a vital force on the blues and roots music scene.
