Paul Reed Smith Eightlock – Lions Roaring in Quicksand
Steele Records SR003
14 songs – 64 minutes
A revered guitar builder and six-string stylist with an international reputation, Paul Reed Smith and his band, Eightlock – the name stands for eight musicians locked together, hit on all cylinders on this CD, which took three years in making and delivers strong statements against a world at war and the belief in the healing power of love and forgiveness.
Smith’s toured with Santana, the Doobie Brothers, After Bridge and others in addition to fronting his own bands for decades. The Maryland resident is a Vintage Guitar Magazine hall-of-famer, and he’s joined here by an equally impressive roster of sidemen.
The second and third guitar chairs are held by vocalists Mike Gault a fixture in the Washington, D.C., music scene and a studio musician who’s worked for both the Discovery Channel and National Geographic in addition to performing with David Grissom and Davy Knowles, and St. Louis native Bill Nelson, who toured nationally for decades before becoming director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. He was invited into Eightlock because of its commitment to raising funds to support patients and their families.
Baltimore native Mia Samone, a gospel-trained vocalist who works with Sol Roots and Detroit James, delivers lead on the mic throughout while Gregory Grainger (Whitney Houston), Dennis Chambers (George Duke, Chambers Brothers) and JuJu House (Roberta Flack) add drums and percussion and Gary Grainger (Nancy Wilson, Bill Evans) holds down bass. The disc also features guest appearances from Benjie Perecki on keys and Gregg Erwin on slide guitar, and Chuck Brown and Sugar Bear Elliott lend their voices, too.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Smith and James Zimmers, this set features ten originals and four covers. “Sarah” opens the action with a beat-heavy, discordant feel before quickly shifts as Mia joins the action and describes her grief after hearing the title character’s song of despair. After a stellar mid-tune solo from Paul, however, she’s on a journey toward more fortunate days ahead. More encouragement comes through “Never Give Up on Livin’,” which advises “letting go is enough for me,” and the upbeat “I’m Ready” because the singer knows the secret to her survival.
A slowed-down open to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” takes you to church before the guitars enter the action and the strong bottom drives the mood higher and higher. It’ll put a smile on the good Reverend’s face. The funky “Man in the Moon” keeps the heat on high as Samone recounts a lover who was big on promises but now is nowhere in sight. The pace slows for “Breathe,” which stresses the necessity to step back from your troubles to gain second sight. It flows into a tasty cover of Barrett Strong’s “War” and it’s familiar tagline: “What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’.”
A drum solo kicks off “Phoenix in My Blood,” a complaint about being “tormented and destroyed by the tides of love,” which gives way to the much more pleasant memory of “Drivin’ at Night” – forever – with the good man at the singer’s side. The percussive “Look at the Moon” mixes in spoken words as it addresses the blessings delivered under the orb’s spell.
Alejandro Alex Gonzalez Trujillo and Fher Olvera Sierra’s “Ay, Doctor” returns to the subject of troubled romance atop a Latin beat before “Echoes,” “He’s the One” and Elliot Theodore Denenberg’s “99” bring the disc to a successful close.
Definitely not your old-school, one-four-five blues, this is a tremendous package loaded with outstanding musicianship, deep beats and tunes that are thoroughly contemporary, have lush arrangements and material that’s both thought-provoking and healing, too.
