Please note. Because so many discs are flying into the mailbox I'm going to be logging them here in no particular order for March & April of 2009. The "Top 40" is now published on http://www.gemmzine.com Gemm Magazine - so go there also for the monthly listings.
Thanks JV
Scott Couper (Bass, Guitar, Vocals) and Jay Couper (Production, engineering, drums) have been a formidable duo ever since Richard Nolan of Third Rail discovered them back in the early 1980s.
Syd's The Way We Found It is a smart and professional collection of 12 tracks (including an interlude and a prelude), ten songs that Danny Weinkauf and Syd produce in a fashion that is attractive to the ears. Recorded at Beltayne Studios in Williamstown, Vermont and mastered at the legendary MWorks in Cambridge, Massachusetts, songs like "Far Away" have drama, solid musicianship and something to say.
THE CHICKEN SLACKS "CAN YOU DIG IT"
Calvin Arnold's "Funky Way" (to treat me) is a great indicator of what this veteran Boston soul/funk/r&b group puts out in the live clubs on the scene. Walking across Willie Alexander's "Mass. Ave" one Thursday night in April, 2009, a loud rendition of The Temptations/Rare Earth "Get Ready" (not on this disc) was blasting throughout Central Square - the Chicken Slacks Soul Revue playing to a packed Cantab upstairs where Little Joe Cook kept the college students entertained for years.
Piano/organist The Reverend Curtis Jerome Haynes and drummer Justin Berthiaume co-produced the CD, engineered by Chris Lannon who worked with Girls Night Out back in the 1980s, and though the times have changed from the days when GNO were putting a thousand people into the Channel Club, packing hundreds into the Cantab in this 2009 economy is a major accomplishment. Vocalist Durand Wilkerson takes John Fogerty's "Long As I Can See The Light" and pulls all the pop stylings out of it, bringing it purely into the realm of Stax/Volt. "Any Other Way" could be the reincarnation of Clarence Carter on this R & B party disc.
With J.Geils actually out and about these days performing at The House Of Blues as well as in the mid-west, and Duke & The Drivers releasing their exquisite "Harder Than Before" disc.
(see Calvin Arnold
http://fleamarketfunk.com/2007/04/18/calvin-arnold-funky-way/ )
CLASSIC ROCK PRESENTS "LOST TUNES" 15 tracks from Mott The Hoople, Spooky Tooth, Blue Cheer, Kingdom Come and others is a tremendous disc, reflecting the beauty found in Mojo Magazine's "I Can See For Miles" compilation, thought not packaged as elegantly, it still is an inspiring blend of wonderful music. "Open The Door Richard" from Thunderclap Newman reinforces the brilliance of that terrific album that spawned a tune from The Strawberry Statement - "Something In The Air" (not included on this disc, but flavors of it remain in "Open The Door, Richard")
Harder Than Before Duke & The Drivers
Hadar Noiberg
