|  By
Cornbread
 John
Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – Road
Dogs
{Released June 14, 2005 | Eagle Rock Entertainment}
John
Mayall and his band excel on Road Dogs through
a range of styles that’s good on the ears.
Mayall, the Godfather of British Blues gives
his loyal followers 15 new tracks that further
highlight his effective straightforward approach
to writing fresh new songs – listen to
“With You (#13), you’ll see what
I mean.
Personnel: John Mayall: vocals, guitar, piano,
harmonica, electric piano, synthesizer, flute
and brass section; Buddy Whittington: rhythm,
acoustic, baritone and lead guitar, vocals;
Joe Yuele: drums, congas; Hank Van sickle: bass
guitar, upright bass; Tom Canning: electric
piano, organ; Eric Steckel: lead guitar; Dale
Morris Jr.: violin.
Track
Listing:
1. Road Dogs – a rock,
blues tune about the travelin’ blues with
deep Mayall vocals.
2. Short Wave Radio –
a bluesy standard.
3. So glad – a jazzy
song with piano and great guitar snippets.
4. Forty Days – Yeule’s
drum brushing is a sweet change as accompaniment
to Mayalls harmonica and down & dirty soulful
singing.
5. To Heal the Pain –
Morris adds violin for more of a bluegrass sound.
6. Burned Bridges – a
faster piano/harp boogie.
7. Snake Eye – a little
over produced in my opinion and an excess of
horn.
8. Kona Village – kind
of a cool Jimmy Buffett like song, vocals didn’t
fit as well as on other tracks.
9. Beyond Control – the
backing guitar was well done.
10. Chaos in the Neighborhood
– this is a hard song to classify in a
blues genre, I liked it though, it was kinda’
catchy.
11. You’ll Survive –
cool upright bass (Van Sickle) and piano boogie
make this tops on the STLBluesometer.
12. Awestruck & Spellbound
– fabulous! I loved this song.
13. With You – a soulful
journey through the blues.
14: Brumwell's Beat –
great bass, melodically a terrific instrumental.
15: Scrambling – a testament
of Mayall’s bittersweet harp playing wail-ability.
Wow,
15 songs, now that’s value for the entertainment
buck. Mayall has been true to his blues calling
for several decades now. I really like his style
and abilities. Get the CD, y’all.
Ciao’
for now, peace.
Cornbread
| Cornbread@STLBlues.net
CBP
|
