Blues Guitarist Packs Canned Heat & Greased Lightning
Written: Sep 06 '01 (Updated Sep 07 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Pleasing variety of electric blues, white hot licks a-plenty, 16 tracks
Cons: Trout needs wider audience/acceptance in U.S.
The Bottom Line: Value packed CD finds Walter Trout in great form. Blues, R&B, and a slathering of Southern-fried rock 'n' roll yields a bounty of fine listening pleasure.
kcfoxy's Full Review: Walter Trout by Walter Trout
Another former John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers' guitarist, may not yet be a household name, but should be. Playing the type of incendiary red hot modern electric blues, as fellow Guitar God, Coco Montoya, this New Jersey native, has likewise paid his dues.
Perhaps best known for taking over the ax wielding duties of Woodstock alumni Blues & Boogie band, Canned Heat, Trout has also toured with the likes of Mayall, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker and Joe Tex.
Although purists may consider this a stretch, at one time Trout and Montoya were both Mayall's lead guitarists, and that embarrassment of riches may have been akin to Clapton sharing licks with Green, in the golden era of British Blues Revival.
After released one album for Silvertone, Trout found he wasn't getting the attention, or respect he deserved in the U.S. On tours through Europe, the young ax man enjoyed sell-out crowds of appreciative Blues aficionados. Walter has wowed audiences around the world long before his 1990 solo debut, and gotten some greater name recognition since his move to the Ruf label in 1998, and the subsequent release of a great handful of CDs. This eponymous, 1998 release, (and one music video), with a generous helping of 16 varied tracks, has come to be one of my favorites.
Word of mouth is the way I learned of Walter Trout, and is the way I am spreading that Word about this top contemporary Blues guitarist who deserves the benefit of a much larger American audience. With the very real talents of Jim Gaines producing, fame may be just around the corner, relatively speaking, for this quartet of musicians.
A discrepancy exists on this CD, with liner notes listing:
Walter Trout: guitars, vocals, harmonica and mandolin
Jimmy Trapp: bass guitar
Martin Gerchwitz: keyboards
Charles "Rich" Elliot: drums
A correction, from Walter's own Wallymama, Marie, changes 2 slots on the line-up:
Bill Mason: keyboards
Bernard Pershey: drums
Here is a healthy representative of the 16 tracks, with my favorites mentioned first:
Obstacles In The Way: Is a strong contender, demonstrating the breadth of Trout's talent on harmonica, mandolin, bottle-neck guitar and vocals. Often, when a hot guitarist does his own vocals, the results are so-so. Here the likable tenor bears some resemblance to John Cougar.
One Way Street: Hard charging mid-tempo Blues-Rock with especially fine vocals, paying homage to one of Texas' best R&B vocalists, Delbert McClinton, with excellent use of background singer, Tricia Freeman, in the chorus' tight harmonies. Blistering guitar licks, and Leon Russell type piano.
Hardtime Blues: Delivers a chunky R&B riff, with more McClinton sounding rough-edged vocals, then takes off into ax pyrotechniques that hold up to anything Tommy Bolin or Les Dudek could dish out. The tempo changes allow the rhythm section to cut loose as well.
In Love With You Again: Noticing most of my picks are Blues-Rock, I've got to highlight one of the show-stopping slower tracks here. Engineer, Rusty McFarland, wisely choses to put both Stax Volt* sounding keyboards and Praise The Lord backing chorus up in the mix on a song Delaney and Bonnie would have been proud to claim. Slightly shredded vocals, are fittingly reminiscent of Joe Cocker.
Temptation: Has some of the better lyrics on a CD of mostly Trout originals, supported by raunchy Roadhouse Blues, and Walter's excellent harp, (Mayall's influence?):
There's a woman
And she's standing right in front of you.
She's showing everything
That she can do.
And she staring right up in your face,
While every man
In the place,
You know they want her,
But she's only looking back at you.
How's that for a musician's point of view? Again, Grechwitz' keyboards, (both piano and organ), are prominent in the mix.
There are 3 instrumental cuts, (Maria's Mood, Boo and Jules Well). The latter is my pick, sounding like Robben Ford guitar slinging laid over sumptuous, slightly jazzy keyboards, bringing to mind, intimate, smoke-filled clubs and Boz Scaggs' unique signature groove.
Also likable are the strong vocals on If You Ever Change Your Mind's stroll, the traditional 16 bar Blues of Walkin' In The Rain, and the Chuck Berry lifts on Don't Worry About It, surely ought to make somebody roll over!
Come On Home lays down a dirty George Thorogood/John Lee Hooker/Canned Heat boogie, while Got A Broken Heart's bump and grind bass, churchy organ chords and stinging guitar onslaught out and out testifies to the healthy state of contemporary white boy blues.
A couple tracks left me with mixed feelings. While I'm sure Song For A Wanderer has special meaning to Walter, (these are the only lyrics displayed on the adequate liner notes), the R&B falsetto falls short, to this former singer's ear. It's better when Trout wisely enlists the aid of a backing chorus, but the solos detract from the heartfelt words. Tasteful guitar keeps this from being a skip play.
The throw-away goofiness of an unknown, hidden track, (17), brings to mind an East Texas polka party. While this one will be a skip play on my recorder, I have a particular friend who would love this novelty bit.
The gospel piano replaces guitar on the calm unplugged quality of Let Me Be The One. Walter's singing may be impassioned, but the words have a sort of Hallmark sameness that you maybe wouldn't notice so much with the dazzle of his fire cracker guitar work.
A final nod goes to the lilting, (Under The Boardwalk), beach music sound of Tender Heart, another keeper.
How good is this album? So good that where this last song might be the highlight on someone else's CD, while here it is relegated to the merely good!
Lovers of modern Blues guitar, and Blues-Rock fans should give this man a listen. 16 tracks, with a majority of very solid, strong material,* (recorded in Memphis, at 315 Beale Recording Studios), should make this one a no-brainer. Be good to yourself, as the door mouse said. Feed your head.
Great Music To Play While:Educating your musical palate.
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