Miss Quincy & The Showdown--- On the Road to Recovery

What goes well with a new album release? A video of course! And Miss Quincy & The Showdown worked really hard shooting TWO new videos to go with the release, but improbable disaster struck. The drive containing the video footage was stolen in Vancouver in a vehicle break-in, and the back-up drive that contained a copy has mysteriously gone missing. The search for the missing drives has been extensive but it's looking like the amazing videos that could have been, are lost forever...

Sounds like a conspiracy to me, but then practically everything does these days.  Even the music, sometimes (I mean, Robin Thicke?  WTF?), but you get the lowdown from The Showdown (okay, it sucks, but I've had thirteen cups of coffee and have been streaming Roadside Recovery for the past four hours and am scrambling to finish this review before I collapse in a pool of caffeine and sweat, so cut me some slack).  I would delete the beginning of this but I hate to lose four hours work, though work it wasn't.  What it was was a trip through the fifties to present day via a blues-influenced trio of ladies who rock.  Well, not really blues, but Rhythm & Blues, which is not quite the same thing.

I always shudder when people confuse blues with R&B.  To me, they are very separate genres, though they do overlap in places.  Such is not the case here, though.  From note one of Roadside Recovery, Miss Quincy rares back and let's us have it with both barrels, Bad Love straight out of George Thorogood territory--- basic and primal.  If this isn't R&B, it's rock.

A personal favorite is Talkin' Trash, a throwback to the late fifties and early sixties R&B ballads helped along by just the right amount of guitar echo and reverb.  The sound is pure nostalgia for myself, having grown up with that sound of pre-soul R&B in my ears.  This is AM gold, if only AM were what it used to be.

The best lines in a song are from Damn You.  Slower and vampish, Quincy sings "This one's gonna hurt/This could be the worst of it/This could be the time when/My heart up and bursts/Oh, this one's gonna hurt."   Wrap it in the over-reverbed guitar and slow plodding rhythm and you have a hit.  Or what would have been when hits weren't designed by machines.

The band works out of Vancouver and once again I shake my head at the thought of so many worthwhile bands confined within the province of British Columbia.  The city and surrounding areas are loaded, I tell you.  Almost makes me want to live there, but I don't think I could adjust to putting "eh?' behind every statement.  And it seems like only yesterday we got rid of the embarrassment of George W. and The Dick.  I'm sorry, but as much as idiots down here don't like Obama (the operating word here being 'idiots'), I wouldn't trade him for Harper.  Not even with future draft choices thrown in.  

Frank O Gutch Jr.

(Frank Gutch Jr. writes and has written for numerous magazines and websites, presently including this blog, his own website and the prestigious Don't Believe A Word I Say site put together by musician and music pundit Bob Segarini, out of Toronto. He specializes in the Indies, having fought hand-to-hand combat with major record labels for decades (talk about zombies). He believes music should be the core of the music business, though business it mostly be, and denies the accepted reality in the stead of the artistic one. Seldom does he receive pay for articles and/or reviews and believes that there is no place for negatives in a world in which one cannot keep up with the positives. He is, in a sense, a lost soul in a sea of music, drowning, but drowning gratefully.)

Terry Quiett Band--- is Taking Sides!

I like the blues as much as any average white guy who grew up in the fifties and sixties and came to really appreciate the blues in the seventies.  I knew of (and still know of) John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf and them Chicago blues dudes.  I have heard the likes of Mississippi Fred McDowell and Leadbelly and Bukka White.  I have even suffered through many a conversation listening to people  (most of whom have made their blues purchases courtesy of the various blues-albums-you-have-to-have articles written by so-called experts) who very seldom listen to blues extolling the godfatherness of Robert Johnson.  Well, let me say this about that.  I may not know the blues but I know what I like.

I like Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I like the early Bluesbreakers.  I like Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  And I like the Terry Quiett Band.  Those of you who have heard of Quiett, congratulations.  You are on the tip of a career about to bust wide open.  For those of you who haven't, pay attention.  This guy is worth reading about and, more importantly, worth hearing.  But before I type on, watch this video to acquaint yourselves with the man and the band.

Get the drift?  Blues ain't always the blues, Roderick.  Sometimes it is way more than the blues.  When it is done right, anyway.  And Quiett and his trio do it right.

They do it doubly right on their latest, Taking Sides.  They rock and slide their way through twelve blues-to-rock-to-soul beauties, capturing that feel of the early Allman Brothers here and Stevie Ray there but always with a look to the rhythm--- the rhythm of the blues.  

That rhythm varies, track to track.  They rock, these guys, enough to plant people against their seats in a theater setting and more than enough to get people on their feet in a club.  They roll, thanks to drummer Rodney Baker, who is solid if not flashy, and bassist Nathan Johnson, whose fluid fingers trip over the strings lightly when necessary, with force when called for.  

The real key, though, is the guitar and voice of Quiett himself.  He has a bit of the South in his voice but never lets it overpower the song, and oh, that guitar!  Quiett runs the gamut from sweet and smooth to uplifting to downright raucous without skipping a beat.  He bends strings, works the slide and coaxes notes from the guitar only very accomplished guitarists can create and if that doesn't mean anything to you, you're not listening.  Toss aside all of those years of Rolling Stone magazines inane "100 Greatest Guitarist" lists and listen to the music, fer chrissake!  Terry Quiett is one.  And if he's not on your list, he's on mine.  He can freakin' play and it is all over Taking Sides.

My favorites on the album are, me being a Motown fan, Two Hearts, which blends the edges of Motown with rockin' blues, and a cover version of Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.  They call the Gaye cover a "bonus track."  It is, in more ways than one.  It shows the feel Quiett has for his music, it gives him guitar room (I love the horns as well), and it highlights Quiett's surprisingly soulful voice.  

This, in fact, has reawakened my thirst for superior blues rock.  I have pulled his Just My Luck album (read my review from a couple of years ago here) from my stacks and plan on listening to it tonight.  As busy as I have been, I seem to have lose, now and again, the reason that I write in the first place--- the music.  Time to reacquaint myself.

You can check out the Terry Quiett Band on their website, www.terryquiettband.com.  I recommend it.  First, though, watch this video recorded a couple of years ago.  Maybe it will spur you to see these guys when they come through your area,

Frank O. Gutch Jr.

(Frank Gutch Jr. writes and has written for numerous magazines and websites, presently including this blog, his own website and the prestigious Don't Believe A Word I Say site put together by musician and music pundit Bob Segarini, out of Toronto. He specializes in the Indies, having fought hand-to-hand combat with major record labels for decades (talk about zombies). He believes music should be the core of the music business, though business it mostly be, and denies the accepted reality in the stead of the artistic one. Seldom does he receive pay for articles and/or reviews and believes that there is no place for negatives in a world in which one cannot keep up with the positives. He is, in a sense, a lost soul in a sea of music, drowning, but drowning gratefully.)

It Was 50 Years Ago Today--- Canada Catches Up To the Beatles

I remember the sixties like it was yesterday and one thing I remember is that The Beatles were strides beyond the vast majority of bands/artists, worldwide.  I knew it simply because of all the cover songs being cranked out in the clubs and teen dances, they were the least covered.  Not because kids couldn't dance to their music but because it was damn hard to recreate the sound.  Well, after the first couple of albums, anyway.  Sure, I Want To Hold Your Hand and It Won't Be Long were well within reach of the better bands of the period, but a sure way to go down in flames was to try to replicate, say, I'm Only Sleeping or Dr. Robert and by the time Sgt. Pepper hit the streets, the music was not so danceable anymore, was it (not to mention it being way beyond the expertise of even the real pros).  No doubt about it.  The Beatles were a benchmark band.  If you could cover them, you were good, if still just a cover band.

Well, the world has caught up with them.  Finally.  It took a few decades, but musicians have finally come into their own, as have athletes, rocket scientists and brain surgeons.  I know because as I work my way through Volumes 2 and 3 of Bullseye Canada's It Was 50 Years Ago Today, I can hear it.  The slick guitar tricks, the production values, the  stacked harmonies so important to The Beatles' unique sound.  It's all there, on most of the tracks anyway, and not one Beatle contributed a thing to the recordings (nor was one harmed during the whole entire process).

Consider this an addendum to my review of the first volume of this "series" (it was released as, shall we say, a box set ten years previously), which you can read here.  It is a breakthrough set of songs for me on two levels.  One, while I am not really enamored of The Beatles anymore (I have heard enough for ten lifetimes), I am surprised to find that I am not done with their music--- rather, their songs.  I find this collection of songs rather refreshing, in fact.  Two, I am very surprised at the quality of musicianship involved.  I have heard a few of the artists represented here, but most I have not.  All get my thumbs up, if only for lack of pretension, if nothing else.  The songs are presented straightforward and honestly.  The "gimmicks" used come across as experiments at the least, highly successful recordings at the peak.

What it really comes down to these days are the songs, am I correct?  I mean, if we live in this supposed new world of soundbyte mentality and the song is the key, it has to be all about the song.  I am finding songs throughout these three volumes which intrigue and impress me.

I mentioned Sun PK in my earlier review, and The Kings and The Lolas and The Dons and even the art school angle taken by Figures at Dawn on their version of A Day In the Life.  All present their chosen Beatles songs with a flair beyond the average club band and, truth be told, strike a gong at certain points of their presentations.  Volume 1, to my ears, is a beauty.  Volumes 2 & 3 continue with a string of greater and lesser covers, all worth hearing.  To wit:

Popdudes crank up the guitars, rhythm-heavy, and toss in a bit of punk on the side to give Helter Skelter a punch in the stomach.  Credit the power and the basic and bottom-heavy rhythm guitar.  Give the vocalist credit, too.  It takes lungs to spew like that.

What could you possibly do with Hey Jude that hasn't already been done?  I have no idea, but Eight Seconds lay it out smooth and sweet and I don't miss McCartney at all.  The concert piano helps as do the eerily Beatles-style harmonies.  They nail the ending too.  Not as easy as it sounds.

Dr. Lotech & Mrs. Hippie (featuring Terry Draper)???  Folk-Punk hipster Taxman?  I didn't get it either, until I heard it.  Odd but strangely pleasant take, in fact.

Dexters take I Want You (She's So Heavy) for a test drive at the local pub and make it work like crazy, complete with clinking glasses and background bar talk.  This caught me completely off-guard.  The organ and guitar freaking kill me.  I would have loved to have been there to see this performed live.  And, yes, it was recorded live.

The Dudes were genetically created to recreate songs like Please Mr. Postman.  Swear to God.

Not my favorite Beatles song, by far, is Blue Jay Way, until now.  Dee Long is true to the original to a large degree, but the chunky rhythm guitar and rolling bass (plus the extremely well done vocals, background and otherwise) has me rethinking my lack of appreciation for the song.  What can I say except, I'm impressed!

Anger Brothers get a pass just because they cover And Your Bird Can Sing, a song which cut deep when I first heard it.  A great song is a great song and in this case, The Angers perform it just fine.

Perhaps it is just this period of The Beatles, but I'm Only Sleeping is another song of great importance to me.  And Phil Angotti performs it with reverence, I'm convinced.

Receiver drags Mean Mr. Mustard across the punk line and beats the crap out of him just for the fun of it.  Them crazy punks, eh?  Sometimes, they make me smile.

I have wondered where musical ideas come from sometimes and am wondering right now as Steve Barton assaults my senses with the damnedest version of She's Leaving Home I've ever heard.   If tribute bands showed this kind of attitude toward the songs they covered, I would pay for a ticket.

Spongetones perform For the Benefit of Mr. Kite like they wrote the damn thing.  See what I mean?  Musicians have come so far since the old days.

I have no idea what these people were smoking when they recorded these songs, but I would mortgage my house for a semi-full.

Beatles fans, put your idolatry aside for a minute and listen to these songs with an open mind.  All of you others, just enjoy them.  Presented by Bullseye Canada, which is slowly opening its vaults to present us with treasures we probably didn't even know existed.

To the page, Bosworth!

Volume 2:  http://bullseyecanada.bandcamp.com/album/it-was-50-years-ago-today-a-tribute-to-the-beatles-vol-2

Volume 3:  http://bullseyecanada.bandcamp.com/album/it-was-50-years-ago-today-a-tribute-to-the-beatles-vol-3

Frank O. Gutch Jr.

(Frank Gutch Jr. writes and has written for numerous magazines and websites, presently including this blog, his own website and the prestigious Don't Believe A Word I Say site put together by musician and music pundit Bob Segarini, out of Toronto. He specializes in the Indies, having fought hand-to-hand combat with major record labels for decades (talk about zombies). He believes music should be the core of the music business, though business it mostly be, and denies the accepted reality in the stead of the artistic one. Seldom does he receive pay for articles and/or reviews and believes that there is no place for negatives in a world in which one cannot keep up with the positives. He is, in a sense, a lost soul in a sea of music, drowning, but drowning gratefully.)

Cabin--- Louisville Hasn't Sounded This Good Since The Louisville Orchestra

Back in 2005, a little known band from Florida (though I believe they lived in NYC at the time) calling themselves OAMI released an album (Day In the City) which swept me away with their vision of music--- a conglomeration of rock with beautiful but rarely used chord progressions and always a tinge of jazz (or maybe the unknown).  A few years later, 2009 to be exact, Fisher released Water, another unique adventure into the harmonious side of the aural.  And then, a few weeks ago, I happened upon a band from Louisville which brought elements of both bands to their music without probably not having heard either.  In fact, the first track from Cabin I heard melded the sounds so completely that I felt a tingle run up my spine.  I knew the band had not heard either of the previously mentioned groups but I could not put the similarities behind me.  Eerie?  A little, but more like mysterious.  How, I asked myself, do musicians so separated in time and space sound so similar on certain tracks?  Especially when the sounds are not part of the mainstream of whatever genre they play?  I don't know but they do, and they do so in spades with OAMI, Fisher, and Cabin.  And, no, you won't hear it right off.  Listen a few times and you begin to hear it, though--- the subtle touches which make a band more than just another band. 

Take, for instance, Cabin's It Is What It Looks Like, which does not borrow heavily but has the virtual same aura as Fisher's Water Burial in the beginning before morphing into an OAMI-like riff.  I don't know.  Perhaps that is the only song that gives me this overwhelming feel that the bands are similar, but I can't lose it.  The Oceanographer, another Cabin track from the album It Is What It Looks Like, continues my belief that OAMI lives under the skin, save for the killer violin solo break which is as good as it gets.

Maybe I want the bands to be similar because I love these bands and want something to grasp as a unifying writing idea.  A way to get people to listen to all three.  A way to pass long this music which is not receiving its fair due.  I don't know.  I just know I like it enough to write about it, and I don't write about music I don't like.

I like Cabin because the musicianship is above the norm, the songs are on the fringe and there is a cohesiveness to the music sadly lacking in a lot of albums these days.  I remember a buddy back in the old days calling albums like this "smo-o-oth."  I mean, everyone is on the same page.  Everyone plays a part.  But the whole....  the whole.....  It's, um, smo-o-oth.

Lucky for you, you don't have to take my word for it.  You can actually (and I mean actually) hear the band--- on the Net, if not live.  Check the tunes out below, and be sure to watch the "Five Days With" video.  Call it 'meet the band.'  It impressed me enough to make me listen closer.

A bonus!  Here is a track from an earlier album.  Man, these guys freak me out, they're so good. Makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with the rest of the world.

.

Frank O. Gutch Jr.

(Frank Gutch Jr. writes and has written for numerous magazines and websites, presently including this blog, his own website and the prestigious Don't Believe A Word I Say site put together by musician and music pundit Bob Segarini, out of Toronto. He specializes in the Indies, having fought hand-to-hand combat with major record labels for decades (talk about zombies). He believes music should be the core of the music business, though business it mostly be, and denies the accepted reality in the stead of the artistic one. Seldom does he receive pay for articles and/or reviews and believes that there is no place for negatives in a world in which one cannot keep up with the positives. He is, in a sense, a lost soul in a sea of music, drowning, but drowning gratefully.)