This Record of the Week comes from The Bootleggers feat. Mark Lanegan and the song is called “Fire and Brimstone“.
This track was on the soundtrack to the film Lawless. A truly great film and this single is probably the best track from the film. (As well as being just a very cool tune.) The soulful, acoustic blues guitar throughout is accompanied well by the, almost vintage sound the bootleggers carry with them which, in turn, helps create an atmosphere reminiscent of this time period.
Last week a New Zealand blogger (willnotfade) tweeted me suggesting that I should listen to this solo artists’ new album ‘Now‘. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard a lot about Ash Grunwald, but I thought ‘Why not?’. So I gave it a shot. Besides the fact that the tweet contained the phrase “I think you’ll like him” I didn’t really know what to expect. He could’ve just been a typical blues solo artist trying to break in to the music industry.
However, I was not disappointed, ‘Now‘ comes as Ash Grunwalds ninth album and it is very impressive. Its everything I look out for when Im listening to a solo artist. He’s confident, he lets the guitar do most of the work, and he isn’t afraid to f*ck sh*t up. No question, I would class Grunwald as Blues Rock; which automatically puts him up against names such as Jack White, Gary Clark JR and Jeff Beck, all of whom are big names within their own right. I seriously had to think whether or not I could take Grunwald seriously and put him in the same bracket as these guys. 8 previous albums does show that he has tried to make it before and it hasn’t really come off, which is probably why he’s not quite in the “Jack White” bracket just yet.
On the other hand, what I really like about this Australian born singer, is that to me, he has the ability to conjure up songs by playing the guitar like Gary Clark JR, that hard hitting, blues roots type of rock n roll, as well as having a voice that sounds like its come from the prohibition era (which is just f*ckin cool). This combination results in an album that just goes all gun ho’ and seems like Grunwald just wants to let the world know what he’s all about.
70% of this record is very upbeat and its almost as if you could really dance to some of these tracks. “In the middle” and “River” being prime examples of this. While, the other 30% of this album is there to really accompany the fast and upbeat tracks and bring listeners back down to earth with Grunwalds almost Grunge Blues sound, which sounds very dark. In other words, I wouldn’t have been surprised if “The Worst Crimes are Legal” was used as the theme tune to Sons Of Anarchy because that track in particular carries with it a very drawn out and grunge sound with it, which just sounds evil. And it sounds class.
The album goes straight through what is the essence of true blues rock and never looks back. From the first track “River” and the final track “The Least Among Us“, he never stops incorporating his own roots of heavy blues throughout.
This pick for Record of the Week is a tune and a half. The track is called “Gimme all your Lovin” and its from ZZ Top. Now I know this song isn’t exactly a new track, and I know it hasn’t been “recently released”, but it is such a banger.
Their iconic heavy blues, ‘in your face’ guitar intro is always great to listen to, and the whole song is just genius.
After the 2012 record “Boys and Girls” you would have probably guest that this four-piece may go down a slightly less rock road and concentrate more on an alternative spin from the roots of the first album. Pat yourself on the back if you thought so, because thats exactly what they’ve done. While they have still kept hold of elements from their own bluesy core, they have definitely tried to release a record that has a certain edge to it that you wouldn’t associate with a typical blues artist.
With their main hit from the album coming as early as the second track on the album, it was hard to see them really keeping that same pace throughout. A tad slower in places but ultimately Alabama Shakes maintain that folky blues sound throughout the core of the record. Does it work? Well, it certainly works for the first 3-4 tracks but it does start to get very repetitive when you reach halfway. Their breezy percussion and soft sounding guitar strings fail to really add anything new to the album. Listeners of Alabama Shakes are aware that they can deliver good tunes but its now time to see if they can mix it up a little bit.
Listening to this album, I get the impression that they haven’t really bothered to try and attract more fans, they’ve just tried to keep their current fans happy. That can be seen as a good thing but it does mean that the record may end up being too much like the previous record. I wanted to like this record because I loved their 2012 hit, but this time around, as a whole album, its very mediocre at best. Its not a must buy, but its a nice album to have in your library.
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