By guest writer Sarah Tipper, author of the Eviscerated Panda series of novels.
Want blues? Get Loose’s self-titled debut album will deliver ten tracks of the indigo stuff.
Disclaimer: I’m not especially qualified to write blues reviews*. Don’t be scared if you aren’t a blues person, I’m going to take you through the album track by track.
“Forgive Me” – The album kicks off with good old blues standard subject matter of a failed love affair. A contrite and lovelorn bluesman can be pictured looking dejected outside a window (a bit like in Rainbow’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”). Some wailing guitar completes this image. It’s the song you wish you’d written when it all went wrong with your teenage sweetheart rather than saying you were weren’t actually bothered and you were going down the park to drink Mad Dog 20:20, so smell you later. The slow tempo at the end sounds the death knell of a relationship. I don’t want to skip ahead but I want to reassure you it’s not all striking out, there will be love success songs later on.
“Ride It Out” – Upbeat, ideal for Go-Go dancing and is about having a drink and waiting for a storm to blow over. I think it could be a great anthem for Brexit. It does feature the lyric “smoke a little grass” though and as we know politicians claim to never inhale. It reminds me of “Johnny B. Goode”, which I’ve just ed isn’t actually by Judas Priest and was actually by Chuck Berry.
“Good Looking Woman” – A song about a prostitute. Naughty. It reminds me of the film Sucker Punch and AC/DC’s “What Do You Do For Money Honey”. She sounds like a splendid lady of negotiable affection as evidence by this lyric; ”There’s never a bad feeling, because nothing in life is free”. This track has a guitar sound like climbing the stairs to a boudoir.
“Harms Way” – Lyrically this is a combo of Meatloaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” and AC/DC’s “Squealer”. It demonstrates clever use of the good old driving/sex metaphor, with references to a hill (the mons Veneris I suspect) and white knuckles. Any song with the word “thighs” is a great addition to your weekend or a night out. This is a great song and would wear a rubber and make you breakfast in the morning before another go at eggs over easy. It’s hard to listen to this without wishing you had a dick. If you have got one it’ll probably stir, so be warned.
“She Got It Now” – Mark my words, in a year or two someone will be using this as their stripper song. It’s the sort of song that should have been on the soundtrack for The Wrestler. The drumming increases in urgency at the end of the song.
“Black Night” – This is not the Deep Purple song you might be expecting, it’s another one, by a guy called Charles Brown, who is not to be confused with the guy who hangs around with Snoopy. Charles was sad because his baby had left him. Those blues guys took rejection hard.
“King Bee” – This is a cover version of a song written by Slim Harpo in 1957, a whopping 70 years ago! It’s full of energy. It’s a song that struts about doing a Mick Jagger face. It reminded me of Motörhead’s “Vibrator” and the 1990s Kellogg’s Honey Nut Loops jingle.
“Who’s To Blame” – Oooh, she’s a bad ‘un, the woman in this song. She’ll make you nostalgic for the ethical streetwalker in track three. It’s okay though, because the protagonist in the song has “gone got wise” to her mucking around.
“Bullet” – I’m going to listen to this the next time I go to a job interview. It’s full of motivation, fast guitars and clashing cymbals. It would make great walk on music for an edgy comedian.
“You Can Have My Love” – I adore this song. It’s like Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”. Put this on a mix tape for a potential suitor and it’s a sure fire undies dropping winner. The bass is chugging along like lovers skipping.
In summary, every song on this could be on The Outsiders’ soundtrack. Lee Castle’s voice is wonderful and he’s got a touch of the look of the young Matt Dillon about him. Darren Castle is the archetypal frantic drummer, he’s fast and he’s precise. Dom Allen has a wealth of funk, blues, rock and metal in his broad musical mind and he’s nimble of finger as his influences slip down from flashing neurons to hands. Plus he plays a Rickenbacker and so the Kilmister kudos is strong.
I’ve heard this album ten times now and seen it played live twice. It has an added dimension live, as well as the core power trio, they’ve invited jamming mate John Rainnie to play on a few numbers for a beefier guitar experience plus they do a tribute to Rick Parfitt.
You can see Get Loose at The Wheatsheaf, Oxford on the 24th March.
*My first blues experience was the time I sat under a guitar that once belonged to B.B. King. It was at the Hard Rock Café in London and I had a burger that would have been overpriced but I had a voucher. You can write what I know about blues rock on a postcard. Maybe a postcard of London on which for some reason a cuddly bear has been dressed up as one of The Queen’s Guard or maybe on a postcard of a red telephone box. Why send someone a picture of a phone box? You wouldn’t telephone someone and describe a post box to them. Anyway, People keep telling me that my preferred musical genre – metal – came out of the blues so I should give it a listen. Usually I just shout “Slaaaaayyer!” at these blues advocates. Like me you might not listen to much blues. I’m only writing this review because I saw some really enjoyable gigs by this band and their debut CD is a belter.
