Big Road – Blue/Sonic/Boom (ToTheBricks Records).

Southern England based blues rockers Big Road have been around for twenty years or so and have honed themselves into a very tight unit indeed. Their music rarely gets past the 1970s but that should not put you off as they can flit between the bluesy pub rock of the opener, No Other Baby and the Barclay James Harvest style folk rock of Butterfly. The latter of these is one of a few self penned songs amongst many covers of classic and not so classic blues and rock. Sandwiched between these two are the chugging blues of Howlin’ Wolf’s Howlin’ For My Darling and the earthy Do Better Than You’re Doin’. They don’t try to be Howlin’ Wolf and that is a good thing as many have tried and failed. The strong guitar work here makes this a good version. They play a couple of Bo Diddley songs in Who Do You Love? And I Can Tell This. The former is classic Diddley and the band show that this type of chugging song is their forte. The latter is played in a 60s R&B style; so much so that you would not know that it is a Bo Diddley song.

Steve Brayne introduces the harmonica for the first time on Help Me and this is very much a 60s British blues song, harking back to when the band started out. This Is Hip is a well known John Lee Hooker song and it is always a risk taking on one of the great mans tunes. Their blues/rock treatment just doesn’t quite work but there are not many who can give a different slant to John Lee Hooker. Play With Fire is so obviously a Rolling Stones song, even if you didn’t know that the songwriting pair of Nanker and Phelge were pseudonyms for the Stones in their early days. This accomplished performance is a good version and probably the highlight of the album. They turn to Howlin’ Wolf again for Commit A Crime. Again, it’s very difficult to cover The Wolf but they’ve done well this time and this track has the best vocal on offer. Love With A Feeling is a slow Chicago blues with burgeoning bass from Mo Whitfield and shows that they can turn out a good blues when they want to – a highlight. The album closes with the classic All Along The Watchtower and they’ve tried to go down the Hendrix road rather than the original Dylan way. This is one of my all time favourite songs and if you haven’t heard the Hendrix version first then you would be raving about this version – that is high praise, believe me.

www.bigroad.net

Copyright David Blue 2006.