Bob Margolin – In North Carolina (Steady Rollin’ Records).
Blues veteran Margolin releases his first album on Steady Rollin’ Records and the former Muddy Waters guitarist gives us a personal insight to his blues world. To have played with Muddy Waters for seven years is testament to Bob’s playing and he can be seen playing alongside the great man on Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. Just to prove his high level of musicianship, Margolin plays all the instruments heard on the album. He opens, appropriately enough, with a Muddy Waters song. Tell Me Why is a great song to start an album with and Margolin’s slide guitar and fractured solo compliment his understated vocal. The soft vocal is a good idea because it would be potential disaster to try and match Waters’ delivery. The title track is almost played to a tango beat and Bob turns in a silky vocal performance. This is the first of Margolin’s originals; the album is split roughly 50/50 between covers and originals, and gives an indication of his particular lyrical style. You Rascal You is a Sam Thread song and, as the title suggests, is a bouncy, good time song. It’s acoustic, unlike the first two, and I really have taken to it. Just Before Dawn is another original and is a slow Chicago blues. The Muddy Waters influence is there for all to hear, as is that of Johnny Winter who he also played with. He’s not a blues shouter by any manner of means and he’s kept his voice on a leash so far. It’s two self-penned songs in a row with the slow instrumental Colleen. This allows him to show off his guitar skills although he’s leaning towards country rather than the blues with this one. He returns to Muddy Waters for Lonely Man and he’s back to the blues, no mistake. Snappy snare and punchy guitar make for one of the albums highlights. A track from Bob Dylan may be a strange choice but this reminds me of The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses ilk – very good.
J.W. Henry’s Natural Blues is given a funked up treatment with slap bass. It’s a swing blues but an even more beefy sound would have been welcome. Margolin’s own Bring Me Your Blues has a very deep vocal and is painfully slow (no bad thing though) but he returns to the Chicago style blues for Lillian Shedd McMurry’s Red Hot Kisses. This has some of the best guitar work on the album and although he delivers a laconic vocal he does put a bit of rage in there at last. Hard Feelings is an acoustic blues that has Bob on top form again but Floyds Blues is another slow instrumental that doesn’t really go anywhere. She And The Devil continues in the sedate vein but this self-penned Delta blues has some of the best guitar playing that I’ve heard recently. Baby Baby Baby is played in a Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee style with some added electric slide and gets top marks from me. The final, bonus, track is a spoken tale of blues bands, what songs they get as requests and other interesting things. It’s a bit of a strange way to finish the album and I, personally, would have preferred it if he had just finished with Baby Baby Baby.
This is a top class album from a man steeped in the blues. He’s played alongside two of my heroes and that would have been enough for me but he’s added the cream on top by releasing this.
http://www.bobmargolin.com/
David Blue.
Blues veteran Margolin releases his first album on Steady Rollin’ Records and the former Muddy Waters guitarist gives us a personal insight to his blues world. To have played with Muddy Waters for seven years is testament to Bob’s playing and he can be seen playing alongside the great man on Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. Just to prove his high level of musicianship, Margolin plays all the instruments heard on the album. He opens, appropriately enough, with a Muddy Waters song. Tell Me Why is a great song to start an album with and Margolin’s slide guitar and fractured solo compliment his understated vocal. The soft vocal is a good idea because it would be potential disaster to try and match Waters’ delivery. The title track is almost played to a tango beat and Bob turns in a silky vocal performance. This is the first of Margolin’s originals; the album is split roughly 50/50 between covers and originals, and gives an indication of his particular lyrical style. You Rascal You is a Sam Thread song and, as the title suggests, is a bouncy, good time song. It’s acoustic, unlike the first two, and I really have taken to it. Just Before Dawn is another original and is a slow Chicago blues. The Muddy Waters influence is there for all to hear, as is that of Johnny Winter who he also played with. He’s not a blues shouter by any manner of means and he’s kept his voice on a leash so far. It’s two self-penned songs in a row with the slow instrumental Colleen. This allows him to show off his guitar skills although he’s leaning towards country rather than the blues with this one. He returns to Muddy Waters for Lonely Man and he’s back to the blues, no mistake. Snappy snare and punchy guitar make for one of the albums highlights. A track from Bob Dylan may be a strange choice but this reminds me of The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses ilk – very good.
J.W. Henry’s Natural Blues is given a funked up treatment with slap bass. It’s a swing blues but an even more beefy sound would have been welcome. Margolin’s own Bring Me Your Blues has a very deep vocal and is painfully slow (no bad thing though) but he returns to the Chicago style blues for Lillian Shedd McMurry’s Red Hot Kisses. This has some of the best guitar work on the album and although he delivers a laconic vocal he does put a bit of rage in there at last. Hard Feelings is an acoustic blues that has Bob on top form again but Floyds Blues is another slow instrumental that doesn’t really go anywhere. She And The Devil continues in the sedate vein but this self-penned Delta blues has some of the best guitar playing that I’ve heard recently. Baby Baby Baby is played in a Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee style with some added electric slide and gets top marks from me. The final, bonus, track is a spoken tale of blues bands, what songs they get as requests and other interesting things. It’s a bit of a strange way to finish the album and I, personally, would have preferred it if he had just finished with Baby Baby Baby.
This is a top class album from a man steeped in the blues. He’s played alongside two of my heroes and that would have been enough for me but he’s added the cream on top by releasing this.
http://www.bobmargolin.com/
David Blue.
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