Pat Travers – Stick With What You Know (Provogue).
Life In London is an outstanding track from his back catalogue and he has lost none of his power in the intervening period. This takes me back to my late teens when I would eagerly wait for each new Pat Travers album to come out. A high octane start which will not disappoint Travers’ fans. Crash And Burn is not a sign of what is to come and although his voice has seen a bit of action over the years there’s not much sign of it. He is still a top guitarist as well as he shows on a trademark wailing solo. I Don’t Care is a traditional rocker with a rebellious theme and the headbanging really starts by the time we get to Heat In The Street and Pat starts to warm to the task. Elijah is storming rock with soaring guitar and the Jimi Hendrix classic, Red House, gets a first play by Travers. This has been covered by many, including Albert King, and this is as good a version as any that I have heard. Travers is a very expressive guitarist and it is this that has kept him on top for so long. Another cover follows and this time it is Robert Johnson’s If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day. He rocks this up big time for a fantastic track. The third cover in a row is an Albert King song, Oh Pretty Woman, most famously covered by Gary Moore. How good would it be to have the two of them trade licks on this? Travers’ version is powerful, as you would expect. The strangely titled PT Nutz Aka Linus And Lucy gives the bass player a bit of the spotlight. It’s a rocking instrumental with manic drumming and shows his latest band to be a tight unit. Snortin’ Whiskey doesn’t conjure up anything other than hard rock but, in fact, it’s a blues, albeit on the hard rock side. Snortin’ whiskey and drinkin’ cocaine, don’t you just love the bad boys? Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) is an old favourite of mine and one of the songs that turned me on to the blues. He rocks up the intro but when he gets into the song, it is marvellous. There is a big audience participation on this one as he puts in an electric performance. This has dual guitars throughout and he comes back for two encores as the audience bays for more. The first of these is PT’s Solo Time. He gets all the pedals out for this one and he makes his guitar produce all kinds of sounds, including violin at one point. He has to be indulged, don’t you know! He closes with the third of the associated Albert King songs, Born Under A Bad Sign. He tries to keep on familiar tracks with this one but he can’t help himself and before long he’s off into one of his solos.
Not many are better and even less have lasted longer – young pretenders, you have just had your ass kicked.
http://www.provoguerecords.com/
David Blue.
Life In London is an outstanding track from his back catalogue and he has lost none of his power in the intervening period. This takes me back to my late teens when I would eagerly wait for each new Pat Travers album to come out. A high octane start which will not disappoint Travers’ fans. Crash And Burn is not a sign of what is to come and although his voice has seen a bit of action over the years there’s not much sign of it. He is still a top guitarist as well as he shows on a trademark wailing solo. I Don’t Care is a traditional rocker with a rebellious theme and the headbanging really starts by the time we get to Heat In The Street and Pat starts to warm to the task. Elijah is storming rock with soaring guitar and the Jimi Hendrix classic, Red House, gets a first play by Travers. This has been covered by many, including Albert King, and this is as good a version as any that I have heard. Travers is a very expressive guitarist and it is this that has kept him on top for so long. Another cover follows and this time it is Robert Johnson’s If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day. He rocks this up big time for a fantastic track. The third cover in a row is an Albert King song, Oh Pretty Woman, most famously covered by Gary Moore. How good would it be to have the two of them trade licks on this? Travers’ version is powerful, as you would expect. The strangely titled PT Nutz Aka Linus And Lucy gives the bass player a bit of the spotlight. It’s a rocking instrumental with manic drumming and shows his latest band to be a tight unit. Snortin’ Whiskey doesn’t conjure up anything other than hard rock but, in fact, it’s a blues, albeit on the hard rock side. Snortin’ whiskey and drinkin’ cocaine, don’t you just love the bad boys? Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) is an old favourite of mine and one of the songs that turned me on to the blues. He rocks up the intro but when he gets into the song, it is marvellous. There is a big audience participation on this one as he puts in an electric performance. This has dual guitars throughout and he comes back for two encores as the audience bays for more. The first of these is PT’s Solo Time. He gets all the pedals out for this one and he makes his guitar produce all kinds of sounds, including violin at one point. He has to be indulged, don’t you know! He closes with the third of the associated Albert King songs, Born Under A Bad Sign. He tries to keep on familiar tracks with this one but he can’t help himself and before long he’s off into one of his solos.
Not many are better and even less have lasted longer – young pretenders, you have just had your ass kicked.
http://www.provoguerecords.com/
David Blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment