Bob Brozman – Post Industrial Blues (Ruf Records).
The title of the album gives an indication of what we are about to receive as Bob Brozman gives us his take on modern living. He plays an amazing array of instruments on the album and is forever experimenting with new and wonderful ones. He starts off fairly conservatively on National guitars for the Iraq protest Follow The Money, on which he makes them ring like bells -- a lively, high impact opener. Look At New Orleans is quite self explanatory. A personal view on what really happened when the levees burst. He is an extraordinary guitarist and gets the most from his instrument, and the 7 string banjo, with notes that you would not think possible at times. The banjo remains for the earthy Old Man’s Blues, which has echoes of the original Delta music even though it is played on the strangely titled Okinawan Sanshin. Airport Blues remains firmly in the Delta with Brozman’s wailing vocal making it acoustic blues of the highest order. Shafafa is more of a ragtime/music hall song played on Hawaiian guitar & dobro and whilst pleasant enough, it does not carry enough of an edge for me. Lonely Children has a loose, fluid feel but it covers a dark lyric on the plight of the homeless. This is played on a myriad of instruments including firsts for me in the shape of Chaturangui (a 22 string Indian guitar) and grass clippers! Let’s Get It Boy is a competent instrumental and introduces us to yet another new instrument, this time it’s a Gandharvi, a 14 string Indian slide guitar.
Three Families Blues is very dark and tells the tale of an immigrant, a soldier and an Iraqi – lyrically stunning and very thought provoking. Another instrumental, Strange Ukelele Blues gives you exactly what it says on the tin – a festival of strings from a Resophonic ukulele and 7 string banjo. The traditional tune, Green River Blues is full of sedate acoustic tones and Crooked Blues is not about felons but infirmities instead. However, Brozman goes on to compare physical crookedness with that of politicians. He plays the latter in an offbeat way but with strong acoustic slide. Rolling Through This World has a Spanish guitar style intro to a bass heavy dramatic acoustic offering. There are many other Spanish influences here. Slow Motion Blues is painfully slow but is a boon for lovers of slide guitar and there is another percussion experiment with Jim Norris using a straw bag of metal rattles. The self same slide guitar meets The Doors on People Are Strange. The novel use of percussion reaches a peak on this with ‘instruments’ such as broken toy piano, pots & pans, butter knife on table and a bamboo anklung being used. A strange combination I hear you say and he almost pulls it off. If he had added a little more menace to his ‘devil voice’ performance then he would have been there. A pared down How I Love That Woman gives a relaxed end to the album. This Texas blues instrumental with Brozman on Hawaiian guitar and bassist Stan Poplin will allow you to close your eyes and forget about the troubles of the post-industrial blues.
http://www.bobbrozman.com/
http://www.rufrecords.de/
David Blue.
The title of the album gives an indication of what we are about to receive as Bob Brozman gives us his take on modern living. He plays an amazing array of instruments on the album and is forever experimenting with new and wonderful ones. He starts off fairly conservatively on National guitars for the Iraq protest Follow The Money, on which he makes them ring like bells -- a lively, high impact opener. Look At New Orleans is quite self explanatory. A personal view on what really happened when the levees burst. He is an extraordinary guitarist and gets the most from his instrument, and the 7 string banjo, with notes that you would not think possible at times. The banjo remains for the earthy Old Man’s Blues, which has echoes of the original Delta music even though it is played on the strangely titled Okinawan Sanshin. Airport Blues remains firmly in the Delta with Brozman’s wailing vocal making it acoustic blues of the highest order. Shafafa is more of a ragtime/music hall song played on Hawaiian guitar & dobro and whilst pleasant enough, it does not carry enough of an edge for me. Lonely Children has a loose, fluid feel but it covers a dark lyric on the plight of the homeless. This is played on a myriad of instruments including firsts for me in the shape of Chaturangui (a 22 string Indian guitar) and grass clippers! Let’s Get It Boy is a competent instrumental and introduces us to yet another new instrument, this time it’s a Gandharvi, a 14 string Indian slide guitar.
Three Families Blues is very dark and tells the tale of an immigrant, a soldier and an Iraqi – lyrically stunning and very thought provoking. Another instrumental, Strange Ukelele Blues gives you exactly what it says on the tin – a festival of strings from a Resophonic ukulele and 7 string banjo. The traditional tune, Green River Blues is full of sedate acoustic tones and Crooked Blues is not about felons but infirmities instead. However, Brozman goes on to compare physical crookedness with that of politicians. He plays the latter in an offbeat way but with strong acoustic slide. Rolling Through This World has a Spanish guitar style intro to a bass heavy dramatic acoustic offering. There are many other Spanish influences here. Slow Motion Blues is painfully slow but is a boon for lovers of slide guitar and there is another percussion experiment with Jim Norris using a straw bag of metal rattles. The self same slide guitar meets The Doors on People Are Strange. The novel use of percussion reaches a peak on this with ‘instruments’ such as broken toy piano, pots & pans, butter knife on table and a bamboo anklung being used. A strange combination I hear you say and he almost pulls it off. If he had added a little more menace to his ‘devil voice’ performance then he would have been there. A pared down How I Love That Woman gives a relaxed end to the album. This Texas blues instrumental with Brozman on Hawaiian guitar and bassist Stan Poplin will allow you to close your eyes and forget about the troubles of the post-industrial blues.
http://www.bobbrozman.com/
http://www.rufrecords.de/
David Blue.
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