Ben Waters – Hurricane (Hypertension).
By his early 20’s Ben Waters (PJ Harvey’s cousin for those of you that like to know that sort of thing) had already played with some of the giants of British rock such as Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend. He also played at Jools Holland’s wedding and led the great boogie-woogie pianist to say “boogie-woogie is alive and well. Ben Waters has got the touch and feel for it”. A few years on sees the release of his first album for Hypertension. The title track does what it says on the tin – a high octane boogie with twinkle fingers Waters on piano. A bit more vocal attack would have set the song up perfectly, especially on the Beach Boys style chorus. Tiny Planet is another boogie with great interaction between Waters’ piano and Clive Ashley’s saxophone. It is a good piece of social commentary. It’s hard to categorise Booker but it builds well and is an homage to James Booker who had a great influence on the young Waters as well as teaching Dr John and Harry Connick Jnr to play piano. The Sky Fell Down is the most commercial song so far and good enough to match chart bands such as The Hoosiers and their ilk. Helicon Boogie has more piano and sax competition with the sax, played by guest Derek Nash, being more than a match on this intriguing instrumental.
Amos Milburn’s Roomin House Movie is a shuffling boogie and just good time music played for the fun of it. Mother Natures Molecules has increased pace and you certainly can’t criticize his energy. There’s a bit of Nick Lowe in his and partner Richard Hymas’ songwriting style. The Wasp is a high paced boogie-woogie with sax taking the part of the wasp. Waters’ muscles on his left arm must be of Popeye proportions. Who U Lay has funky bass from Hymas and keyboards from Waters and is only one step away from a Steely Dan song. He saves one of his slowest songs to finish with and Inconsequential shows that he has more than one tone to his voice. There are touches of Squeeze in this and the sax fade out is top class.
Jools Holland was correct!
http://www.hypertension-music.de/
http://www.benwaters.com/
David Blue.
By his early 20’s Ben Waters (PJ Harvey’s cousin for those of you that like to know that sort of thing) had already played with some of the giants of British rock such as Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend. He also played at Jools Holland’s wedding and led the great boogie-woogie pianist to say “boogie-woogie is alive and well. Ben Waters has got the touch and feel for it”. A few years on sees the release of his first album for Hypertension. The title track does what it says on the tin – a high octane boogie with twinkle fingers Waters on piano. A bit more vocal attack would have set the song up perfectly, especially on the Beach Boys style chorus. Tiny Planet is another boogie with great interaction between Waters’ piano and Clive Ashley’s saxophone. It is a good piece of social commentary. It’s hard to categorise Booker but it builds well and is an homage to James Booker who had a great influence on the young Waters as well as teaching Dr John and Harry Connick Jnr to play piano. The Sky Fell Down is the most commercial song so far and good enough to match chart bands such as The Hoosiers and their ilk. Helicon Boogie has more piano and sax competition with the sax, played by guest Derek Nash, being more than a match on this intriguing instrumental.
Amos Milburn’s Roomin House Movie is a shuffling boogie and just good time music played for the fun of it. Mother Natures Molecules has increased pace and you certainly can’t criticize his energy. There’s a bit of Nick Lowe in his and partner Richard Hymas’ songwriting style. The Wasp is a high paced boogie-woogie with sax taking the part of the wasp. Waters’ muscles on his left arm must be of Popeye proportions. Who U Lay has funky bass from Hymas and keyboards from Waters and is only one step away from a Steely Dan song. He saves one of his slowest songs to finish with and Inconsequential shows that he has more than one tone to his voice. There are touches of Squeeze in this and the sax fade out is top class.
Jools Holland was correct!
http://www.hypertension-music.de/
http://www.benwaters.com/
David Blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment