Steve Hill: The One Man Blues Rock Band, Live
Audio CD
Label: Manhaton Records
ASIN: B07BQCQHVN
May 11, 2018
RATING: *****
Steve Hill: The One Man Blues Rock Band. Recorded live in La Chapelle, Quebec, if ever there’s a title that says exactly what the tin contains, then this is surely it. A powerhouse CD crammed to the gills with gut wrenching style.
Having seen the Canadian in the flesh, not even a CD this eminently listenable does this musician’s talents complete justice. But it comes delightfully close. That the man not only sings with such a raw, barbed-vocal style underpinned by a deliciously handled guitar, he also comes loaded with two kick drums, a hi-hat cymbal – played by virtue of the stick attached ingeniously to the machine head of his guitar – and, on occasion, an harmonica.
Yip. All this and some of the most fabulously attuned song writing skills are all on show and thereby providing the rounded sound of a full band in action: a CD that manages to show off a man at the top of his twenty-five-year-in-the-making remarkably well, with the next best being seeing the man in action on stage.
Rhythm All Over is a how-to guide like no other – an insight, if you will, into how he does what he does – whereas The Collector simply drips with angst and zip and zest. There’s a dip in tempo here and there. Nothing New is straight out the Old Testament of heartbreak blues but here given a spectacular twist, whereas Out of Phase underlines Hill’s strengths as a lyricist.
The party, however, doesn’t stay quiet long. Damned is a rocker befitting Maiden, Dangerous an angst tale worthy of Salinger and The Ballad of Johnny Wabo is, well, simply epic. Everything is here and in place, so that what results is very special live album from a very special artist. Twenty-five-years-in-the-making or not!
Steve Hill is currently on tour across the UK with King King. For details: http://www.stevehillmusic.com
Track List
Rhythm All Over
Go On
The Collector
Damned
Tough Luck
Never Is Such A Long Time
Hate To See You Go
Emily
Nothing New
Out Of Phase
Still Got It Bad
Tha Ballad of Johnny Wabo
Dangerous
Voodoo child (Slight Return)
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