Train - Solomon King - New Release Review

I just received the latest release, Train, from Solomon King and it's actually quite good. Although not a simple blues release, it like most has blues elements. Opening with Baby Does Me Good with a Bo Diddley beat, lead by Stephen Styxxx Marshall on drums and has cool slide work by King and Johann Frank. Bad To Me has a blues rock beat with a nice back beat. King manages vocals with simple style and cool guitar riffs appear throughout. Coffee Song really captures that ragged Lou Reed kind of vocal style which I really like. Complimented by Jimmy Powers and Glenn Doll on harp and warm backing vocals by Maxayan Lewis and Connie Jackson this is a cool rocker. Slo Blues is really a bluesy ballad highlighting King on vocal. Bass work by Princeton Arnold and stylized guitar work on this track puts me in mind of one of my favorite blues rock players, Kim Simmonds. One of my favorites on the release. Great Wall opens with Elmore James like slide guitar riffs and again King has a Lou Reed/Bob Dylan vocal style which is very effective. Not to say that he actually sounds like either but his style is cool and effective. As far as a swinging boogie, this track is very cool. Country Song actually puts me in mind of a mellow version of Sweet Jane. If there is a radio track here... this is it! My Baby's Love is a solid ballad but again in a very loose Lou Reed style. I'm not at all indicating that it's been done before or that that it's not original. I just find that it has characteristics similar to Lou Reed that I like. Title track, Train is a percussive song with nods to Hendrix and emphasis on vocal, percussion, bass and sonic guitar filler. Very cool. This is a very loose track with traces to the NY street scene and an interesting trip. Blue Angel wraps the release as a very straight forward ballad primarily with key accompaniment by Buddy Pierson. Rich backing gives it a theme song or soundtrack type track. With a bit of an original country feel, a solid track to complete a nice 3rd release.

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