Sabrina Weeks & Swing Cat Bounce - Live - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Live from Sabrina Weeks & Swing Cat Bounce and it's easy and fun. Opening with Bad Boys, Weeks, joined by Mike Hilliard on lead guitar, Ed Hilliard on drums, Terry Strudwick on bass and Bill White on rhythm guitar, set the pace for a pop country blues concert. Jimmy Dee has a boogie line but roots in country. A two step melody with cool guitar riffs from Hilliard makes this a release favorite. Slide Over Here has a slinky feel and Weeks vocals are top notch. Roll It throws a bit of funk into the mix and I particularly like Ed Hilliard's snappy drum riffs. Mike Hilliard takes a longer guitar solo on this track and although compressed in sound, it does rip! Happy Home is a straight up shuffle led by Mike Hilliard. Weeks gets a rock n roll feel going and Mike H. takes it a step further with stinging riffs. On Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On, the band puts a bit of funk on the original arrangement and it had a fresh feel. Weeks holds the bluesy road making this a fairly successful cover of a very familiar track. Ike Turner's Strange has a pinch of jazz to a standard R&B track. Hilliard is back again spicing up the track with clean guitar riffs supported by White on rhythm. Ballad Tarantino opens quietly but slowly builds momentum with Hilliard building his riffs to a drop off. Lieber and Stoller track I Can't Hear A Word You Say has a vintage shuffle feel and Ed Hilliard dances on the drums as Mike lays out a nice open rock guitar solo. Hound Dog, another Lieber and Stoller track made popular by Big Mama Thorton and Elvis gets a Latin beat and nicely showcases Weeks vocal style. Rolling right into Big Boss Man, a Luther Dixon composition made popular by Jimmy Reed among others holds a funky beat and Mike H. takes a cool guitar solo and the band takes an esoteric bridge but follows back to the funky grind. Wrapping the release is Got My Eye On You, a lounge style blues with Weeks' vocals very stylized, reinforced by E. Hilliard's punctuation. A longer jam the band stretches making for an enjoyable conclusion to what I'm certain was a cool live performance.

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