Dolly Sez Woof artist: Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen - Love & Life - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Love & Life, by Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen and I really like it! It's raw and ragged approach with overloaded guitar distortion combination is really cool. Opening with Beggin' Jesus, a rough and tumble blues rocker, Drozdowski carries the melody vocally and rips into his guitar with strong impact. Backed by Matt Snow on drums, Marshall Dunn on bass and Paul Brown on keys this is a great opener. Letter From Hell has a Bo Diddley beat driven by Snow and complimented by Robert E McClain on bass. Drozdowski does some real nice fretboard runs but never leaves the garage sound. River is a solemn bluesy ballad with a lot of room to breathe. Drozdowski's vocals are almost trance like and he lays down a very effective guitar lead line. Very very cool! Watermelon Kid is a slow rocking boogie with an interesting story line. A hot loosely played guitar solo is cool and effective. Mighty Sam McClain takes the mic for Let's Go To Memphis giving the track a more definitive R&B/Blues feel and structure. R.L. Burnside (Sleight Return) is a really sweet track with a familiar bass groove and a chorus similar to a Steve Winwood track but with a great twist on the bridge and flaming guitar interludes. Excellent! A total rework of Muddy Waters' Can't Be Satisfied maintains the soul of the track but this thing is stripped down so far it's own mother wouldn't recognize it. With only tambourine and diddley bow, this track is way cool. Check it out! Black Lung Fever is the most straight forward delta style blues track on the release. This is a really nicely composed track reflecting on Drozdowski's own heritage. This is one of those tracks that starts off as an easy grooves and then beats you to death with impact. Excellent! Dreaming On the Road is a quiet folk tune with easy acoustic resonator accompaniment. Followed by Lived To Tell provides the contrast coming out with all guns blazing. The track quiets down for the delivery of the primary melody but when the guitar is open...IT IS OPEN. Very cool! Wrapping the release is Unwanted Man (for Weepin' Willie Robinson), with a simple blues structure. Drozdowski creates significant tension on slide behind his own vocals before laying down ragged guitar riffs. This is a really interesting release with blues roots and rough edges. The more I listen to it the more i like it. I suggest you get a copy and check it out!

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