Cleopatra Records artist: Cactus - Temple Of Blues - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Temple of Blues, from Cactus, and it's a strong blues rocker. Opening with Bukka White's Parchment Farm really rocks. Using Mayall's basic arrangement, Carmine Appice on drums really drives it hard with Billy Sheehan on bass, Jim McCarty on guitar, Joe Bonamassa on lead guitar and Jim Stapley on vocal and harp. Excellent opener. Willie Dixon's Evil gets a real nice heavy makeover with heavy weight drum work by Appice and great guitar lead by McCarty. Dug Pinnick on bass really sets the groove and Dee Snider on lead vocal is outrageous. Coopper and White's country anthem, No Need To Worry is now a slow blues with excellent vocal and guitar phrasing by Warren Haynes with Jorgen Carlsson on bass and Appice on drums. Cactus original (from their 70's album) Big Mama Boogie (Pts 1&2) is a great track with Appice in his own seat at drums and James Caputo on bass. Stapley on vocal and harp does a real nice job and Pat Travers on slide really winds it out when Appice kicks it in gear. Dixon's You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover really kicks it featuring Stapley, Caputo and Appice and featuring Artie Dillon on guitar. Solid. Little Richard's Long Tall Sally gets that real "Cactus" treatment with a dynamic heavy bottom by Appice and Kenny Aaronson, Mark Stein on lead vocal and Fernando Perdomo on guitars. Excellent! Wrapping the release is Guiltless Glider with Tim Owens and Appice tearing it up. This is a great closer for one of the most fun real blues rock CDs to hit my desk in a long time. 

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Provogue Records artist: Leslie West - Still Climbing - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (October 29, 2013), Still Climbing, from Leslie West and it has exactly what you listen to a Leslie West for.... gutsy vocals, a driving beat and flaming guitars! Opening with Dyin' Since The Day I Was Born, West is wide open on his amp, all volume controls and his vocals. With a strong metal influence, West shows all of the patience of a freight train with grinding riffs and pinched harmonics. Busted, Disgusted or Dead takes a more moderate pace with flashy sliding blues riffs from West and long time slideman Johnny Winter. Fade Into You is a 3/4 ballad with a solid melody giving West the opportunity to fire up his vocal chords and a wide open door to bust down with powerful fat guitar riffs. Real nice! Not Over You At All has a real cool intro with the smokin sound of an overdriven tube amp. Surprisingly a sax solo on this track takes a different direction than I would typically associate with West. A cool melodic guitar solo which I do think of with West is a prominent feature of this track. An acoustic track, Tales Of Woe is particularly strong. The opening, which appears to be played on nylon string guitar provides a nice backdrop for Wests rugged vocals and searing electric guitar soloing. On Feeling Good made famous by Traffic, celebrates Wests battle with cancer and diabetes with screaming guitar riffs and sharing vocals with Dee Snider (Twisted Sister). Classic Percy Sledge soul track, When A Man Loves A Woman, features guitar slinger and contemporary soul/blues singer Jonny Lang. This is a perfect track for these two guys to share the vocal lead as well as their love for the blues in smoking guitar riffs. Original Mountain classic Long Red has a fresh feel but the signature Mountain sound. You know it when you hear it. Don't Ever let Me Go again has a strong "metal" sound with driving drum work and searing lead work over melodic rhythm guitar. Rev Jones Time is a very cool interpretation of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on lower guitar frets or baritone guitar and I really like it. A suitable ending to an explosive release.

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