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Jimmie Vaughan. Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites

Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites
Jimmie Vaughan
2011

Review contributed by Sean McCarthy

Before I begin, I must confess that I set myself the challenge in writing this review about Jimmie Vaughan’s latest album to not mention that fact (like every other review) that Jimmie is Stevie’s brother... so here goes:

Shame on you if you missed it last year, but Jimmie Vaughan made a comeback of sorts in 2010 with his first solo album in almost nine years.
His record ‘Jimmie Vaughan Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites’ (yes, without the U... he’s American don’t you know) was collection of jump, soul, and Chicago-styled blues tunes.
Backed by a great band of road-seasoned blues professionals, and Lou Ann Barton, it earned a well-deserved Grammy Award nomination.

B-Side Band. Down Under & Blues

Down Under & Blues
B-Side Band
2010

Review contributed by Mike Jensen

B-Side Band is a Tauranga-based three-piece playing an intriguing mix of rockabilly, rhythm & blues and country.

Their recently released CD, Down Under & Blues, the band's second album, is a good sampling of their versatility and talent.

B-Side Band comprises Paul Parkhouse (vocals, harmonicas), Simon Elton (vocals, guitars), and Carl Winter on drums, and the album features a number of additional musicians contributing keyboards, slide guitar, and mandolin and banjo on some tracks.
Unusually, there is no bass player on the album.

The original lyrics are entertaining, often funny, and refreshingly clear in an excellent mix.
Some very tidy harmonies completed the vocal offering nicely.
The varied instrumentation gives the album a rich sonic diversity.
The kazoo solo in All My Inlaws Are Outlaws was definitely a highlight.
I was fascinated by the harmonica instrumental track Return of Clint, which really highlights the instrument's versatility (and the player's talent).

Mojo. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Mojo
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Warner Bros., 2010

Review contributed by Sean McCarthy

With my first listen to Mojo, Tom Petty’s first album with the Heartbreakers for 8 years, I thought “this could have been a Bob Dylan record”.

It wouldn't be out of place somewhere between Modern Times and Together Through Life.

The album was recorded live (with no over-dubs to speak of) in the Heartbreakers “club house”, a room where the band hang out and lined floor to ceiling with instruments and amplifiers (many of them vintage).
Set up the drum kit, place a few mics, sound proof an office to house the mixing desk and you have yourself a studio.
Mudcrutch, Tom Petty’s first band, recorded their album there in 2008, and it lends both records that warm organic feel that only recording live with all the band members in one room can give.
There is a definite Chess Studio, Snake Pitt and rural south, rather than a Pro-Tools, Auto-tune and California vibe to Mojo.

As the Heartbreakers themselves confess, the songs on this record reflect the music they listen to and play when the band is together but doesn’t have anything to learn or rehearse.