PAUL LAMB & THE KING SNAKES
"THE BLUE ALBUM"
Indigo IGOXCD
521-Z (UK), IGOXCD521 (export)
Track list:
SOMEDAYS
(Real Audio 2.0, 79k
or Real Audio G2, 241k)*
FOREVER BLUE
DONE QUIT DRINKIN'
SUPERSTITIOUS
PLEASE TELL ME
MILLENNIUM BLUES
(Real Audio 2.0, 77k
or Real Audio G2, 314k)*
ONE STEP AHEAD
THE BEST I CAN
BURNIN' LOVE
CRAZY 'BOUT IT
CAN'T DO IT RIGHT
NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A FRIEND
LOOK OUT PINETOP
(Real Audio 2.0, 47k
or Real Audio G2, 136k)*
SLOWDOWN
"Unless you just happen to've beamed in from Betelgeuse, you should already
be aware that Paul Lamb & The King Snakes have garnered plaudits aplenty
from the blues press during the course of their lifespan of a dozen years
or so. They've also picked up more tangible signifiers of their high status
in the contemporary Brit blues pantheon in the shape of several British
Blues Connection awards plaques. The British Blues Connection has voted
Paul Lamb & The King Snakes UK Blues Band of the Year on five separate
occasions; the band's exceptionally fine guitarist Johnny Whitehill picked
up the UK Blues Guitarist of the Year award two years consecutively in
1997 and 1998; and Paul and the King Snakes also grabbed UK Blues Album
of the Year on three occasions. Paul Lamb himself set some kind of all-time
record by being voted UK Harmonica Player of the Year for five straight
years from 1990 onwards. He has now been inducted into the British Blues
Connection HALL OF FAME.
Paul Lamb & The King Snakes then are a band who deservedly command
a lot of respect from all sections of the bluesloving community. However,
to coin a cliche and modify a common trope from today's secular mass religion
(i.e. football!), you're only as good as your last album. Having set themselves
such high standards, the pressure on the band to maintain them is immense.
"The Blue Album" shows that Paul Lamb & The King Snakes continue to
deliver the goods. Using the same engineer and Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based
studio as on their last Indigo album "John Henry Jumps In", Paul and the
other King Snakes - with new drummer Sonny Below making his recording debut
alongside the other long-time members - have individually and collectively
(check the composer credits) crafted a mean and gritty blues album that
not only conjures the classic "edge of distortion" ambience of the legendary
Chess and VeeJay recordings of the early Fifties but also, in its lyrical
concerns, reflects a tail-end-of-the-Nineties sensibility (check out for
one the unique "Millenium Blues" for confirmation of the latter contention,
a song which reflects upon the putative problems that the millenium bug
may be about to foist upon us all as we move into the 21st century, and
surely the first blues - and maybe the last, if you really believe in fin
de siecle angst - to discourse on the subject of computer microchips).
Despite the cavilling of those who don't really care about them, the
blues - whose obituary has been written so often - still remains a relevant
genre as we move towards Y2K and beyond. Once you've listened to "The Blue
album" I don't think you'll have any doubts on that score. As befits someone
who is surely one of the finest blues artists that this country has ever
produced he is bullish about the blues' ability continually to renew itself
and constantly have something relevant to say. He always seems to come
up with something different each time, with his creative approach to recording
and writing in the genre. Paul Lamb says, 'Even though we're moving into
an uncertain future, the blues is still all based on problems, woman trouble,
what have you, the whole human lot. Blues will be there to the end. It's
the beginning of the music and the end of the music for me. That's the
way it is.'
And, hopefully, that's the way it'll alway be. For with bands as excellent
as Paul Lamb & The King Snakes still around to play them - and human
beings still around to listen to them - the blues will always transcend
mere critically-imposed genre limitations and stand as a true chronotype
(which is a five buck word meaning "the essence of time and place" - something
only the blues has always been able to capture) of the circumstances they
were produced in." Scott Duncan.
A review of "The Blue Album" can be found on http://www.bluesonstage.com/cdreview/cd-paullamb-blue.html
If you have any questions or if you want further information, please
send me an eMail:
eMail to Petra 'Beedie'
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