2017 –Ruf Records
Release Date : Oct 6,
2017
By Phillip Smith;
Oct 14, 2017
Albert
Castiglia is definitely on a roll. He pulls no punches on his
latest album “Up All Night”. With an
all-new band consisting of bass player Jimmy Pritchard and drummer Brian
Menendez, Castiglia again enlists Mike Zito to produce, help write,
and toss some of his trademark guitar and vocals into the ring. Also making appearances on this magnificent
blues-rock album are music masters Lewis Stephens on keys, Sonny
Landreth on slide guitar, and Johnny Sansone on harmonica.
Castiglia presses
the pedal to the metal, as he lays a long trail of rubber on “Hoodoo on Me”. Penned by Zito, this heavy-hitting blues-rocker
rides a thick relentless bassline and showcases Castiglia’s guitar mastery. Smattered with a slough-full of funky psychedelic
licks, his cover of Brian Stoltz’s (funky Meters) “I’ve Been Up All
Night” is engaging and groovy. Landreth’s
slide guitar on Castiglia’s tale of outrunning a hurricane in “95 South”
is marvelous and swampy, just the way I love it.
Included in this recording are a couple of outstanding
songs from Graham Wood Drout (Iko Iko) who Castiglia collaborated
with in 2006 on a record called The Bittersweet
Sessions: “Three Legged Dog” and “Knocked Down Loaded”. Both have the unique gift burying themselves
in my head for hours on end. I love Castiglia’s
nitro-charged take on Luther “Snake Boy” Johnson’s “Woman Don’t Lie”. It’s a sizzling delight.
Castiglia
won me over with his previous album, “Big Dog” which I reviewed in June of 2016. I remember thinking how tough it was going to
be for him to top that album. He did though. “Up All Night” is absolutely wonderful and has
set a new bar.
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The PhillyCheeze review of Albert Castiglia’s Big
Dog album >
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