By Phillip Smith;
December 28,
2013
We all know moss doesn’t grow
on a rolling stone, and at Sixty-Five years of age, one will not find one gram
of moss on Cyril Neville. Constantly recording and touring with either
his own band, or as part of the super-group, Royal Southern Brotherhood with Devon Allman and Mike Zito,
the man keeps on rolling. That being
said, one can plan on settling down for a nice groovy listen when one reaches
for the new Cyril Neville album, Magic
Honey, and taps the play button. I
love the way Neville adds his funky spin to the Blues to make his own fresh
sound. Band members consist of guitarist
Cranston Clements, drummer “Mean” Willie Green, bassist Carl Dufrene, and
keyboardist Norman Caesar. Neville also
enlists help from friends, Dr. John, Walter Trout, Mike Zito, Allen Toussaint,
and David Z, Neville. With all of that
going on, this album can’t help being anything but fun.
I was drawn in by the catchy
melody and Clements swampy licks on the bluesy title track, “Magic Honey”. But
by the time I got to “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, I was totally
captivated. With guest guitarist, David
Z on board, this one emanates the sound and energy of Led Zeppelin. Crank up
the volume on this one and enjoy.
It’s cool to hear Dr. John sitting
in on and applying his trademark sound to “Swamp Funk”, a song he wrote himself.
I find myself nodding my head and hitching
a ride on this tasty groove every time I hear it, as it leans a little more to
the side of team ‘funk’, as opposed to the side of team ‘swamp’. It’s also neat to hear Mike Zito playing on “Money
and Oil”, a track co-written by Zito and Neville. Neville addresses the reality
of the politics of today, as he rightfully sings ‘when it all comes down, it’s
all about money and oil’.
The must-hear song on this
album though, is “Working Man”. If it
sounds like the title of a Rush song, that’s because it is. Instigating a proverbial double take at first,
I realized this was an outstandingly cool cover after my neck snapped back to
its rightful place. This one is surely
more bouncy and playful than the original, but that’s what makes it
memorable. I really like Neville’s smooth
and vibrant vocals coupled with Clements killer guitar performance.
Really good from start to
finish, one can’t go wrong picking this album up.
