Friday, March 22, 2024

#669 : Altered Five Blues Band - Testifyin' (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2024 – Blind Pig Records

By Phillip Smith; Mar. 23, 2024

Release Date : Mar. 22, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I was very excited to hear there was a new release on the way from Milwaukee’s hardest working bluesmen Altered Five Blues Band. This seventh and latest release Testifyin' absolutely cooks. With five all-original tracks of smokin’ blues, this EP is hitting the scene with quite an impact. With Jeff Taylor on lead vocals, Jeff Schroedl on guitar, Mark Solveson on bass, Steve Huebler on keys, and Alan Arber on drums, A5BB plays the blues with feeling and conviction. The EP was produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy award-winner Tom Hambridge. To sweeten the pot, the super-talented, multi-award-winning Jason Ricci also appears with harp in hand on three of the five tracks.

Testifyin’ kicks off with “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t” delivered with a funky rhythm topped with a smokin’ guitar performance from Schroedl and a sweet horn accompaniment from Max Abrams on saxophone and Julio Diaz on trumpet. They roll into “Whiskey Got Me Married” a smoldering blues track that sounds great sung by Taylor’s husky voice. Ricci totally wails on the harmonica and sounds amazing. “Brand New Bone” is an outstanding track which seems to begin in the Delta and wrap up in Chicago. With Ricci in the mix, this track is a genuine winner. They slow it down to a gentle sway to sing about hard times in “I’ve Got Scars to Prove It”. Schroedl plays every note with an emotional approach. Testifyin’ wraps up in a lively positive light with “You Can’t Win (If it Ain’t Within)”. It is upbeat, uplifting, and a sheer delight to hear.

Every song is a keeper on Altered Five Blues Band’s Testifyin’. It’s a record that I keep on heavy-rotation for a long while.

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.alteredfive.com/

For other PhillyCheeze reviews regarding Altered Five Blues Band, follow this link:

https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/2021/10/521-altered-five-blues-band-holler-if.html

Saturday, October 9, 2021

#521 : Altered Five Blues Band - Holler If You Hear Me

2021 – Blind Pig Records

By Phillip Smith; Oct. 9, 2021

Those sensational blues-masters of Milwaukee Altered Five Blues Band has added another piping hot release to their catalog with Holler if You Hear Me. Clocking in as their sixth album, the energy of the band runs high, and is magnificently captured within this Tom Hambridge-produced recording. The powerful and soulful voice of front-man Jeff Taylor sounds so good backed by this tight-as-hell band consisting of guitarist Jeff Schroedl, bassist Mark Solveson, keyboardist Raymond Tevich, and drummer Alan Arber. Special guest Jason Ricci is the icing on the cake, with his harmonica accompaniment on five of the thirteen tracks. This is absolutely a winning combination.

I am in love with the album from the moment “Holler If You Hear Me” breaks out of the gate. The rhythm barrels through like a locomotive as we get a solid dose of Tevich’s hot ivory stylings topped with searing blasts of Ricci’s harmonica. The party pushes forward as Taylor lets loose on his anthem of after-hours debauchery in “Guilty of a Good Time”. Schroedl’s guitar solo absolutely sizzles as the rhythm fiercely latches on. Harp-a-blazing, Ricci gives a flawless performance as he goes toe-to-toe with Arber’s furious beat on “If You Go Away (She Might Come Back)”. A dash of swamp water is sprinkled atop “I Got All I Need”. This delightful bowl of slow-simmered blues heats up to a boil, licked by the red-hot flames rolling off Schroedl’s guitar. It’s absolutely wonderful. The record comes to its close with “Big Shout Out”, a sort of blues version of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. This upbeat roll-call honors the blues artists of the past who’ve paved the way for those who play the blues today, and is a splendid song to end the album with.

Holler If You Hear Me is as solid as an album can get. It’s one hundred percent straight-up blues, delivered on a silver platter.

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : https://www.alteredfive.com

Altered Five Blues Band "If You Go Away (She Might Come Back)" [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]