PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Roiko-Jokela

Saturday, December 21, 2024

#720 > Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Outtakes (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2024 – Hokahey! Records

By Phillip Smith; Dec. 21, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

I love the riveting energy Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip pour into their music. This Finnish band sure has a way of making the blues sound magical. Their latest album Outtakes is a nine-track collection of unleased songs ranging over their thirty-year career. According to Bjorklof, “The album offers fans an exclusive look at these previously unreleased tracks that are still full of soul, groove and emotion”. With Bjorklof, front and center on vocals, harmonica, and guitar, he is joined by Lefty Leppanen on slide, electric guitars, and vocals, Seppo Nuolikoski on bass, Teemu Vuorela on drums, and Timo Roiko-Jokela on percussion, malletkat and vibraphone.

Outtakes begins with the spirited and freewheeling “On Vacation”. Originally recorded during the Ain’t Bad Yet sessions in 2014, this instant-favorite sure rejuvenates my soul. I love Bjorklof’s firey vocals and Lefty’s slide guitar performance on “Way to Go”. The song hits me like a gallop through Mississippi swampland. I’m captivated by the funky and bluesy rhythm which drives the beautiful and intoxicating 2002 track “Silver Moon”. Loaded with delicious slide guitar, this one is absolutely brilliant. They bring the album to an attention-grabbing end with “Spooky Ride”. This caffeinated track is loaded to the brim with smoldering musical jam. Everything fits together wonderfully tight as Vuorela guides them with his fierce and masterful drumming.

It’s a thrill to hear this Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip Outtakes album. The glimpses it provides into band’s three-decade long history makes a great listen for existing fans, and new listeners both.

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For more information about Micke Bjorklof, visit the website @ https://www.mickebjorklof.com/

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Saturday, January 22, 2022

#538 : Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Whole 'Nutha Thang

2021 – Ruf Records

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 22, 2022

I’ve been a fan of Finnish, award-winning blues artist/bandleader Micke Bjorklof since reviewing his 2014 release After the Flood. Bjorklof and Blue Strip had recorded four albums prior. One of those being 2007’s Whole ‘Nutha Thing, originally released only in Scandinavia. That album is now remastered and re-released by Ruf Records to help celebrate Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip’s thirty-year anniversary of being a touring band. Recorded in London and produced by Neil Brokbank, this landmark record redefined the band’s sound. With Bjorklof on lead vocals and harmonica, the band consists of Lefty Leppanen on slide/guitars, Seppo Nuolikoski on bass/piano, Teemu Vuorela on drums, and Roiko-Jokela on percussion/vibraphone/keys. The eleven-track album also features guest appearances by Geraint Watkins (Paul McCartney, Bill Wymann ,Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler) on keys, and horn players from Van Morrison’s band at the time, Matt Holland on trumpet/flugel horn and Martin Winning on saxophone.

With a Dylan-esque swagger, “Jungle Cat” strolls through with a delicious dose of twangy slide and barrel-house piano. Bjorklof goes into full swing on “Back to my Room”. Leppanen’s guitar performance is stunning and the rhythm section is amazingly tight. This is one to jump, jive and wail to. A whimsical, hypnotic melody speckled with slide creates the dreamy quality in “I Fell Down From the Tree (When I Saw Robert Johnson Pass Me By)”. “Grapesugar Love” breaks out the funk in a big juicy way with bodacious blasts of brass mixed with a huge dose of swampy slide. It’s vibrant and absolutely wonderful. Time stands still as a melancholy wave washes over me with each listen of “Silver Moon”. Bjorklof’s silky smooth vocals sound fantastic against this beautiful piano-led melody which brings Whole ‘Nutha Thang to its end.