By Phillip Smith
Craig Chaquico, whose name is
now more synonymous with jazz guitar and new age music, has decided to veer off
his current path and venture down the blues highway for a while on his latest
album, Fire Red Moon. The album is very guitar-centric, and
pleasing to listen to. Mixing elements
of his earlier rocking days with Jefferson Starship, with his new age styling,
he’s producing some interesting music. The band is composed of lead singer Rolf
Hartley, drummer Wade Olson, bass player Jim Reitzel and keyboardist Bill
Slais.
Kenny Wayne Shephard fans may
recognize the voice on the opening track, ‘Lie to Me’, featuring special guest
singer Noah Hunt. His voice, deep and
smooth, fits the song very well. ‘Bad
Woman’, another of the seven original songs, is outstanding. Rolf Hartley’s vocals show a huge range on
this one, and if a dude can channel Janis Joplin, he just may have done that
for this song. Also enjoyed is title
track ‘Fire Red Moon’, a blues instrumental to ‘zone out’ to and appreciate.
‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, a
total re-imagineering of the original, seems more like a ‘Muzak’ or ‘Weather
channel’ version than a blues song. It’s
all instrumental, and sounds almost as if it was created specifically to be
used for background music. That’s not
the case on every song though, thank goodness.
Chaquico raises the roof on Muddy Waters’ ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’. It
rocks as it should.
The album closes out with a
bang, covering Robert Johnson’s ‘Crossroads’. Opening with a little taste of
slide guitar on top of some rattlesnake and wind sound effects, it breaks out and runs like Willie Brown ‘til
the end. This one is definitely my
favorite cut. Chaquico throws his new
age approaches to the side and plays this one specifically for the blues fans.
Hartley shines on vocals as well. I hope
Chaquico follows the blues path for a little while longer. It seems to fit him well.
