Showing posts with label Slam Allen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slam Allen. Show all posts

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Slam Allen - Feel These Blues


2015 – American Showplace Music
By Phillip Smith; April 4, 2015


Step inside, Slam Allen’s latest album, Feel These Blues, and allow yourself to soak up all the soulful house-rockin’ goodness you can.  Don’t worry about being greedy, there’s plenty for everyone.  Listening to the blues being performed at the level Allen plays is such a joy.  Having worked his way up through the ranks by being lead guitarist and lead singer for James Cotton for nine years, Allen’s years of experience is felt in every song.  With a band composed of bassist Jeff Anderson, drummer Dan Fadel, and organist/pianist extraordinaire John Ginty, Allen delivers eleven delightful original tracks, and a surprising cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain”.

Allen jump-starts things with title track “Feel These Blues”, a high-energy boogie with fantastic, bluesy guitar licks.  It’s a perfect song to set the album in motion with.  Keeping the blues bus a rolling is “All Because of You”.  This stand-out track, topped with Ginty’s B3 is slathered with Allen’s soulful guitar and vocals.  There’s an undeniable Memphis Stax influence on “Can’t Break Away From That Girl”.  Allen seeming channels Otis Redding, while throwing in little Steve Cropper-ish licks on guitar.  I love the funky, feel-good groove built around Anderson’s bassline.  All this, along with a little church added via Ginty on organ, makes the track a bona fide favorite.  For a feel-good song which exudes positive energy, nothing beats “That’s Where You Are”.  From the opening bassline to the closing organ outro, this luscious track puts a smile on my face every time.   

Slam Allen keeps the writing real and the performances fresh. Feel the Blues is “Top-Shelf” blues at its best.