2021 – Treated & Released
Records
By Phillip Smith; July 3, 2021
Supramundane Blues is the latest recording from the good Reverend
Freakchild and this time around, he’s taking on classic spirituals, down home
gospel, and contemporary songs grounded in that arena. His flavor of blues and roots-based jams bring
the songs to a whole new level. With Freakchild,
is guitarist Mark Karan (Rat Dog), keyboardist Steve Sirockin, bassist
Malcolm Oliver, drummer Chris Parker (Aretha Franklin, Donald
Fagan, Quincy Jones), Jason Hamm (String Cheese Incident), and multi-instrumentalist
Hugh Pool. Grammy-nominated
vocalist and harmonica player the Reverend Shawn Amos also makes a guest
appearance.
Freakchild takes Albert King’s “Everybody Want to go to Heaven” and gives it a whole different sound, cloaking the song in a spirted cosmic energy. I love the upbeat version of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”. Freakchild sings this with serious conviction as buckets of grease are dumped on his fabulous slide guitar performance. A list of contemporary bluesy songs about Jesus would not be complete without Z.Z. Top’s “Jesus Just Left Chicago”. This one beautifully plays out on acoustic guitar and harmonica. Freakchild breaks out his magical special sauce on “Working on a Building”, a gospel standard which absolutely jams. It’s impossible to sit still while its playing. “Keep on Praying”, a song by Jake La Botz keeps the revival tent all fired up, with Shawn Amos stepping in with vocals and harp. My favorite track is Freakchild’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”. I’ll probably always favor the original version, but this one really won me over, more-so than the Johnny Cash version. Freakchild douses this one with really swampy slide, a driving rhythm and juicy blues harp. I absolutely adore it.
The album ends on a
sixteen-plus minute track called “Seven Billion Light Years Old”, which packs a
multitude of sound-bites into an audio montage.
It features various pieces of spoken word, and slivers of music inspired
by artists such as The Who, Eddie Mars, John Mellencamp, Tracy
Chapman, and David Bowie. It
truly is an enlightening journey.
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I’ve reviewed these other albums
by Reverend Freakchild :
Dial It In : PhillyCheeze's
Rock & Blues Reviews: #328 : Reverend Freakchild -Dial It In
(phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)
Illogical Optimism : PhillyCheeze's
Rock & Blues Reviews: Reverend Freakchild - Illogical Optimism
(phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com)
For more information about the artist, visit this website : www.www-reverendfreakchild.org
