When George A. Norton put words to W. C. Handy’s Memphis Blues he began the chorus, “They got a fiddler there that always slickens his hair, an’ folks, he sure do pull some bow”. Well these exponents of Memphis blues don’t have a fiddler to pull bow, but everything that they do get their hands on, they sure pull into very nice shape indeed.
From the first welcoming riff of Mark Shaw’s Take Me Home there is no let up. It’s a song rooted in his own experience, looking back to days when all the summers they were warmer and each winter brought us snow.Rather than rehash the same old stock blues clichés, he employs the kind of phrases that we all use today, just as 1940s blues is full of phrases that mid-20th Century Chicagoans would use and relate to. It¹s blues for the here and now and by adding mandolin and banjo to the band’s usual instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards there is warmth that adds to the uplift of this opener.
The uplifting continues with Web Top Checker, where straight away the benefit of two lead vocals becomes apparent with Chris Lomas taking over the mike. An added bonus on this track is the excellent guitar work of US guitarist Jimmy Griswold.
Griswold also appears on track 3, Blues Thing, a number which features one of the organ solos from Fred Skidmore that, in extended form, are so much a highlight of live performances.
Having the two lead singer’s works well for the band. The voices complement each other so that there is no difficulty for the listener going from track to track. With the different kinds of song that they each choose to sing, this use of two voices is another element in a mix of styles that the band weld together into a sound very much their own. After a while, it isn¹t as if you are listening to one vocalist or the other, it’s simply that Memphis in the Meantime is singing.
Mickey Barker’s solid drumming underpins the whole album with the kind of seeming effortlessness which is the result of his years of experience with bands such as Steve Gibbons, Trevor Burton and Magnum. He’s also the producer of the album and both his drumming and his production are positive and confident.
By track 4, Why¹s it Always Me, we are in Tex-Mex country with Fred Skidmore¹s accordion setting the tone. The Lomas lyric has a sort of Chuck Berry tongue-in-cheek wit and the track succeeds in bringing a rye smile of recognition to the face.
But there¹s no let up of pace with another no-nonsense drum opening to track 5, Knock Me Down With a Feather, and Skidmore turning to piano and hammering the boogie from it (as he does later on Don Leady¹s Stop That Rappin ).
Then straight into a soulful Something To Hold On To, another Shaw composition with the understated swirls of Skidmore¹s big Hammond sound coming more to the fore.
Hardly time to catch breath, and we¹re rocking again with Lomas’ Oldsmobile. And so the album drives forward, the tracks coming thick and fast, but the control and variety control within the music, and variety in choice of material make sure that you are never run down by it.
This CD rocks. A year ago I might have said that it’s as tight as a levee, recent history suggests that I say tighter than a levee.
This is soulful blues mixed with some tight rocking music and made into Memphis in the Meantime’s own through the time-honoured practice of playing it on the road. In fact, throughout the album there’s the energy and empathy between the musicians reminiscent of a live gig. If this is what they can do on a first album look out!
Dave Reeves.
March 2006.
SP Fanzine
From the first welcoming riff of Mark Shaw’s Take Me Home there is no let up. It’s a song rooted in his own experience, looking back to days when all the summers they were warmer and each winter brought us snow.Rather than rehash the same old stock blues clichés, he employs the kind of phrases that we all use today, just as 1940s blues is full of phrases that mid-
The uplifting continues with Web Top Checker, where straight away the benefit of two lead vocals becomes apparent with Chris Lomas taking over the mike. An added bonus on this track is the excellent guitar work of US guitarist Jimmy Griswold.
Griswold also appears on track 3, Blues Thing, a number which features one of the organ solos from Fred Skidmore that, in extended form, are so much a highlight of live performances.
Having the two lead singer’s works well for the band. The voices complement each other so that there is no difficulty for the listener going from track to track. With the different kinds of song that they each choose to sing, this use of two voices is another element in a mix of styles that the band weld together into a sound very much their own. After a while, it isn¹t as if you are listening to one vocalist or the other, it’s simply that Memphis in the Meantime is singing.
Mickey Barker’s solid drumming underpins the whole album with the kind of seeming effortlessness which is the result of his years of experience with bands such as Steve Gibbons, Trevor Burton and Magnum. He’s also the producer of the album and both his drumming and his production are positive and confident.
By track 4, Why¹s it Always Me, we are in Tex-
But there¹s no let up of pace with another no-
Then straight into a soulful Something To Hold On To, another Shaw composition with the understated swirls of Skidmore¹s big Hammond sound coming more to the fore.
Hardly time to catch breath, and we¹re rocking again with Lomas’ Oldsmobile. And so the album drives forward, the tracks coming thick and fast, but the control and variety control within the music, and variety in choice of material make sure that you are never run down by it.
This CD rocks. A year ago I might have said that it’s as tight as a levee, recent history suggests that I say tighter than a levee.
This is soulful blues mixed with some tight rocking music and made into Memphis in the Meantime’s own through the time-
Dave Reeves.
March 2006.
SP Fanzine
Dave Reeves is a writer, performer and musician.
