Reviews roundup – Andi Deris vs. Young Peculiar vs. Saiichi Sugiyama Band
ANDI DERIS & The Bad Bankers
Million Dollar Haircuts On Ten Cent Heads
earMUSIC 2013
An odd one, this. The first solo album in fourteen years from the Helloween frontman sees him taking a sideways step away from the power metal he’s best known for, into, well, just about everything else.
As you will gather from the band name and album title, he’s having a swipe at the folks responsible for the global economic crisis, something that will doubtless cause a few sleepless nights in penthouse flats in the City of London.
He jumps from punk to melodic rock to industrial metal, whilst hurling some potty mouthed lyrics at completely the wrong audience. But that’s the nature of politics in music. Your targets aren’t listening, and they don’t care. However, fans of rawk in its broadest spectrum will find a lot to enjoy here.
Helloween fans should listen to ‘The Last Days Of Rain’ if they want to stick to familiar ground, but it’s the proggish ‘Who Am I’ and the industrial ‘Cock’ that scream classic from the rooftops. Naturally, the differences in style will stop most people from enjoying the album as a whole, but on a day out from the office, Andi Deris has done a good job.
It’s out as a standard CD and a limited edition double CD digipak (the latter containing demo versions of three tracks from the album – ‘Don’t Listen To The Radio’, ‘Must Be Dreaming’ and ‘EnAmoria’ – as well as demos of two unreleased tracks, ‘Behind Dead Eyes’ and ‘Little Lies’), and on vinyl.
YOUNG PECULIAR
Ordinary
independent 2013
Are they young, peculiar, or just ordinary? Well, a bit of all three, to be fair. They’re definitely young, not as peculiar as they’d like to be, and most ordinary on a couple of tracks, but this second EP certainly holds out some hope for things to come.
They’re basically an indie-pop band, but they throw in a few odd song structures and some folk styled influences which lift the songs and performances hither and thither.
They can certainly play up a storm, and when the songs match that, then you get the feeling they could be on the verge. Oddly, though, it’s the two bonus tracks that stand out most – an acoustic version of ‘One’ and a Tony Platt produced version of ‘Who You Are’. Certainly worth keeping an ear out for.
SAIICHI SUGIYAMA BAND
The Smokehouse Sessions
Cedar Mountain Music
I know what you’re thinking. We’ve had some metal and some indie-pop, but what we really need is some Japanese blues. Well, don’t let it be said that I don’t pay attention to the unwashed masses, because here is Saiichi Sugiyama.
He’s been on the go for ages, and the British based Sugiyama has worked with the likes of Pete Brown (Cream), Zoot Money, Boz Burrell, Clem Clempson of Colosseum, and Ben Matthews of Thunder. However, this fourth solo album sees his guitar playing in a very good light.
Split between originals (two written with Pete Brown) and some classics, he’s helped along by some good vocals from Rietta Austin and a top rate backing band. The originals are re-recordings from earlier releases, and he pays tribute to his Cream / Clapton influences on some great versions of the Albert and Freddie King tunes ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ and ‘Hideaway’, as well as a sterling version of ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’, the Mississippi Sheiks chestnut from the days of old. A very enjoyable release.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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