Reviews roundup – Psych Tribute To The Doors vs. Marcelo Paganini vs. Terry Gillespie

Reviews roundup – Psych Tribute To The Doors vs. Marcelo Paganini vs. Terry Gillespie

VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Psych Tribute To The Doors
Cleopatra

The Doors. Lumpen blues rock spouting sixth form poetry or psychedelic innovators? If you picked the latter, then you are, officially, an arse.

They weren’t very good, although there are some good songs in their catalogue, so I was quite looking forward to this. As with all these projects, it’s a hit and miss affair, veering between inspired and insipid, but it’s usually interesting. The good ones are very good. So that’s Elephant Stone kicking things off with a proper psych take on ‘L.A. Woman’, Dark Horses spacerock trip on ‘Hello I Love You’ and ‘The Soft Parade’ by Sons of Hippies.

The keech is really keech and uppermost was the keech fest that was The Raveonettes version of ‘The End’, which is a masterclass in how not to make a record.

‘A Psych Tribute to the Doors’
Track Listing
Elephant Stone, ‘L.A. Woman’
The Black Angels, ‘Soul Kitchen’
Psychic Ills, ‘Love Me Two Times’
Dark Horses, ‘Hello, I Love You’
Camera, ‘People Are Strange’
Dead Meadow, ‘The Crystal Ship’
Sons of Hippies, ‘The Soft Parade’
Dead Skeletons, ‘Riders on the Storm’
Wall of Death, ‘Light My Fire’
Clinic, ‘Touch Me’
VietNam, ‘Roadhouse Blues’
Geri X, ‘Love Her Madly’
The Raveonettes – The End

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MARCELO PAGANINI
2012 Space Traffic Jam
CD Baby

I live in a world where I’m not unfamiliar with oddities, but here comes a CD of French / Brazilian prog rock with fusion vibes. Read that sentence and weep. For here comes Marcelo Paganini along with Gary Husband on drums (Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Jack Bruce, the entire world), along with guest appearances from Eumir Deodato and ex-Yes members Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood.

Marcelo Paganni has been at this malarkey since the late seventies, and actually lives up to the prog / fusion billing with hints of King Crimson married up to the Latin vibes. Although it does spend a fair amount of time caught in an ambient groove that is sometimes over lethargic. But when he lets go a wee bit, it really is a treat.

He’s a great guitarist, and when the songs match up to the technical expertise on display, it’s a real treat. Theopening ‘Sphinxes of Babel’ and the Yes enhanced ‘Somewhere Somehow’ are the go to tracks, and classic prog fans will find a lot to enjoy.

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TERRY GILLESPIE
Bluesoul
CD Baby

And we’re finishing up today with some Bluesoul, which as the name implies is a fusion of blues and soul. Something that scarcely qualifies as new. Hello Little Milton and a thousand others. But Canadian fell Terry Gillespie is rather good at it. Of course, it’s the latest thing (again) with the likes of Jonny Lang, Hamilton Loomis and Robert Cray leaping headlong into the groove.

However, whereas those performers are nearly all soul, Mr Gillespie hangs on to more of the blues. Which is fine by me. He kicks off with an Elmore james riff, channels Bo of that ilk on ‘What Would Bo Diddley Do?’ and gets boogified on ‘It Wasn’t Me’. When he does go off on a soul vibe, it’s sixties style with ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Cry’ the peach in the pie.

Sue Foley says that “Terry Gillespie’s a bluesman to the core. His blues is the truth and it comes through with every word and melody he wraps his soulful voice around”. Believe it.

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