Reviews roundup – Canned Heat vs. Erja Lyytinen vs. Lotta Lene vs. Peter Gabriel vs. Eliza Neals
CANNED HEAT
Carnegie Hall 1971 with John Lee Hooker / Stockholm 1973
Purple Pyramid
A couple of vintage Canned Heat concerts have been packaged up and issued, one from 1971 and 1973. The first sees them at Carnegie Hall in 1971 along with John Lee Hooker, following on from their “Hooker n’ Heat” collaboration. A historic tour and one ill-served by this release.
See, you can hardly hear what’s going on, something all the more annoying, as it sounds like there is something really good going on as they boogie through ‘Back Door Man’ and ‘Shake ‘N’ Boogie’, both of which, I suspect, were magnificent. There are some decent liner notes, with a new interview featuring Canned Heat drummer Adolfo Fito de la Parra, but the sound is barely bootleg standard.
A couple of years down the line and Canned Heat were in Stockholm featuring vocalist Bob ‘The Bear Hite’, guitarist Henry ‘The Sunflower’ Vestine, drummer Adolfo Fito La Parra, guitarist James Shane, bassist Richard Hite, and keyboardist Ed Beyer. The sound is better than the ’71 show, and you can actually hear the dynamics and power on ‘Election Blues’ and the aforementioned ‘Shake ‘N’ Boogie’. Completists will probably want both, but the ’73 show is the one to actually listen to.
1971 – BUY AT AMAZON
1973 – BUY AT AMAZON
ERJA LYYTINEN
Live In London
Tuohi
Well I was hardly not going to like this after claiming last year that “The Sky Is Crying” by Erja Lyytinen was my favourite bluestress doing an album of songs by my favourite blues composer, ending up claiming it was my favourite blues release of the year so far.
And here she is on a cracking CD / DVD combo recorded at London’s 100 Club in October of last year. She’s in cracking form as you would suspect, aided and abetted by rhythm guitarist / husband Davide Floreno, bassist Roger Inniss and drummer Miri Miettinen. That particualr combo has seen a few years service now, so they know what to expect from each other, and it’s a tight performance.
As usual, it’s a mix of covers and originals, with the requisite Elmore James songs, but it’s a Fred McDowell tune ‘It’s A Blessing’ that kicks things off. Erja is in fine voice throughout, and when she gets her slide guitar on, then it’s just so damn good. For people like me, it doesn’t get much better than the closing eleven minutes of ‘Dust My Broom’.
A top quality package, worth every penny.
LOTTA LENE
Smoke And Mirrors
independent
Strange to relate, we’re staying in Finland for our next release, but it’s AOR / melodic rock that’s to the fore this time around. It’s the debut album from Lotta Lené, who you shouldn’t get confused with Lotte Lenya, the wife and muse of Kurt Weill. So there is no ‘Die Moritat von Mackie Messer’ on offer here. Instead, it’s a remarkably accomplished set of songs, done in collaboration with her guitarist and producer Jake Mäkelä.
There are some mighty fine songs on offer here, which delve into the world of the best Scandinavian melodic rock, which is where all the best AOR comes from these days. It’s hard to pick favourites, but the opener, ‘What I Want’ is an absolute gem of a tune, which sets out their stall in fine fashion.
Elsewhere, it’s a big thumbs up for ‘Seven Days’ and ‘Promises’, while ‘Stay’ is a fantastic pop / rock song that could easily chart given the right cover version. Lotta herself is a fine singer, and this comes highly recommended.
PETER GABRIEL
Play DVD
Eagle
Right, pay attention Peter Gabriel fans. If you want to know why you should buy this, when you’ve already bought the original version ten years ago and the “Live In Athens 1987” DVD that came out a couple of years back that had it as a bonus disc, well it’s got the following.
Optional video introductions, a live performance of Games Without Frontiers from 2004, the original promo videos for ‘Modern Love’ (1977), ‘The Nest That Sailed The Sky’ (2000), and trailers for ‘A Family Portrait’ , ‘Growing Up Live’ and ‘Secret World Live’.
So how much you want those will determine whether you buy this again, as there can’t be many Peter Gabriel fans who don’t have it in some format. Now there is no arguing that some of the videos on offer were groundbreaking at the time. However, some of them now look horribly dated. To its credit, it’s out a cheap price, so if you want a Peter Gabriel best of, then get this and turn the picture off!
ELIZA NEALS
Breaking And Entering
Blues Rock
Finally, for today, we’re back with the blues, and this time it’s from Eliza Neals, who has had a few albums out over the years, and is a well seasoned performer. But this is probably her best to date.
It’s all original material, with Eliza contributing to all the tunes, and there are a few had a hand in writing all 12 tracks on this album with some credits for Howard Glazer, whose “Looking In The Mirror” album was well received around these parts. She’s a raw and gritty blues shouter, well suited to the material, and it’s probably no surprise when Kenny Olson turns up to play guitar on a couple of songs. In case you don’t know, he was the lead guitarist in The Twisted Brown Trucker Band, who played with Kid Rock on some platinum albums before heading off on the Experience Hendrix tours of America.
But back to Eliza who manages to stay the star of her own show, whether it’s on fiery rockers or slow blues. There are some great songs on offer, with ‘Goo Goo Glass’, ‘Pretty Gritty’ and ‘Southern Dreams’ top of my playlist today. It’s blues, it’s southern rock and it even gets a bit poppy on ‘I’m The Girl, but whatever song she puts her voice to, Ms Neals ends up a winner. Good stuff.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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