Reviews roundup – Jeff Beck vs. Anthony W Rogers vs. Jess & The Bandits vs. Leather Leaf vs. Maiden Of Mars
JEFF BECK
Performing This Week … Live At Ronnie Scott’s
Eagle
So here is Jeff Beck’s 2008 live album all tarted up with a bonus disc. So you’re getting a pair of tracks with guest Eric Clapton as well as the full seven-song set with the rhythm and blues revival outfit The Big Town Playboys. And it’s also out as a triple live album should you really, really want to relive the seventies. You’re also getting all the tracks that appeared on the video version, some of which didn’t make it to CD last time out.
And some of it is very good indeed. There is a lot of widdle as you would expect from Jeff Beck but when he picks a good tune as he does on Billy Cobhams ‘Stratus’, Jan Hammers ‘You Never Know’ or the Tony Hymas / Simon Phillips penned ‘Space Boogie’, then you are listening to guitar playing that really is out of this world.
It’s no surprise that musicians like Jimmy Page and Brian May pitched up in the front row to watch him work, because he can do things to a guitar that no-one else can. The second disc is equally good as he rolls back the years with The Big Town Playboys on an very enjoyable set of sixties r’n’b. The only skip moments are the two songs where Imogen Heap turns up to sing, although her performance of ‘Rollin’ And Tumblin’ is remarkable. But not in a good way.
Otherwise, this is a peerless performance, although completists may well have wanted to see the bonus disc as a stand alone release.
ANTHONY W ROGERS
Wrong
independent
Time for some home made, lo-fi warblings now, courtesy of Anthony W Rogers. Now some folks have been throwing the words Brian, Wilson and Smile at this release, but the only thing I could think of was Todd Rundgren circa 1974, but recorded on a portable cassette recorder.
And that’s not something that doesn’t have a certain charm to it. Because some of the songs really do catch you with their hooks, none more so than ‘White Beach’, which is the album highlight. Elsewhere, you just wish someone had taken him and his songs into a proper studio and thrown some cash at them Granted, nothing would ever save ‘Johnny/Janie’, which Mr Rogers handed over to his none year old children to sing, but what’s the point of making a home made album (and it is a proper, vinyl album) if you can’t do whatever the heck you want.
JESS & THE BANDITS
Here We Go Again
After Midnight Girl Entertainment
In case you don’t know, British country group The Bandits met former American Idol contestant Jessica Clemmons back in 2012 when the latter was the opening act for The Overtones and the former were backing them. A few country tunes later and they decided that the only way forward was as Jess & The Bandits, which led to this, their debut album. And it’s rather good.
Now I like country music, hence my weekly Rockin’ The Country show on GRTR radio, so I’m more than happy to sit back and listen to some modern country, and there are some fine tunes here. Along with The Bandits – brothers Ricci and Louis Riccardi on drums and guitar respectively, Dave Troke on bass, Steven Reid Williams on keyboards/guitar – Ms Clemmons has put together a good set of contemporary country tunes, some of which could do very well Over There.
They’ve spent plenty of time on the road, so they know how to bring the best out of each other, and when you factor in top tunes such as ‘Ready Set’ and ‘Nitty Gritty’, along with some decent ballads and a cover of Jimmy Webb’s ‘Wichita Lineman’, then a good time is had by all.
LEATHER LEAF
Aggravated
independent
How could this not be good when the Melissa Madnezz fronted goth rock combo have songs like ‘Cocaine Fester’ and ‘Nurse Naughty’? I mean, c’mon!
Ms Madnezz (nee Klopf) reckons that “this is where Motley Crue meets Evanescence to create a hard driving, biker style sound”. And she’s not actually wrong, as the band bash and clatter their way through songs that could easily have fitted on to “Too Fast For Love”. If TFFL had been recorded in someones basement, just outside Newcastle in 1981.
Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this. After all, I am a child of the NWOBHM and was brought up on a diet of Neat Records and Silverwing. Whether anyone else is looking for something ramshackle, gothy and sleazy is beyond my ken, but if they are, then this is where they should be headed.
MAIDEN OF MARS
Ashes Of Ohros
independent
Not a female fronted Iron Maiden tribute band, rather a French metal band on the road to St Tropez. (Although they do have a female singer).
Although, to be fair, they do look back to the golden years of 1982 / 1983 for their influences, which seem to be the aforementioned Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. And there is nothing wrong with that. Oddly, considering where they come from, they’ve thrown in a few Celtic Thin Lizzy licks here and there, but it works well, and they have some good tunes to go with the galloping guitars.
‘Lost In Space’, the title track and ‘The Defenders’ are the standout tracks, and anyone who likes a wee bit of NWOBHM with their breakfast, could do worse than give this a listen.
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