BLACK STONE CHERRY - "FAMILY TREE" (2018)

BLACK STONE CHERRY - "FAMILY TREE"
(Running time: 52:54 minutes; 13 songs)
("Mascot Records"; 2018; CD):

Hey guys, yes, already the next record-review is here and now aimed at you, yes, and this sort of like again after one more too sweaty and too heated night… hot time, summer in the city, I guess… and here and now you get my record-review on the (brand)new BLACK STONE CHERRY full-length-album titled "FAMILY TREE" released still sort of pretty recently this year in 2018 via "MASCOT RECORDS" on a beautiful desgined digi-pak CD (and pretty much also on LP I would guess). I discovered them sort of just last year or two years ago or so with their phenomenal 2016 full-length-album masterpiece "KENTUCKY" and so I was more than only a bit curious when I finally got aware of that "FAMILY TREE" was released and, oh hell yeahr, that huge curiosity of me, myself, and I was far more than justified because with "FAMILY TREE" BLACK STONE CHERRY in 2018 absolutely remained on the fantastic and incredible high level of skills and qualities they have reached and conquered with "KENTUCKY" and they even enriched and varied it all even more. Compared to/with "KENTUCKY" the first impression that you get from/of "FAMILY TREE" is that it's far more colourful and that it shines in a by far more warm(er) light (at least that was my first impression) and this first impression only grows stronger when you then finally listening to it. A real monster, a true beast of an album with a very huge own identity, filled with huge and big valuable loads of nutrious fresh ideas and that's massively bubbling over with life. The Classic Rock and/or Vintage Rock influences grew very big this time and are massively enriched with very strong (also sometimes tribalistic arranged) Soul marks and cultivated with very strong and damn cool and very present Gospel inspired (or so it seems to me) passages that give the songs and the whole album not only a very special and damn own and unique character and identity but also a pretty different and with that also a very colourful and soulful timbre and all is melted together by phenomenal songwriting full of exciting twists and turns and filled with tons of ironclad-like grapping moments and filled with very diverse arrangements and an in general highly multi-layered and multi-facetted compositorial approach of writing and delivering songs with a very 'rousing mind-set' and filled to the maximum with high octane energy and marked by very strong and alive-lively dynamics as well as the incredible huge ability to write and create with each and every song a through'n'through damn hymn and each as exciting, grapping, rousing, touching, and interesting as the other, oh boy, fantastic, and all done'n'delivered by masterly skilled musicians (as well as songwriters). All is marked by highly charismatic lead vocals, highly diverse and really bright and loud singing guitars, a warm and yet perwful and loud walkin'n'talkin' bass, really powerful punching drumming, and all is enriched by very intense and atmospheric backing choirs and brilliant keyboard and organ parts, various horns, and a breath-taking percussion section. It's just absolutely larger than life and damn groundbreaking and just a damn rich and a highly diverse total masterpiece of an album, one of the strongest of and in and for 2018 for sure, with a totally unique character so that any band comparisions are at the end of the day sort of nonsense, yes, but if you really need some other names then you can loosely find BLACK STONE CHERRY's "FAMILY TREE"  standing on a very independently position somewhere between LYNYRD SKYNYRD, the BLUES PILLS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, and BRAND NEW SIN as well as we all probably won't get an album like "FAMILY TREE" that soon again with bringing Alterantive/Modern Rock and Classic/Vintage Rock so perfectly and easy flowing together so that fans of for example NICKELBACK will love it as well as also fans of for example LED ZEPPELIN will also love it anyhow, too. Nothing but an incredible fantastic and an absoultely outstanding album, an amazing one, yes, that's it what BLACK STONE CHERRY's "FAMILY TREE" is and all is then at the end of the day made round by great lyrics, a gorgeous artwork, and a perfect warm and earthy production-sound. This is 'highliest' recommended to any fan of true and real and just amazing and outstanding Rock/Rock &  Roll music outta there and if you are in that target-group you should know what you have to do by now and right now, point and fact.

(10 of 10 points)

http://www.blackstonecherry.com/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

BLACK STONE CHERRY - "SOUTHERN FRIED FRIDAY NIGHT" (2018, "FAMILY TREE")

BLUES PILLS - "LADY IN GOLD" (2016)

BLUES PILLS - "LADY IN GOLD"
(Running time: 40:08 minutes; 10 songs)
("Nuclear Blast Records"; 2016; CD):

God damn it, July and August were very good months up here and then in September only one post saw the light of day up here. No, this blog wasn't already dead again and it's still very well and alive it was just a very busy month - very, very busy. But okay, enough of the whining and now back into the action and so back on track again with a new record-review up here and this time on the 2016 full-length-album "LADY IN GOLD" of/by the mighty BLUES PILLS. The 'highflyers' of the last years and pretty much sort of one of the 'kickstarters' of the whole current Classic Rock hype. After I am totally into this whole Rock/Hard Rock/Heavy Rock/Classic Rock thing then and now that's all more than fine with me. This is the follow up release to/of their (I think so) self-titled 2014 album (back then also released via "NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS"), and so here we have "LADY IN GOLD" and it finally made its way up here on this very blog. Okay, enough of the small-talking-stuff and so now finally to some precise looks on and listens to the "LADY IN GOLD". The BLUES PILLS deliver us here ten (back then) new songs of their heavily by Blues fueled and strongly by 1970's (Hard) Rock influenced Classic Rock or maybe better Vintage Rock that (this time) also offers a lot of Soul, some Psychedelic (Rock) notes, and even some few Gospel marks and impressions in it and all done very, very fresh and alive-lively, denying every and any lame and stale retro crap bullshit any chance of taking any ground; and that's damn fucking good. The BLUES PILLS bring fantastic and heartfelt, soulful and playful, very sensitive (yet in the right moments ass kicking) and melodic/symphonic, multi-layered, and diverse guitars to the table, backed up by a breath-taking tight, precise, yet 'airy' and versatile rhythm section, and a bunch of 'other instruments' (xylophone, piano, organ, mellotron) to cultivate and enrich and round it all up in a very nice and delicious way. And above all there thrown the larger than life and stand alone lead vocals by/of the in every sense and way stunning Elin Larson, here and there supported by 'goosepimples-giving' (Gospel) choirs. Add to this a high skilled and very rich and diverse songwriting full of several emotions, moods, fresh and surprising moments, and just great twists and turns and an intense tension-building and you'll pretty much know what a great album is coming here for/at you. Okay, any favorite songs to list here makes no sense, because the whole album is just purest Gold if not platinum. A fantastic artwork, cool lyrics, and a first class earthy and dirty yet transparent and especially full and warm production sound we get on top of it all. Okay, this is, I think so, a pretty short review, especially for 'my usual standards', anyway, I've said all what there is or was to say, I can only highest recommend BLUES PILLS' "LADY IN GOLD" to any fan of fresh, sympathic, authentic. honest, real, and just damn-close-to-brilliant and just bright and golden shining (Classic/Vintage) Rock music. So, in case you really should have missed out so far on this masterpiece, why the bloody hell ever, you should really change this, finally, as damn fucking soon as fucking bloody possible, yes, because this is an outstanding masterpiece pretty close to perfect. So go out and get it, and now cheers and good night.

(9 of 10 points)

http://www.bluespills.eu/ (-the link to the homepage of the band, so check it out)

BLUES PILLS - "LITTLE BOY PREACHER" /live\ (2016, "LADY IN GOLD")

ERIC CLAPTON - "I STILL DO" (2016)

ERIC CLAPTON - "I STILL DO"
(Running time: 54:16 minutes; 12 songs)
("Polydor Records"; 2016; CD):

And here comes the next one, and again, next post, next record-review, but finally leaving 2015 again for now with now hitting 2016 before more or less soon then next up will be finally again a new 2017 release be reviewed up here by me for you. And after I declared this whole month yesterday to a Rock and Metal month up here I thought today that a little bit of good old Blues won't spoil anything this month (as if some good old Blues could spoil anything "at-any-time") and also somehow matches pretty good to the schedule up here this month so far, yes, and so now here we go: Here now comes my record review on ERIC CLAPTON's 2016 full length album "I STILL DO", released, of course, in 2016 via "POLYDOR RECORDS". "I STILL DO" is sort of a very personal album, at least so in my perception while listening (enthusiastically) to it (but, yes, as if any good Blues record wouldn't be anyhow anyway a "personal affair"), and it features a well mixed combination out of new own Slow Hand masterpieces and a bunch of "good cover versions", and it is/was produced by or together with Glyn Johns who also done the recording of ERIC CLAPTON's classic "SLOW HAND" back then all the way back in 1977. The album title, "I STILL DO", is or was inspired by some "private-famous" or maybe also "last" words of ERIC CLAPTON's aunt who died at the age of 89 and who, so the story goes, used this "slogan" very often and it finally (should) become/became the name of the album: "I STILL DO" (what adds to my perception of the very "personal character" of the whole album). The whole record/album is a very intense and reduced, "down-to-earth", honest and authentic, pretty fresh intoned Blues album with some (slight) Rock and Soul infuences in it as well as it is peaked with some surprsingly fresh marks in it like for example healthy doses of Folk and some few Gospel music notes that enrich it all. Soulful and playful, very emotional and intense guitars, building a strong and grapping tension as well as creating a very tight and rousing atmosphere and the intense songs inherit a inner strength that's just impressive, not to talk about the strong own identity and the own character that mark them as well, too. ERIC CLAPTON delivers on and with "I STILL DO" fantastic guitars that are played full of heart and soul and passion and deliver a wide diversity of tones/tonings and moods and just shine bright with all their class and intensity, and he gives us a heartfelt lead singing performance that only add strongly to the very emotional approach of the whole album, the reduced and basic rhythm section gives us dustdry and yet boneshaking strong rhythms, adding a solid and loadable backbone to the songs. Strong "second-voice-singings" (in parts female, in parts done and delivered by "prominent co-singers") and a lot of fresh ideas and just a sympathic spirit and a authentic attitude then make it all complete, and for example great piano parts just make it all only stronger at the end of the day. My personal favorites are "ALABAMA WOMAN BLUES", the "strong force" that is "CAN'T LET YOU DO IT", the incredible beautiful "I WILL BE THERE", "LITTLE MAN, YOU HAD A BUSY DAY", the traditional "I'LL BE ALRIGHT", and "CATCH THE BLUES", yes, that are my favorites on "I STILL DO", an album that also delivers very interesting and good lyrics, a very cool artwork, and a totally warm and earthy and also "sympathic" dirty production sound. ERIC CLAPTON and Blues in general fans should really call this one their own, you will enthusiastically cheer up to it, trust me, because it's "simply" an emotional and passionate and a truly damn good album that I here and now can "only" calmly recommend to you. Yes, I think that's it so far, now you know what's up and what you best should do promptly, yes, so now I wish you a nice evening and a good night and then soon or so more, again.

(8 of 10 points)

http://www.ericclapton.com/LiveInSD?ref=https://www.bing.com/ (-the link to Slow Hand's very own homepage, check it out)

ERIC CLAPTON - "I WILL BE THERE" /feat. ED SHEERAN\ (2016, "I STILL DO")