THE HOLLYWOOD BLUE FLAMES "DEEP IN AMERICA" Source: Groove - Norway Date: 04/2010 Writer: Thomas Andersen

The old are the oldest Grom band of the late Hollywood Fats ungsauene shows how the cabinet should be on disk 1, while Fats himself shows how the bureau should be on disc 2

For lovers of traditional blues, this release is nothing short of a revelation and delight from A to Z. It is about the reincarnation of the legendary Hollywood Fats Band, but obviously without the Hollywood Fats, who died in 1986. Now they call the Hollywood Blue Flames and Junior Watson and Kirk Fletcher has stepped in as replacements for Hollywood Fats. The rest of the band is intact, and they are just as good now as they were when the band formed a school for how the West Coast blues should be played.

Along with other veterans such as Rod Piazza, James Harman (who also had Hollywood Fats band in a period) they defined a style of play that hundreds of blues bands have copied page. They took elements of jump blues and Chicago blues, and put it into a swinging kind of blues with a focus on harmonica, mischievous guitar and not least a minimalist, tight complete as with the equally obvious play Little Walter songs like T-Bone Walker issues.

The philosophy then, as now is that the blues is all about interaction and it sound like a band with a high B. There is no room for selfishness and excess, even if each member could almost pulled the load alone. Instead, the tone does not play a redundant, the focus is on what each song requires, and then punctuated it with concise guitar, harmonica or piano solos. At the bottom is the backing of our time without a doubt the most powerful rhythm section of blues, Richard Innes on drums and Larry Taylor on bass. Backing is a study in itself and should be the curriculum for all young blues musicians.

That's right, immediately as the band makes a recording of a classic Hollywood Fats Band live repertoire, namely nit Wit. The rocking backing driven by Taylor's bass, distinctive guitar from Junior Watson and Al Blake super løye vocals. As said, it is the interaction that fascinates as the degrees - it is so close and coordinated that it is a pleasure to hear.

Although Hollywood Fats in its time was a guarantor of swinging blues, this band in today's tapning far more varied. Rambler And A Rolling Stone is melancholic, piano-based Chicago blues that Sunny Land Slim and Otis Spann be delivered. Crescent City Rock is a show piece for Fred Kaplan's piano, and a musician he is. It rolls, trills and wedges while the band really enjoying themselves with intricate rhythmic variations that drive Kaplan forward.

My Baby's National Enquirer Chicago-inspired mid-tempo blues about her boyfriend from hell, and there is not much else to say except that it seems so damned right, and that Junior Watson delivers a superb solo. At this point it is appropriate to pay tribute to the sound on this album, which is beyond delicious. Technician Joe Bellamy is in my ears the ultimate lydmannen in blues, and his CV including My Blues by Kim Wilson (along with Jerry Hall). Why he is not used more? Each tone has its place and there are lots and lots of air in the sound, making it a øreorgasme to listen to.

Another variation is the acoustic Music Man, one autobiographical down-home blues with Al Blake on guitar and harmonica. Soft and fine, though perhaps not very exciting. More of the same follows in Leavin 'California, now with Kaplan on piano as well. Blake is just damned versatile and has a natural authority, both acoustic and wildly swinging with a full band, something Jalopy Thurs Drive clearly shows.

Bad Boy Blues is laid-back Chicago blues, but perhaps a bit too tough. The same can be said of I Do not Care - nice, but a bit daft. Rocky Mountain Blues, however, is West Coast Blues at its best again, now with Kirk Fletcher as a supplier of a superb solo. Taylor shows how to treat bass to fire up the solo. Hip-Hoppin 'Toad is more fine acoustic blues from Blake, but Hushpuppy Kaplan is alone at the keys on a laid-back boogie. Beautiful.

Fly Like The Eagle, Cry Like The Dove and He's A Blues Man is mid-tempo electric blues that puts an end to a superb album with a band that hardly anything like it when it comes to playing blues in the old way with a relaxed, authoritarian complete as sweetened with innovative solo game without big gestures. It is appropriate to say that this probably will not satisfy fans of people like Joe Bonamassa, when there is no hint of excess of any kind. For me it is just that a relief.

CD2 could say a lot about, but I think it is primarily a bonus to fans of the Hollywood Fats. The sound is generally not all the world, all the while we are talking about live recordings made in the early 80's. But it is so far unreleased things, so fans will enjoy great to hear an innovative Hollywood Fats that apparently was not able to deliver weak guitar playing. Check for example nit Wit - for a very monster he could be when he squeezed the properly. He was one of the guitarists, like Stevie Ray Vaughan, where the guitar was not an instrument, but a sort of natural outgrowth of the body that he could treat just as he wanted. CD 2 is a wonderful retrospective on a band that defined a style of play in the blues that stands as a pole to this day.

All in all, are only recommending the purchase without any reservations. You get one of the best traditional blues band in great form, with mostly original song material and a sound that is to die for. While not everything is gold on CD 1, and it is a bit too rusty sound on CD 2, so I leaned in the dust of Delta Groove Records serving this release. Incredibly delicate and unfamiliar professional cover it well.