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THE
HOLLYWOOD BLUE FLAMES "SOUL SANCTUARY"
Source: Blues &
Rhythm Magazine
Date: 05/2005
Writer: Paul Harris |
After
the death of Hollywood Fats in 1986 his band performed
together only on rare occasions. Now they are back together
with Kirk Eli Fletcher (a 2005 W.C. Handy Award nominee)
replacing Fats on guitar. Original harmonica player
Al Blake takes the vocals and the other founder members
are Richard Innes on drums, Fred Kaplan on piano and
organ, and Larry Taylor on bass. Their familiarity from
playing together in the past produces a tight combo
behind Fletcher’s powerful yet subtle guitar playing
which is to the fore on the lively instrumentals ‘Flambed’
and ‘Jo Angelyn’, the latter also featuring
Kaplan’s piano and organ.
Of the two remaining instrumentals ‘Soul Sanctuary’
is a slow blues with Blake’s atmospheric harmonica
upfront, and ‘Big Foot’s Boogie’ has
Kaplan boogie-woogieing on piano – excellent!
The latter title and ‘You’re Sweet’
are said to be bonus tracks. What does this mean in
relation to a new release? I can understand when an
LP is reissued on CD with extra numbers added, but with
new recordings……? Whatever, Jimmy Rogers’
‘You’re Sweet’ is a duet between Al
Blake on acoustic guitar and rural vocals and Kim Wilson
guesting on harmonica – it’s a blast in
country blues vein. Only two other songs are not written
by band members – L.C. McKinley’s ‘Nit
Wit’, which is given a jump jive treatment, and
Muddy’s ‘Soon Forgotten’, which dates
back to 1960.
‘The Land Of Calio’ is taken at walking
pace while ‘My National Inquirer Baby’ is
a riffing, bouncy blues and ‘Coco Puffin’’
a contrasting moody, slow blues about drug and drink
addiction, the title presumably relating to puffing
cocaine. Kaplan’s Hammond is outstanding on this
number. Although it has a similar rhythm and title to
the Henry Gray opus, ‘I’m A Lucky Lucky
Man’ is not the same song. Blake’s voice
is particularly effective here and Kaplan takes a nice
piano solo. Al Blake alternates his vocal with his harmonica
playing on the lively ‘Black Cat Bone’ (and
Fletcher bursts in with his guitar solo), and finally,
‘He’s A Blues Man’ is a funky little
number with both harmonica and piano breaks.
This is a real blues album performed in varied styles
so you never get bored. Nice one. |
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