PAT TRAVERS
Stick With What You Know - Live In Europe (Provogue)
First off, could anybody make this cover any cheaper looking? Geez. Fun is also reduced knowing that most of the band has changed since this '06 gig in Netherlands. But man, some big positives here. The sound is superlative and the playing gorgeous, groovy and top-proficiency. All of this comes at you head-on with a killer version of smart heavy classic 'Life In London'. Heavy-handed reggae 'Crash And Burn' is cool to hear with a pure guitar arrangement, and 'Heat In The Street' is another classic-era highlight. Still, what pulls this down a notch is some noodling and bunch of covers, some tiring, others, well, pretty aggressive. But Pat's an awesome writer; all originals, especially some Black Pearl or Radioactive material would have been nice. He adds a couple from lesser known later records and that all works, because they are hard and bluesy, which is the core of Pat's sound (less funkiness here than "part one" of the concept, Go For What You Know from 1979, one of the smokingest live spreads of all time). So yes, call this an eclectic, even perplexing set list, but performed with class and recorded with the utmost of high fidelity considerations.
Rating 7.5
DANNY JOE BROWN AND THE DANNY JOE BROWN BAND
Danny Joe Brown And The Danny Joe Brown Band (Rock Candy)
Some of the greatest southern rock albums came from the offshoots (i.e. Allen Collins, Rossington Collins Band, Gregg Allman), and this horribly named album is right up there at the top. Originally issued in 1981 after Danny walked out on Molly Hatchet at its peak, this one and only solo record for the hard living Danny Joe (Brown died in 2005 at the age of 54) features a now pedigreed southern rock army of seven, most notably, Bobby Ingram, who owns the Molly Hatchet name these days and leads the fine band deep into the annals of the genre's history, third only to Skynyrd and the Allmans. The fabled Glynn Johns is on as producer, but does nothing much with it, the sound being cozy and organic, frankly, more authentic and less hung up with stadium rock than Molly Hatchet. Still, it's all riffy and richly bar room-bound, Brown's unique timbre cutting through the pulsing chords and twin leads, the totality being a self-assured heavy southern rocker but wholly without histrionics. And what of the reissue values? Well, as per Rock Candy's high journalistic standards, there's an accomplished liner essay from Malcolm Dome, who chats with Bobby Ingram about the album, as well as a load of photos, original credits and reissue credits. Nice little slice of history tightly contained and explained.
Rating 9
