​We can hardly call Ben Levin a blues veteran. Nevertheless, with 'Take Your Time' he presents his fourth full-length on the VizzTone Records label. Ben wrote five tracks together for 'Take Your Time' and was backed by legendary bassist Bob Stroger, guitarists Lil' Ed, dad Aron Levin, Lil' Jimmy Reed, Johnny Burgin and Noah Wotherspoon, drummers Walter Cash, Ricky Nye and Shorty. Starr and Kris Butler on conga. That a gifted young traditionalist continues to amaze us is a statement. Together with the generations that preceded him, Ben brings us even closer to that sublime piano boogie sound! What a brilliant release..!

​The release ‘Midnight Blues’ on True North Records is loaded with a high-octane blend of blues, rock, and Americana. It was yet another modern vision for the blues they foretell, but one deeply rooted in its heartbreaking laments. It's like where the north is in the south and where the resilience of the human spirit is fixed. It's almost an intermediate crossroads. And that has become Shawanda’s signature sound. Highly recommended…! 

​Under the title 'Cold Cold Heart', compiler Little Victor focuses for the fifth time on black artists who sought their inspiration in country & western from their white colleagues for the tracks recorded here.
Some artists stay close to the country & western, while others take it formidably to their will by mixing the genre with rhythm & blues, gospel, blues or a bit of rock 'n' roll.
Reasons enough to decide that volume 5 in the 'Rhythm & Western' series is again one to cherish.

Babaux and The Peacemakers are four of Colorado's most acclaimed musicians, songwriters, engineers and producers. Together they provide a dynamic excursion into the roots rock spectrum. This new album is sown with wonderful blues and roots music. The album 'Lucky 13' is already a lucky number for Babaux And The Pacemakers!

The Israelian singer Liraz is not afraid to make a statement.  With her Iranian friends she made in 2020 in secret conditions a strong album called Zan.  In her recent work ‘Roya’ she has the opportunity to show the positive skills of her sextet in absolute freedom.  Strongly recommended.

Billy Truit knows how to diverge like no other on his solo record. From New Orleans blues and jazz, to some country, a rare piano ballad and Caribbean reggae. This album, although released under Billy Truitt’s name, includes most of the Vegas Strip Kings, while taking the ensemble in fresh musical directions. The result is an exhilarating voyage with a seasoned group of skilled musicians who bring a vast array of influences to this creative and original project. Highly recommended! 

Jerry Leiber (°25.04.1933 - + 22.082011) and Mike Stoller (°13.03.1933) together became known as an influential songwriter and producer duo. They met in 1950 and soon discovered their shared interest in blues and rhythm & blues, composing for Jimmy Witherspoon and Charles Brown. With Brown’s 'Hard Times' the duo achieved their first success in 1952. Later, both would also deliver hits to, among others, Elvis, The Coasters and The Drifters. In 1953 Jerry and Mike, together with their mentor Lester Still (°13.01.1918 - + 31.10.1994) founded their own label Spark Records. Later Spark Records would be taken over by Atlantic Records, the label of Ahmet Ertegun. This allowed the duo to work as independent producers.
Of the 30 tracks on this album, 25 originated in their minds, 4 tracks are Spark recordings and 1 track is from an album produced by Jerry Leiber. Both also wrote under the pseudonyms Elmo Glick, Chuck Kaye and Joel Kaye. The mutual love of the two gentlemen for rhythm & blues is beautifully expressed on this compilation.
It is beyond dispute that Leiber and Stoller created beautiful songs, but they also left their mark on rhythm & blues. There is plenty to enjoy on this more than formidable compilation.

​‘Mississippi Bound’ is the much anticipated third release from Australian songwriter Ivor S.K. Following on from 2017’s critically acclaimed Montserrat, Mississippi Bound - Ivor’s first output since relocating to New Orleans - is a fifteen track roots odyssey. In keeping with his last two releases, it’s an all original, self performed and produced effort, reinforcing Ivor’s singular style and feel, while showcasing a few new strings to the bow. The album 'Mississippi Bound' is a tribute to the past blues generations. Ivor also plays all the instruments on his releases, that’s giving his sound a uniquely personal touch. A wonderfully deep groove runs through his barebones approach. Reggae, soul and rock compete for their moment in a bevy of blues. 

​Third album of the Irish eclectic folk band. Traditional rhythms, poetic lyrics, easy beats, and fine rock gathered on a beautiful  eccentric album, called ‘Misneach’. 

Ko Ko Mo is a band from Nantes. They are back with their third album 'Ko Ko Mo', on the major record label Pias. The duo Warren (vocals/guitar) and drummer Kevin 'K20' still present some rock attitude with thumping guitar parts and pounding drums. Warren's voice is ideal for that intended sound. Seventies rock is now their trademark, and this with a quirky artistic freedom. Great! 

​Recently you could read on this site the review of 'Guitar Pickin' Fool' the first volume in the 'More Boss Black Rockers' series that is a sequel to the previously released successful series 'Boss Black Rockers'. Just like on volume 1, you will also find 28 tracks on the second volume, which was given the subtitle 'Hokus Pokus'. Songs that are bursting with rock-solid rhythm & blues, which were labeled as rock 'n' roll after the white artists started working on it. Again, a large part of artists that you probably didn't know, but who therefore released no less successful songs.
It doesn't really matter whether you label it rhythm & blues or rock 'n' roll. The fact is that the black artists played this beautiful and danceable music long before the whites. Volume 2 'Hokus Pokus' is once again highly recommended!

Over the course of 12 hypnotic and volatile rock-and-roll songs, the Melbourne-based five-piece dream up a wildly squalid odyssey partly inspired by frontman ,Kenny Smith. 

​With this new release in the 'Destination' series, we step into the time machine that catapults us back to the Stone Age. Naturally, cavemen and dinosaurs come into view in abundance. The 33 songs, mainly released in the fifties and sixties, are certainly suitable for your upcoming Halloween party. In addition, the CD also contains some thematic radio trailers of films and historical television series. It is nice that composer Marc Mittelacher sought these songs in the golden years of rock 'n' roll.
'Destination Jurassic Land' is a handsome thematic compilation, which will certainly be part of the accompanying soundtrack at Halloween.

​‘Waiting For The Daylight’ illustrates a new chapter in Erja’s musical and artistic trajectory. The album was proudly produced by Lyytinen herself. Subsequently, Erja simultaneously explored sounds on the periphery of the blues-rock genre. She fearlessly pushed herself and the band further than previously before.
 

​After the success of the four double CDs in the 'Kraut!' series, this 'Ost-Kraut!, Progressives Aus Dem DDR-Archives (1970-1975), Teil 1' is a nice addition. Beginning in 1970, talented musicians from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began to copy the sound of their Western idols. Since 1965, the State's cultural policy had banned followers of Western youth culture. These musicians were therefore forced to make music underground. In Poland and the CSSR, progressive musicians were not banned, so they had a huge advantage both technically and artistically and served as role models for the young GDR music scene.
Through 28 tracks from the period 1970-1975 from the archives of AMIGA and the Deutsche Rundfunk we get a formidable picture of the talent that was present in the DDR and other socialist countries during that period. Progressive rock and symphonic rock with often a lot of influences from classical music.
The compiler and connoisseur of the Ost-Kraut Marcus Heumann bundled 28 high-quality tracks. For the history of progressive rock in the GDR, we refer to the no less than 76-page, multi-coloured booklet in German. It also includes illustrations, biographies and photos of the bands and artists.
'Ost-Kraut!, Progressives Aus Dem DDR-Archives (1970-1975), Teil 1' is, in addition to the musical value it has, also a beautiful document of the time.

​For the fourth time, the Koko-Mojo label treats us to 28 tracks by artists from the black community who took inspiration from white country & western and made these songs their own in a special way.
Some songs became real rhythm & blues and blues songs, while other tracks still have more the country & western feel.
Just like the previously published three volumes in the 'Rhythm & Western' series, this 'I Hang My Head And Cry' is once again a direct hit. Unbelievable how Koko-Mojo always manages to release compilations with only top songs. Recommended!

​Texas-style blues rock, swinging boogie and southern guitar rock, Rustry Wright's trademark. In the past decade, Michigan has not produced bigger and more compelling rock tunes infused with that signature blues outfit. The Rusty Wright Band is simply amazing, a band you must see and hear. These phenomenal musicians master and enjoy their craftsmanship. Rusty Wright and band traverse the entire spectrum from vintage Texas blues to Southern rock and rock 'n' roll. Great stuff! 

​Singer-songwriter and harmonica virtuoso Grant Dermody returns to the electrified blues sound on his new full-length release 'Behind The Sun'. The title 'Behind The Sun' refers to a Muddy Waters song. Grant entered the studio together with guitarist Dirk Powell, accordionist Corey Ledet, bassist Lee Allen Zeno, drummer Gerard St. Julien and backing vocalists Teka Briscoe and Ahyris Navarra. Boisterous boogies songs and swampy blues, that's a delicious musical gumbo!

'Epiphany' is the first single in a long time for PennyLeen. The lyrics are autobiographical, catchy, melancholic and above all very emotional. The intimate musicality embraces all of this with a gospel vibe. All this comes from the darkest period of her life. A period that no one would like to experience, and above all experience. A period that no one wants to experience.  All that emotional ballast she wrote off in the single 'Epiphany'. Out of a desperate darkness, the story ends in a hopeful light. A light that is filled with a message of hope!

The 10-CD series 'Boss Black Rockers' was such a huge success that the Koko-Mojo label released a selection on ten 12" vinyls. This success will undoubtedly also be so for the new series 'More Boss Black Rockers'. Ever there is still a mass of great rock songs by black artists. This new series will also contain 10 CDs, good for a total of 280 tracks by black rockers. In this series, compiler Little Victor, better known as the 'Mojo Man', focuses on songs that you rarely and perhaps never heard before. He also went in search of songs that were not featured on any Koko-Mojo compilation. Consequently, some names may not immediately ring a bell until you hear their songs. The rule 'unknown is unloved' also applies here. Although there are also a number of well-known names.
It goes without saying, because all 28 tracks, which balance on the thin line between rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll, are of an extremely high quality.
This 'More Boss Black Rockers' is also a series that is more than worth the purchase. After all, you will not find better than the rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll of this compilation with tracks from the fifties and early sixties. Enjoy!

​The album 'Flatlands' is an intimate masterpiece that keeps the listeners focused. 

​To label the German band Ray Black & The Flying Carpets as a typical band in the genres rock 'n' roll or rockabilly is too short-sighted. After all, after intensively listening to their new album, you quickly come to a completely different conclusion. During 10 original songs and 4 covers, this foursome knows how to convince you that they have more to offer than just another retro band. Rock 'n' roll, rockabilly and country are presented in their most contemporary form.
Ray Black & The Flying Carpets have put a beauty of an album behind their name with 'Downtown Ride'. Their enormous respect for the authenticity of the roots genres, complemented by the way they mix them together and also provide them with a contemporary sound, predicts a formidable future for this band.

The release ‘One Foot In The Groove’ is ​ an intoxicating concoction of funk tunes, blues, soul and Rhythm & Blues. Highly recommended !

Tired with touring (Steampacket, Brian Auger) and realizing she wasn’t made for the world of pop, Julie Driscoll stepped back, wrote her own songs, went into the studio with some friends and called the album ‘1969’ – after the year it was recorded. It didn’t sound like 1969 at all, nor like 1971 – when the LP was eventually released. What we have here is a singer-songwriter with a bunch of mostly slower, softer tunes and matching introspective lyrics. Opening track ‘A New Awakening’ summarizes the project: not just the world is awakening to a new era, so is Julie Driscoll. Surprisingly, Driscoll accompanies herself on acoustic guitar throughout the disc, with her friends helping out for a bit of beat, an extra effect or a specific setting. Thus, ‘A New Awakening’ features a blistering Chris Spedding on electric guitar. ‘Those That We Love’ reminds me of Bert Jansch (acoustic guitar, piano, bass), whereas ‘Leaving It All Behind’ has its jazzy, slightly experimental mood courtesy of music innovator Keith Tippett’s piano and an ensemble of alto, cornet, oboe and trombone. In general, I must underline the input of lead guitarists Jim Cregan (later with Rod Stewart, Streetwalkers, etc.) and the wonderful Brian Godding of Blossom Toes fame. In fact, ‘Lullaby’ is just Driscoll and Godding.
A fine album if you appreciate her particular approach and are able to forget everything she stood for previously.
This re-mastered version by Cherry Red comes without extras, but the booklet has all the technical data, the lyrics and an article based on conversations with Driscoll.
Radio 68  plays choice tracks on Wednesdays 12 and 26 October from 11 a.m. GMT onwards