A softer sound from Seasick Steve
This gruff looking fellow first came to my attention on an episode of 'Jools Holland's Annual Hootnanny', sometime around the new year. I suspect there's a fair few people reading this in a similar boat. For these new to Seasick Steve, think deep American southern Blues with one hell of a groove and plenty of honest dirt and a few less strings than normal and you have it pretty much down.
It's certainly not the most obvious of styles for RoomThirteen to review but all rock has its roots in the blues tradition and Seasick Steve is certainly the thing and the symbol of the thing. If you were to look-up the definition of "Blues Guitar Playing Hobo" in the encyclopedia, you'd find a picture of Steve.
How does the new album measure up? Lets do this by comparing whiskey. Seasick Steve started similar to Jack Daniels. It's American, fun, rough, cheap and does the job. This album seems a little bit more like Jim Beam. It's perhaps more polished but it looses something. The title track is great and it does have that dirt and growl to it. But songs like "Happy Man" have a touch of Soul in there, with the backing vocals making it richer but taking off the edge.
The production values seem pretty high with a crisp, clear sound. "Prospect Lane" is a nice little ditty, but it's not "Get out of your seat for a good barn dance" or similar. "Thunderbird", however, is a little bit truer to form. Steve's voice puts on a proper growl, the guitar picks up some good old electric distortion and the good old Mississippi Drum Machine is back.
"Fly by Night", along with a few other tracks are love themed, slow and largely finger picked. It's great for chilling out to and I think this makes a great summer evening track. He certainly brings across the feeling of endless corn fields in an American summer. And I think thats the general trend of the album. We have less of the boogie and grunge, more soul and softer acoustic work. I think thats good and bad. It shows a great passion and range of styles which stands Steve in good stead but it's perhaps not what most people might be after.
It's simple, passionate stuff, interjected with Steve's famous tales of life on the railroads. Fans of blues should not miss out on this album, but get the first one too!