Ah, the first new release of the year to reach my mailbox. It's always a good feeling to start fresh, looking for the new best thing, cleanse the pallet of all those miserable 2016 trends, and throw out all those Top Ten Records of the Year lists. It's all about the new now.
What better way to advance then, as somebody wisely said, get back to where you once belonged. Here's a stripped-down, classic, no frills, real deal blues release from a new combo out of Waterloo, Ontario. From the late Daddy Long Legs group, guitar player Mike Elliot leads this outfit, which is your basic bass-guitar-drums bunch, nothing more (except a harmonica once). The only effect is the reverb, and everything post-50s is ignored. This is blues and boogie, as developed once electric guitars, amps and drums were added.
The group knows how to crank it out or take it easy, doing a few jump blues in between the excitement. And while you can imagine them easily sitting in some bar 60 years ago, this works just fine for today as well, styles that haven't been improved on. After all, barroom wisdom is still the same; as Elliott sings in Friday Night, "When you pick up the tab, everybody is your friend." And when you don't try to be smarter than the good stuff, blues fans will be your friend too.
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