Ana Popovic - Power

I really enjoyed the most recent album by Ana Popovic, 2018’s Like It On Top.  With a fair amount of collaboration from Keb’ Mo’, it was full of cool and modern soul grooves, and sharp lyrics about what a woman wants and expects from the world – and from men.
Unfortunately, Power doesn’t repeat that success, partly because it rarely lives up to its title. Sure, it has its moments, but often there’s a sense of gloss rather than substance.  Opening track ‘Rise Up!’ is a case in point, lightly funky with burbling bass and swirls of organ, and

Ana Popovic - more noise from that Strat would be welcome
Pic by Brian Rasic

Popovic singing sweetly over the top.  It’s airy like a soufflé, with a bridge nudging towards Nu-soul territory, which isn’t my happy place. A couple of guitar breaks inject a touch of grit into proceedings, but that’s about all they manage.
‘Luv’n Touch’ and ‘Recipe Is Romance’ even seem to veer into easy listening territory, which isn’t a crime in itself, but these examples don’t do it for me.  The former sounds like it would be a suitable theme song for some winsome romantic comedy, with floaty vocals from Popovic, though at least there’s a satisfying burst of energy late on, with guitar soloing and backing vocals rubbing up against each other.‘Recipe Is Romance’ is similarly too sweet to be wholesome, with jazzy guitar commentary, syrupy horns, and what sounds like a multi-tracked vocal by Popovic – this last a trick that’s adopted on a few tracks, and typifies the air of over-polished production in evidence.
‘Power Over Me’ has a bit more oomph, even if it’s still in the shiny soul zone.  Flares of horns add a bit of heat, there’s some edge in the guitar solo again, and a catchy chorus is delivered with conviction. ‘Queen Of The Pack’ also packs a bit of a punch, with a couple of biting wah-wah solos, horns pumping, and some rat-a-tat vocal delivery, notwithstanding more of that multi-tracking.  And ‘Strong Taste’ is entertaining, with a brisk, tripping shuffle of a rhythm, and Popovic getting sassy with her vocal.  The “dooh-do-do-do-dooh” backing vocals contribute to a lively jitterbugging feel, but it still feels like higher gears should have been explored.
‘Deep Down’ gets closer to the grooves of Like It On Top, riding a simple bass line and with a straightforward, assertive vocal.  But it gets repetitive towards the end, and eventually outstays its welcome.  ‘Ride It’ is a similar curate’s egg, bobbling along pleasantly on another nifty groove, with some woozy horn remarks and stinging guitar licks, while Popovic proclaims that “We’re gonna ride it, ride it till the wheels fall off,” though without any real sense of exhilaration.
‘Flicker’N’Flame’ though, provides a belated moment of serious grit and drive, with some stomping drums and bass, and Popovic getting good and riled up vocally, insisting “Need you to work your nasty on me” and “Cover my mouth as I scream in ecstasy”.  Ooh er, missus. Then she lets rip with some squealing guitar to close, though it could do with being whacked higher up in the mix.
That kind of agitation and passion is exactly the kind of vibe Power could do with more of. Coming to the recording of this album on the back of treatment for breast cancer, Ana Popovic had a story to tell, but Power doesn’t feel like a deeply emotional album – not to this listener at least.  A bit more of Ana Popovic telling it like is, with less backing vocal sheen and more guitar torque, might have been more persuasive.
 
Power is out now and can be ordered here.

Mike Zito - Live From The Top

He’s been a busy fella this last year or so, has Mike Zito.  What with launching new label Gulf Coast Records with his partner Guy Hale, producing albums for a number of their artists, and releasing a tribute album to Chuck Berry in collaboration with a bundle of other blues honchos.  So when’d he find the time to go recording a live album?

Answer - he didn’t.  Live From The Top is a reissue of a live album recorded at the after-party from the 2010 Blues From The Top Festival in Colorado – and a reminder of just how good Mike Zito can be. 

Mike Zito - havin' a guitarin' good time

The show kicks off with ‘Natural Born Lover’, one of nine tracks from the 2009 studio album Pearl River, which sets out Zito’s stall very nicely, thank you very much.  A relaxed bit of bumpin’ an’ grindin’, its warm sound accommodates Zito’s easy-going voice, a skidding slide solo, and a sax break from his long-time buddy Jimmy Carpenter, as well as folding in small spoonfuls of ‘You Shook Me’ and ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’.  And from there right through to the close with the fun boogie of Elmore James’ ‘Ice Cream Man’, scudding slide and all, Zito and his confreres deliver a swingingly good time.

So consistent is Live From The Top that picking out highlights ain’t easy.  But it’s worth noting how Zito can nudge the blues envelope in different directions to good effect, as with the quirkily jazzy ‘Dead Of Night’ on which John Morris knocks out an oom-pah-pah bass line that could easily come from a tuba, while Zito wraps some witty, nimble guitar around a lyric about “dancing on the beach in the dead of night”.  And the following ‘C’mon Baby’ – in what, 6/8 time? – begs for a waltz-like turn around the room with its yearning, romantic feel.

‘One Step At A Time’ seems like a straightforward enough animal in its evocation of this particular bluesman’s recovery from alcoholism.  But with Zito twirling out bright, ringing chords while Morris’s bass carries the riff, and a wonderful sax solo from Carpenter, it reaches out towards Tom Petty or John Hiatt territory.  (It ain’t gonna happen, but the thought has occurred to me now and then that if he put his mind to it, and the cards were to fall his way, Zito has got the songwriting juice to break out beyond the blues to a wider audience.)

As always, Zito has a knack for funkiness too, whether it’s ‘Big Mouth’, on which the guitar,

Aaaaand . . . relax!

bass and drums get a sweet groove on while he delivers a typically funny lyric about relationship problems, or the slinky ‘Sugar Sweet’, which is right in the wheelhouse of guest Ana Popovic, who delivers an almost voicebox-like wah-wah solo before the two of them get down to some conversational guitar duetting.  And there’s more where that came from.

There’s great blues too of course, such as the dark and sombre ‘Pearl River’, with its references to Billie Holliday’s ‘Strange Fruit’, the purposeful grind of ’19 Years Old’, with slicing slide guitar from guest Nick Moss and chirping, growling and squeaking harp from Curtis Salgado.  And guitar aficionados will appreciate Zito’s substantial and expressive exploration on ‘All Last Night’.  But whatever they’re serving up, fanfares are also required for the drumming of Rob Lee, who delivers rock solid but supple rhythmic foundations from start to finish.

But you know what?  However you cut this particular cake, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Meaning:  Live From The Top gets you in the room with an audience having a few beers, having a few laughs, dancing their asses off, and generally having a damn good time.  And that, my friends, is what it’s all about.

Live From The Top is released in Britain by Gulf Coast Records on 12 January.

The videos of 'Big Mouth' and 'Pearl River' are taken from different performances in 2010, with the same band that features on Live From The Top.

Ana Popovic - Oran Mor, Glasgow, 8 May 2019

It’s a damp and miserable evening in Glasgow – or dreich, as we say here in Scotland.  But Ana Popovic certainly succeeds in raising the temperature in Oran Mor with her brand of funky rocking blues.  After a brief, driving soul curtain-raiser from the rest of her band, complete with squealing horns, the lady makes her entrance and proceeds to light the fuse by leading them in a blistering instrumental.

That sets the tone for an opening barrage of take-no-prisoners funkadelicness from a band that manages to be at once tight as a drum and loose as a goose, featuring some jaw dropping guitar

Serbian siren singes fretboard alert

from their boss.  Often, if I were to say that a guitarist is capable of unleashing a torrent of notes, it wouldn’t necessarily be a  compliment.  But it has to be said that in the hands of Ana Popovic it’s done with eye-popping intent.

They blast through chunks of funk like ‘Can You Stand The Heat’ and ‘Object Of Obsession’ with plenty of variation, from a brief bass showcase over jazzy piano chords, to Ms P exploring the apron of the stage for a succession of zinging solos, to a guitar and keys duel.  Throughout all this Popovic tends to sport a look of total self-assurance, mistress of all she surveys.  And no wonder.

It’s all a bit relentless mind you, not helped by the sound being just a bit too in-yer-face.  I’m rarely one to complain about volume, but there’s a tendency for things to sound overly shrill until later in the set.

Whatever, it’s a relief to get a breather when they downshift into ‘Long Road Down’ a more relaxed tale of western migration – albeit with some brisk wah-wah riffing – on which the horns get their groove on before another blinding solo from Popovic. She then cools things off further with a cover of Tom Waits’ ‘New Coat Of Paint’, bringing a N’Awlins horn vibe together with jazzy piano runs.  Both the trumpet and sax player get solo turns, while Popovic totally nails Waits’ lazy vocal phrasing.  ‘Johnny Ray’ completes a triplet of more

Aaaand - breathe . . . .

laid back tunes, all smoky downbeat jazziness, and featuring a fluttering, left-hand-only, pin-drop quiet guitar passage of extraordinary control.

Then she ups the funk ante again with ‘If Tomorrow Was Today’ to shake everyone’s butts back into motion, before launching into the joint-jumping blues of ‘How’d You Learn To Shake It Like That’, with the classic lines “Your daddy was a preacher, your mama was an alley cat”, and a strafing slide solo to boot.

‘Unconditional’ starts off in easy-going mode before developing a breakneck call and response passage for guitar and keys, while ‘Summer Rain’ features a full-on eyeballs-out solo – not so much a sun shower as a tropical downpour.

You’d scarcely think the woman has a new album to flog, given that she leaves it for over an hour before she slots in the loose-limbed title track from Like It On Top, followed by the bump’n’grind of ‘Brand New Man’.  But if those provide another pause for breath, it’s only in readiness for ‘Show You How Strong You Are’, which closes the show with showcases for band members all round before they wallop into a ‘Going Down’ riff that ultimately melds into a rip-roaring ‘Crosstown Traffic’, replete with another dazzling firework display of lead guitar.

After that the brief, sun-kissed and swinging ‘Lasting Kind Of Love’, from the new album, is something of an anti-climax.  Or maybe it’s just a final exhalation to let the crowd recover as they head out the door. I certainly needed a lie down – a wow performance to be sure, but a

bit more blues to leaven all the funkification, and the foot off the pedal a bit more, would create more light, shade, and balance.  As a first encounter with the Ana Popovic live experience though, this was an eye-opener and then some.

Ben Poole - "Where'd I drop my pick?"

What to say of support act Ben Poole, preceding that force of nature?  I’ve liked Poole since picking up his Live At The Royal Albert Hall album a few years, but this brief curate’s egg of a set left me feeling that he’s still not fulfilling his potential. He produces a solid opening with the chunky chords and beefy rhythm of ‘Take It No More’ – you’d better bet you’ll get a meaty groove with Wayne Proctor on drums.  ‘Start The Car’ is a funky strut to get toes tapping, on which Poole produces an interesting flight-of-the-bumblebee segment in an otherwise overlong solo.

‘Don’t Cry For Me’ is a moody slowie with the kind of soulfulness that suits his voice, and the restrained grooving passage of his solo displays feeling, though for me the big and dirty uptempo section that follows is less interesting.  But the closing ‘Anytime You Need Me’, the title track of his latest album, certainly fits the bill.  With its brassy riff, punchy vocal delivery that’s one of his strengths, interesting shifts in tempo and volume, and a scrabbling solo over bubbling bass runs from Beau Barnard while Proctor holds it all together, it's worthy of its big finish.  Others may disagree, but I think a bit more discipline in his soloing would serve Poole well, allowing him to focus more on his undoubted ability to deliver a tune.

Listened to lately - Ana Popovic, Amanda Fish, Broken Windows and Suzie Vinnick

Ana Popovic – Like It On Top

Outstanding.  If what you’re after is power chords and shredding, then move along, nothing to see here, ‘cause there ain’t none of that on this album from Ana Popovic, largely co-written with, and produced by, Keb' Mo'. More fool you though, because this is, like I said, outstanding.

What we have here is a collection of slinky funk that melds the Pointer Sisters’ ‘Slowhand’

Ana Popovic - Look, no hands!

with Macy Gray’s debut album, but delivered by a gang of blues maestros.  And lyrically, whereas Macy Gray was all edgy, manic sexuality, Popovic is confident, knowing womanhood.

The title track features Robben Ford, who I guess is responsible for the top quality lead guitar, and probably contributes to the jazzy, “everything falls apart” moment. The funkiness is ramped up on the likes of ‘Sexy Tonight’, a Kenny Wayne Shepherd composition on which he contributes both guitar and vocals on an excellent bout of punch-packing bump’n’grind. And ‘Funkin’ Attitude’ has the sassiness you might expect from the title, with squealing guitar, out of the ordinary backing vocals, and some Stevie Wonder-ish keyboards in the margins.

This is nothing though, compared to ‘Slow Dance’.  Here we have a delicious turn around the floor, and an interior monologue in which the female voice explains that her dance partner, the poor schmuck, should absolutely not regard her as a sure thing.  It’s a dreamy affair, with a breathy vocal and almost whispered guitar, set to a lilting tempo.  Perfection.

That may be the peak moment, but other highlights include ‘Virtual Ground’, a less-is-more exercise with supple drums, a Steely Dan sheen, and sprinkles of guitar fairydust from Popovic, and the laid back, bluesier ‘Brand New Man’, with a sizzling guitar solo that’s made to sound effortless.  And just for a bit of variety there’s ‘Matter Of Time’, a stripped down blues with minimalist guitar that folds some slide into the mix, and nothing else but voice and tapped percussion.

There’s more besides, but if you’ve listened to that lot the message should be clear – it’s the songs, stupid!  And if I’d collared this when it was released in September I’d have drooled over it at greater length.  Like It On Top is, frankly, one of the best albums of a very good year.

Go to Ana Popovic's website for details of tour dates in Britain and Europe in 2019.

Amanda Fish – Free

In case you didn’t know, Amanda Fish is the big sis of Samantha Fish.  But if you’re expecting them to sound like two peas in a pod then think again.  Sure, there are a few blues rock songs here that could easily have fitted into Sam’s early albums.  ‘Not Again’ for example, with its ominous, throbbing riff; the intense, heavy and gritty ‘Going Down’ – nothing to do with Freddie King, folks; and the moody, back-to-basics ‘Bullet’, But vocally Amanda has much more in common with fellow Kansas City soul-blues singer Danielle Nicole – and Danielle Nicole at full throttle at that.

And indeed there are a couple of Nicole-like outings of muscular, funky soul early on.  But the second half of the album underlines Fish’s lung power even further.  ‘You Could Be’ starts off slow and steady, with just piano and voice, before taking off into power ballad territory.  ‘Here We Are’ ratchets that up further, slow and tense to begin with, but with good use of dynamics and peppered with slide guitar en route to a big crescendo.  But this all just warming up for ‘Don’t Mean A Thing’, a song of agonised relationship betrayal that features some truly gut-wrenching vocals, leading up to a Holy Moly moment in which Fish’s singing takes on full force gale proportions.

She isn’t a one trick pony though, and the best thing here is in a different vein.  ‘The Ballad Of Lonesome Cowboy Bill’ is the kind of blues-country crossover Shemekia Copeland does so well, a well-crafted tribute to the disappearing wild characters of late night American radio, founded on acoustic strumming but with excellent slide colouring that may well be down to Bob Margolin, who guests on the track.

Contrastingly, ‘The Bored And Lonely’ is an edgy affair that draws a line back through grunge to Noo Yoik New Wave aesthetics.  And then to close Fish flips from that to a soulful piano and vocal intro on the title track, and then as Chris Hazelton’s organ swings into earshot it explodes into a full-tilt gospel workout.

Free is probably a bit overlong, and could do with a couple of its twelve tracks being trimmed to give it more focus.  But with all the material penned by Fish, who also plays bass throughout as well as contributing various guitar, piano and mandolin parts, this second album suggests there could be a lot more to come from her.

Broken Windows – Songs By Liz Jones

Having scribbled a few words recently about a support slot performance by Broken Windows, and referenced their contribution to the Jock’s Juke Joint Vol.4 compilation, I thought I’d take the opportunity to say a bit more about their album, released earlier this year.

Broken Windows aren’t a blues band, though they’ll play a blues now and then.  What they are is something fresh and singular, revolving around the songs and voice of Liz Jones.  If you want a comparison, then KT Tunstall might be a reasonable touchstone at times, or Nerina Pallot perhaps.  Or maybe neither - you choose.

Broken Windows - not a blues band, just a shade of blue

Songs like the eponymous ‘Broken Windows’, with its subtle, smoky opening, and ‘Dangerous Game’, incorporate elements of jazziness, not least in the sometimes ultra-bendy bass of Rod Kennard, and the swing of Suzy Cargill’s percussion which, augmenting Marc Marnie’s drumming, often gives a Latin feel to proceedings.  In turn that gives licence to guitarist John Bruce to explore some Santana-esque sounds, as on the ‘Sambi Pati’-like guitar figure of ‘Make My Night’, over some sweet acoustic strumming and smoochy singing from Jones.  He brings some similarly clear-toned soloing to ‘No Gold’, a showcase for the subtle phrasing and variety in Jones’s singing, as she draws out the sensitivity of the song.

Jones has a way with an intriguing, intimate lyric, as on ‘Wild’, which plays off acoustic jangling against Cargill’s rhythms, until the rhythm section sidles into play in readiness for a jazzy fiddle break from Andrew Hennessey. ‘Stay’, with its line about "When I wake I see your naked shoulder", is a sunny and energetic affair, and reminds me of the softer side of the Faces, of all people, while ‘Roll Me In’ starts in restrained, dream-like fashion, with moody keyboards from Ali Petrie, before changing gear into an up-tempo middle section featuring bursts of scrabbly guitar licks from Bruce.  Must confess I haven’t entirely unpicked those lyrics yet, but I’m working on it.

Fittingly though, the final word goes to Jones, with the delicate intertwining of voice and sparse acoustic guitar on the brief and contemplative ‘Wise’.  As the originator of this album she deserves a round of applause for coming up with such an interesting batch of songs, inspiring the rest of her Broken Windows gang to do them justice.

Songs By Liz Jones is available on digital download from Bandcamp, via www.lizjonessings.co.uk.

Suzie Vinnick – Shake The Love Around

I’m indebted to fellow blogger Rocking Magpie for putting me onto this album by Canada’s Suzie Vinnick, released earlier in the year.  If you like the way Bonnie Raitt ranges across blues and country-ish roots music, then you may well like this.

Vinnick has a characterful voice, that carries the day nicely on the opening track ‘Happy As Hell’, in conjunction with a shuffling intro and twiddly blues riff, before bass and vocal harmonies are gradually added to the mix.  The other side of her Americana style is on

show in the following ‘The Golden Rule’, a folky affair that brings to mind Joni Mitchell, with a catchy melody, some sweet falsetto phrases from Vinnick, and a lyric reflecting on social justice – or the lack of it.

The best song here though, is ‘A Hundred And Ten In The Shade’, which is set in the cotton fields and manages to convey the sense of sweltering heat with its lazy tempo and cicada-mimicking percussion – and again a perfectly pitched vocal from Vinnick.

It’s indicative of Vinnick’s range that she can bracket that with ‘Watch Me’, all guttural guitar riff and real bluesy feel, and ‘Crying A River For You’, a spare and convincing love-and-regret song delivered over pattering drums.  And she’s more adventurous still on ‘The Danger Zone’, a downbeat blues about a “world in uproar”, cleverly arranged for just voice and bass.

Things maybe get a bit samey as the album progresses, though a touch of accordion brings some variety to ‘Beautiful Little Fool’, along with a sparkling guitar solo.  The good stuff outweighs those reservations though, and Shake The Love Around is yet another in this year’s growing pile of keepers.