Acoustic duo Booze Monkey consist of guitarist BLUE and bassist Joel
"Spider" Ludwig. BLUE has travelled across the musical continents over the
years, but always finds himself returning to the blues. Whilst the two have
worked together for over 10 years, "Good Luck Mr. Gorsky" is their debut
recording.
The album opens in cracking style with thumping guitar and bass on the
excellent rockabilly instrumental, "Taylor Boogie." The duo then divert
slightly into rock and roll territory for "8ees" which features some adroit
slide guitar work, and gives the listener the first chance to hear BLUE's
great voice. Then it is back to rockabilly for "Cats Are Rockin'" which
even namechecks the legendary Billy Lee Riley.
Whilst there is plenty more rock and roll, and rockabilly, "Good Luck Mr.
Gorsky" also features plenty of blues too. Songs like "Jaw Breaker," "My
Drinkin'" and "Old Enough To Know Better" all truck along nicely, but the
duo show that they can do 12-bar too, with "Mi Mujer (es muy malada)" which
its nicely wry lyrics--a feature of many of the songs here--sung in
English, in case you were wondering.
It is on songs like "Son" and "Surely Hang," though, where the Booze
Monkeys excel. The former, featuring driving resonator and bass, topped off
by BLUE's voice, is reminiscent of some of the Blasters' best work. The
latter features more resonator, and hints at the sort of blues that
characterised the Gun Club's work.
"Good Luck Mr. Gorsky" is a fine example of how well acoustic guitar and
acoustic bass can work together. Stylistically, Booze Monkey fit best into
Blasters territory. This is American music, pure and simple: blues,
rockabilly and rock and roll, all done acoustically. And if that fails to
sell "Goodbye Mr. Gorsky" to you, buy it anyway for the selection of
original cocktail recipes!
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