Electric Blues with a Psychedelic Edge
As the Crow Flies is rocking, electric blues with a bit of a psychedelic feel; it will appeal to anyone who enjoys hard hitting, rocking blues, with first rate musical performances.
All the material on the CD is original. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this CD (for me) was that it doesn't fall into your typical Blues category - it has plenty of variety within the genre.
Overall - I liked the melodies, the lyrics and the performances.
The rhythm section (drummer Jerard Sarcletti and bass guitarist Eric Anderson) is really rock solid, providing a really good foundation for the other instruments. Group leader, Darren Locke is a really good guitar player with a lot of variety in his playing. He also provides excellent vocals. Three other lead guitarists on the album contribute their own brand of heat - Jim Stroud, Eric Jerardi and Bob Stevens. The addition of Sax player, Peter Anderson on one of the tracks was really good. Last but not least Hammond Organ and grand piano contributions by Rod Tracy. A talented group of musicians.
The only small complaint I had was that I felt they overused reverb.
#1 Broken Sky - Interesting funky intro with lush guitar stylings from Jim Stroud and nice laid back vocals from Darren Locke.
#2 Close to Sin - Loved this heavy feeling track. Darren doesn't let us down with his vocals and lead guitar.
#3 Show me the way - Has a fast rockin' Texas blues feel to it. Nice organ by Rod Tracy and super guitar from Darren Locke.
#4 Wish you were mine - incredibly soulful guitar and instrumentation in general. Terrific guitar skills on this one from Bob Stevens.
#5 Heart to Need - this track features the Sax of Peter Anderson and it's a very sweet feeling track with excellent lead guitar from Bob Stevens. Wistful.
# 6 Whisper - Nice, fast, rocking - excellent performances all around. The organ adds a lot.
# 7 off the wall -- funky feel to it. odd ball vocal. Guitar is really nice.
#8 Why - sweetly acoustic feel- almost folky - again Darren Locke shows off his excellent playing skills.
#9 - Better Days - Solid, rockin' blues here, with lead guitar from Eric Jerardi and Jim Stroud. Great support from the rhythm section.
I feel that As the Crow Flies is a good album and deserves some attention.
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