Heavy Blues Chevy is an interesting and very good CD put out by a band with a serious sense of humor. The liner notes are as much fun as the CD with liner notes such as: "This music was recorded and mixed by M. Dycus in a bedroom on good old analog equipment. It was not stolen, he has receipts for everything." You know that this is a band that does not take themselves too seriously.
What you do get though is ten good blues tracks that get better the more you listen to the CD. The CD does not have a highly produced sound and sounds very live which is what the band was looking for. They were trying to get that live "vibe" and I think they accomplished the goal admirably. Many times I hear bands "live" tapes or CD's and I wonder where things went wrong in the recording studio because the "live" performance is so much better than the pristine studio recording. From the sound and feel of this CD, I would really like to see these guys live in a packed club.
All ten songs were written by the band. The style of music is pretty much rockin blues with excursions into swing, and slow blues. Great guitar work is all over this CD from the tasteful slow blues licks of "The Walk" and "Towed Away," to the Texas Blues style of "Old Enough To Know Better," the swing sound of "She Likes To Boogie Real Low." "Old Enough To Know Better" is a solid blues shuffle that harkens to Austin Texas blues without sounding like a Stevie Ray Vaughan ripoff. "The Walk," a slow blues number, has some unusual guitar licks that you do not expect from the typical slows blues. Vocally the band can sing as well as they play their instruments. "Baby" has a vocal sound similar to Canadian Jeff Healey. "Blues Injected," the title song is an interesting mix of a Stevie Ray Vaughan rhythm, Allman Brothers harmonies, and jazz influenced riffs. "Thang Called Love" has its roots in late 50's, early 60's rock & roll and rocks out in rock-a-billy style. "Supply And Demand" is the obligatory Robert Johnson style cut consisting of basic acoustic slide guitar and harmonica.
Bottom line...I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes Austin Texas blues, or just rockin blues or even someone who just likes guitar based blues. It works on all levels and works very well. It's a keeper.
Mick Dycus - Lead & Backing Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Kendall Rezabek - Bass Guitar, backup vocals, consultant
Scott Young - Drums, backup vocals, percussion, accountant
Jeff McGuire - electric rhythm and electric lead guitar trade-offs
Robert Bone - Electric Rhythm guitar track 1
Web Site http://www.heavyblueschevy.iuma.com
E-mail: bluzchev@ecsis.net
Order CD's at 1-800-850-IUMA
or at http://www.theorchard.com
This review is copyright © 1999 by Robert T. Murphy, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
