Deeelicious When It's Hot!, (06/05/02)

I love tasty Blues, served up hot and intense. Sometimes you can just tell from a CD that the band just might be the kind you'd like to feast on in a hot, smoky club. Prisoner Of The Blues is just that kind of CD. The Dennis McClung Blues Band, which hails from West Virginia, is starting to make a name for them selves. They play at festivals in and around West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and this CD was recorded at Audiomation Studios in Pittsburgh. It has a quality sound that is hard to come by—it takes a great engineer and Jim Kopaz does the honors here. The band achieves a smokin' hot feel that captures the feel of a live performance.

The album features only three covers—Elmore James' "The Sky Is Crying," Willie Dixon's "The Red Rooster" and John Lee Hooker's "Dimples." All are done exceptionally well with great arrangements and no overdone feeling to the trio of tunes. "Rooster" has a great vocal and stinging slide guitar. Give it a listen. You'll see why this band is HOT! I liked "Seven Ways," which has a really nice jump to it. "'Til The Day I Die" comes across with a great vocal & nice harp by Joe Sabatino. The other tunes are all penned by McClung and are basic but good lyrically. The guitar work is fluent and solid but even more, the whole band is very together and sounds strong. There are especially good drums and bass on this CD making the whole recording very solid.

Members include Dennis McClung on guitar, slide and vocals, David Sbarra on Bass, Dave Spencer on guitar, Joe Sabatino on harp, Gary Harki on drums and Bo Metz on acoustic guitar. This lineup has changed since the CD and the new lineup is on their website, so do a search on them. The band is, so far, unsigned. I would suggest that you hear them if they come around. This is a DEEElicious CD!

You may purchase this Cd at www.lindyrecords.com.

DJ GaryBlues BluesWax