BISCUIT MILLER

Come Together

(Blue Bass Entertainment)

     There must be something in the water that Chicago-area bass players drink. Last month, I shouted about Westside bassman Willie Kent and his “Comin’ Alive” disc on Blue Chicago records, and this month, I’m celebrating the release of Biscuit Miller’s “Come Together.”   

When he’s not touring as Lonnie Brooks’ bass player, Dave “Biscuit” Miller fronts Biscuit & The Mix.  He also hosts the Blues Tuesday Blues Jams at T-zer’s Sports Bar in my old stomping grounds of Chicago Heights.       

While Willie Kent’s CD is a full-tilt Chicago blues record, Biscuit’s CD features extra helpings of funk, blues, and a whole lot of soul. Biscuit’s funk is all up and down his bright blue Hamer bass, instead of simple slap-bass lines that often passes for funk today.  

Biscuit wrote 11 of the 13 cuts on “Come Together,” and his songwriting skills are first-rate.  He can write a blues song just like he pours the foundation of a great rhythm section for Lonnie as well as his own band.

     Biscuit’s funk on the title cut and “Build Me Up” is the real deal and Biscuit gets some fine help from Anthony Gomes on guitar.  This disc slides right into an uptempo blues groove behind Billy Branch’s expert harp work and Nellie “Tiger” Travis’ sultry background vocals on “Let’s Go Fishing.” 

     A true CD highlight is the rousing “Pretty Leg Woman,” a house rocker that features a fiery father and son guitar shootout between Lonnie Brooks and Ronnie Baker Brooks blazing through some incendiary solos. 

     There are also quite a few showstopping numbers on this baker’s dozen from Biscuit, but my personal favorite is “If It Makes You Happy.”   This slow and soulful scorcher wraps Daryl Coutts’ keyboards and Myron “Hawk” Harvey’s alto sax around the Biscuit’s fine vocals, with backup from Sherri Riley.  “If It Makes You Happy” is far and away my favorite love song of the year so far, but “Wipe Your Tears” with Carl Weathersby on guitar from this disc is a close second. 

Each time I see pictures of Biscuit, he’s smiling. Listening to
“Come Together,”  you’ll know why.  More importantly, you will too.   

–        Eric Steiner

GEOFF TATE

Geoff Tate

(Sanctuary)

 This, Geoff Tate’s first solo project apart from the mothership (the “progressive” heavy rock giant, Queensryche), is pretty much what you might have expected based on the powerhouse vocalist's proclivity for artistic experimentation, not to mention his own assessment of the work-in-progress last fall. “Elegantly beautiful” and “touching music” is how the typically eloquent Tate had described it – and he could not have been more right.

   But, yes, there are still some big surprises here, too, like the fact the none of the songs resemble each other stylistically, making it difficult to pigeonhole the overall sound of the CD. Which is not to say that it is a bad thing that Tate has taken Queensryche’s renowned, confident musical envelope-pressing two steps further when what he winds up with is something that is this intense, dynamic, and aurally compelling (definitely get out the headphones for this one), especially when it is also guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ve ever heard before -- a latter day “Shock The Monkey” in more ways than one.        

As promised, the sounds here wildly vary from the dance-rhythm loops on the hauntingly passionate “Helpless” (replete with Spanish-inspired guitars), to the R&B flavored, downright sensually evocative “Touch” and “This Moment,” to the jazzy “A Passenger.”  

    However, at least two common threads run throughout the collection: One, the (very un-Queensryche-like) first person, relationship-oriented subject matter, which examines, from beginning to end, the complex and fleeting nature of modern love (with an intriguing, avant garde-like minimalism and fragmentation), and two, Tate’s distinctive vocals and phrasing which, though still familiarly dramatic and rich, also take on a much more subtle and uncharted path on songs like “Every Move We Make.”   

While I’m not sure if I “smell a hit” here on the level with “Silent Lucidity” (the QR tune that this work most closely resembles), strong contenders would certainly be “Flood,” and the wrenching beauties, “In Other Words” and “Over Me.” 

Moreover, though it is safe to say an outside-the-box –– and, yes, progressive –– record like this one won't be for everyone, it is definitely fantastic ear Manna for those with tastes open-minded enough to embrace a patently new, futuristic fusion of red-hot passion and art.  

– Shelly Harris

STEVE VANSAK

A Different Road

(Indie) 

Steve Vansak has been involved with the N.W. Indiana/Chicagoland music scene for years.  This talented  singer/songwriter/guitarist has put out some great music that I have been a fan of for a number of years.   

While “A Different World” is a pretty solid effort, I don’t think (as a whole) that it hits the high marks some of his earlier work.  While performances on this collection are strong, this writer feels that overall, the material on his previous releases rank a notch or two better than those included here.     

That’s not to disparage or dismiss this CD, because though it’s songs may not be quite as consistent and strong as those that have inhabited Vansak’s past efforts, it does contain a few damn good tunes.     

A perfect example is, “Moment,” a top shelf tune filled with creative, emotive lyrics and a lot of R.E.M.-ish jangly guitar.  A solid pop tune through and through.    

“A Different Road” excels in sound, being well produced (by Vansak) and mixed by Vansak and John Carpenter.     

While “Moment” may be a personal favorite, Vansak has penned and recorded other notable songs for this set. “Peace With The Night” is one, along with “Mountain Of Pain,” a track which would be at home on the airwaves of Chicago’s progressive-minded WXRT.   At the very least, “Mountain Of Pain,” should be worked at college radio, as it seems the most viable contender of this collection in regards to air play.     

While it may not have hit me as fast and furious as previous Vansak albums, there is no denying that “A Different Road” is still a pretty good CD by a damn good band. 

–        David Buco

JOHN WASHBURN

Stumbling Still Warm

(Orchard) 

I’ve long been a fan of singer-songwriters, and John Washburn tells a story like many I’ve heard before, but coming from him, they sound new.       

We’ve touted John Washburn in the pages of Midwest Beat before as an up and coming artist.   He’s got the gift of words and song and melds them with an Americana style.  

 “Stumbling Still Warm” caught my attention with “Wait (A River Song)” and “It’s Alright,” two songs that bring me right back to the days when I followed Steve Goodman, John Prine and Bonnie Koloc as they sparked the Chicago folk renaissance of the 1970’s.  On weekends home from college, I followed this triumvirate of folkies from club to club in Chicago’s near North Side -- Holstein’s, Somebody Else’s Troubles, Earl of Old Town...     

John Washburn’s work is a lot like theirs“Stumbling Still Warm” features ten songs worthy of comparison to other folks who’ve traveled up these same troubadour roads. Names like Greg Brown and Dave Alvin came to mind when I first heard John’s music.      

    We’ll be hearing more about John Washburn, I’m sure. Not only for his production work (he recently twisted knobs for Peter Gabriel’s daughter -- Melanie Gabriel -- on her debut disc), but for the wealth of magnificent songs this album promises will come... –         

–        – Eric Steiner

VARIOUS ARTISTS

HeavyCore: Core Til Death

(Heavycore Records)

Starting as a common sense concept, Heavycore founder, Pete Altieri, former bass player for Sacred Oath and playing now with Low Twelve, Bloomington, Illinois.    

Altieri says in the liner notes, “Back in 1998, I found myself in complete disgust with the metal scene…I know there had to be bands like Low Twelve, struggling in their own lame ass scenes, needing some help.  That’s when Heavycore was born.  It was 1999 and I set out to start a free organization for bands to join, where they could gig exchange and trade info to help each other out.  Brothers helping brothers.”    

Heavycore membership is over 450 bands, from around the globe, and growing.  Hell, even a few record labels have their entire line up of bands, signed up, for the cause.      

Bands:  Low Twelve, Antipathy, Malevolent Creation, PCP, Blessed With Pain, Heresy, Lust Of Decay, Hate Plow, The Breed Of Sedition, Set Ablaze, Lower GI, Sappy Bell, Slugtrail, Play Dead, Homo Iratus, Struggle, NYFB, Shund, Dirtnapp, Obfuscate, Disinter, One 30 Edge, and Pro-Pain.      

If you’re expecting rap-core or nu-metal, you are screwed buddy.  What you get here is great production, cover art by Jeff Gaither (he’s done covers for Misfits) and 23 slamming ways to piss off the posers at stoplights!

      Every time I listen to this Heavycore compilation, I imagine what a wicked two-day metal fest this would be! Check out the user-friendly web site: www.heavycore.org and while you’re there, order the CD! 

–        Diane Demeter

GORDON STONE BAND

Red Room

(Homegrown Music) 

Very diverse and very good.  Fans of banjo and slide guitar will love this CD.  The songs are good, the playing is great, and there’s plenty of heart and soul to go around.  

Gordon Stone plays the aforementioned banjo and slide, while Russ Lawton handles the stick work and Rudy Dauth takes bass duties. Both Lawton and Dauth sing on a few songs, but the focus here is definitely on instrumentals.    

There are several songs, style-wise, that one would expect, but there are also some unorthodox tunes that will prick up your ears.          

For example, “Major Breakdown” is a ‘hoe-down’ type number with fast, fun playing from all concerned.  One of the three guest musicians on the CD, Patrick Ross, does some excellent fiddling.      

On the other hand, we have a song like “Yesterday’s Coffee,” which has more of a Caribbean feel to it.  The slide I could see in this context, but a banjo?  Somehow, Stone makes it work.  The title track, a jazzy little tune, makes very creative use of dissonance, where ‘bad’ notes actually sound good.    

The highlight of the CD is a very unusual song called, “Cahboss.” It starts out as a waltz, shifts to a Latin feel, then shifts yet again to a heavier setting with some very cool syncopation, where the beat doesn’t fall exactly where you’d expect it to.  It’s the longest song on the disc, clocking in at 6:48, but it’s very, very interesting listening.    

Truth be told, the whole disc is interesting listening.  It’s one of those CD’s where the more you hear, the more you like.      

For further info about this CD and other Gordon Stone discs, go to: www.gordonstone.com, or contact HomeGrown @ 1-800-653-3929. 

–        Ben Likens

BERNARD ALLISON

Storms Of Life

(Tone Cool Records) 

     Mark your blues calendars and save the date.  I’m giving you plenty of advance notice that Bernard Allison’s second Tone Cool CD, “Storms of Life,” will hit the streets on August 13th.  

This scorching disc showcases one of the most exciting guitar-slingers of the younger blues generation.  Bernard leads the disc off with a frenzied two-minute slide guitar storm, “Slip Slidin.”   While he dabbles in a little bit of reggae, jazz and soul across these 13 high energy tracks, “Storms of Life” contains some of the hottest electric guitar-driven blues you’re likely to hear this year.     

Bernard soars on Anders Osborne’s “Snake Bit Again,” and snarls through Johnny Winter’s “Mean Town Blues.”     

Each time I listen to Storms of Life, I hear something new.  David Z’s clear and crisp production brings the best out of Allison and his band, particularly the way he captures Bernard’s funky leads on “Reaching Out.”  David’s producing and engineering work reads like a “Who’s Who” in blues and roots music ––  The BoDeans, Buddy Guy, Chris Duarte, Gov’t Mule, Tinsley Ellis, and John Mayall, among others.    

I find I’m turning up real loud “Fist Full of Dirt” for its hard-charging boogie ‘n’ blues, and “Speed Slide” for the way it reminds me of barely-controlled slide guitar players like Hound Dog Taylor or Ronnie Wood. 

     Just like the girl in Billy Gibbons’ “I Want to Drive You Home,” Allison and his band shake and shimmy all the way through this souped-up rocker from ZZ Top’s 1981 “El Loco” release.    

I’ve been told many times that I’m more of a fan than a critic, but it’s hard for me to be critical of records like Allison’s “Storms of Life.”  Bernard’s father may be the late, great Luther Allison, but this young blood is growing up to be quite an accomplished musician in his own right.  

–        Eric Steiner

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