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A BluesWax Reprint This review originally ran in
BluesWax #223 on Feb 10,
2005 Point Blank Blues Band
7
BluesWax Rating: 5 out
of 10 Blues from the Balkans
This is kind of an unusual disc, a little out of the ordinary, but
has some definite merits. It's electric Blues, but with a twist - throw in a
little World music, some Folk, and add a dash of electronica.
It's driven by guitars, and lots of them, and owes a heavy debt to the North
Mississippi Hill Country. Lyrically, it's reminiscent of acid-induced beat poetry. That
sounds like I'm making fun, but I'm not. At the outset, in the spoken intro to
the first track, it attributes the origin of the Blues to primeval "furry
creatures" who lived between the dinosaurs, but before the invention of
language. (Hey, I just report it!) Concept albums are ambitious and hard to
carry out successfully and I won't say that Dr. Project-Point Blank does it all that well, but if you look past that minor issue, there
are some good tunes here. Early on, some of the tracks falter a little trying to find their
pace. On the first half of the disc, several tracks have a sudden change of
tempo or sometimes a total change of styles within the same song. By the middle
of the disc the band seems to have hit its stride and is able to deliver some
pretty solid numbers. Highlights: Track 5 (no name, as it was an advance promo disc with
the label handwritten with a red Sharpie) starts off with some sort of
primordial moans for almost a minute before switching to a fast Rock riff. Before
long, it changes to a slow, grinding Blues and then finishes by switching back
to the fast Rock riff. But in the middle, this piece shows just how good this
band can be. "My Friend and I" seems to be a witty tribute to a bunch
of classic Rock songs, with what I think are allusions to Bob Dylan, Led
Zeppelin, Elvis, and maybe Arlo Guthrie. Either that
or else I'm the one rambling on like an
acid-influenced beat poet. When you think of the Blues you don't often think of Eric Wrisley is a contributing editor at
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