Savoy Brown – Blues All Around
Blues All Around: Falling Through, Black Heart, Going Down South, Gypsy Healer, Blues All Around, Texas Love, Winning Hand, Hurting Spell, Can’t Go Back To My Hometown, California Days Gone By, My Baby, Falling Through The Cracks
Personnel: Kim Simmonds: Guitar, Vocals, Organ, Harmonica; Garnet Grimm: Drums, Percussion; Pat DeSalvo: Bass
Blues All Round was produced by Bruce Quarto (Executive Producer) and Kim Simmonds (Producer) and released on the Quarto Valley Records label. With the release of Blues All Around, it marks, with a sad comment, the final chapter, with the passing of Kim Simmonds, to a legendary career of 57-years and an unfathomable 42 Savoy Brown releases. Blues All Around brings together the heart and soul of Savoy Brown with Kim Simmonds joined by his long-running bandmates Pat DeSalvo and Garnet Grimm.
The release opens with the track Falling Through, a short intro to set the tone for another great blues-based rock release. They kick off, and I mean kick off, the release with Black Heart that opens with a solid percussion beat and Kim’s deep blues vocals wrapped around Kim’s guitar work and you have Savoy Brown letting you know they are ready to rock.
If you want blues the way they were meant to be played, then the track Going Down South is the track for you. Great slide guitar licks coupled with a baseline that holds the track together. The track Gypsy Healer is a swaying and slow head bopping tempo that rolls with the lyrics, "Gypsy healer why don’t you give a sign, …I got to know that I will be seeing better times, …. Gypsy healer can you give me good views."
The title track Blues All Around is a full force track with that legendary guitar work we have come to expect from Kim Simmonds against a layered bass and drum tempo that emphasizes the lyrics, "Blues all around, they follow me everywhere, …..There coming down on me,…..I am down on my luck, sad as any man could be,…..I wish I could go back when I didn’t have a care."
The track Texas Love is a blues ballad love song featuring a fuzzy guitar that goes perfectly with Kim’s vocals as he sings, "She’s got class, she’s no trouble, gives me what I need, …. she’s the one, ….my Texas love,….way she dresses, Texas style….my Texas Love."
Slide guitar aficionados with enjoy the track Winning Hand, the release follows up with Hurting Spell, a ballsy guitar-forward track complementing the lyrics, "You want to leave, I want you to stay, …You got me baby, under your hurting spell." The track Can’t Go Back To My Hometown slows it down and the band sways to the rhythm of Kim’s guitar work as he sings, "I’m walking alone, with my heart hanging down,….Only thing I know is I can’t go back to my hometown."
The release closes out with three tracks, California Days Gone By a slide guitar onslaught that is powerful and beautiful, the track My Baby, a back to basic blues track, and the closing track Falling Through the Cracks that shows the music of Savoy Brown will endure and never fall through the cracks.
Due to Kim Simmonds’ illness and the impact on his fingers the decision was made to keep moving and add in some slide guitar work that shows Kim’s mastery of the instrument. Kim’s work on guitars, vocals, harmonica, and organ were laid down separately and the bass and drums were added, but listening to the release you feel that the group was playing off each other during the recording, a testament to the cohesiveness of the band.
Websites where you can procure Savoy Brown – Blues All Around: Amazon, Rough Trade, Quarto Valley Records, Barnes & Noble
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