Blackberry Smoke – Be Right Here (3 Legged Recoards/Thirty Tigers) [Paul Hutchings]
It’s been a while since I had an encounter with Blackberry Smoke. The Georgian Country Rockers have been a constant in my life for around 16 years or so now, but I’ll admit that I’ve not been as close to the action as I was a decade or so ago. It’s no secret that they are one of my favourite live bands, and I’m excited to have tickets to catch them at Hammersmith Odeon in September. Gone are the days when these good ol’ boys would pack out the Tramshed. They’ve rightly moved on to bigger things.
Their seventh album You Hear Georgia focused on their home county with a delicious selection of easy listening songs that were crafted with all the care that was demonstrated on the previous six releases. It wasn’t as guitar oriented as early releases, but there was still much to enjoy. Album number eight then and Be Right Here comes at a time where things within the band have been a little challenging. Much like the decision to hold back You Hear Georgia until the band could tour post-pandemic, Be Right Here’s release was influenced by the health of drummer Brit Turner who was diagnosed with a type of brain tumour known as Glioblastoma.
Such is the band’s stature today that as vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Charlie Starr says, “We didn’t feel a whole lot of pressure to go in and make this one quickly”.
Recorded in late 2022 / early 2023, this is an album that the band are no doubt itching to tour. The good news is that although Turner is continuing to receive treatment, he remains an active band member, alongside Starr, guitarist/vocalist Paul Jackson, bassist/vocalist Richard Turner and keyboard player Brandon Still. Recorded in studios in Georgia, Blackberry Smoke called on producer Dave Cobb again, following his stellar work on You Hear Georgia. Starr has collaborated with not only his bandmates, but regular contributors Travis Meadows and Levi Lowrey. We also get former Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson adding a riff to Like It Was Yesterday. The foundations are clearly solid. So, what about the songs themselves?
Tracked live as per previous recordings, the first thing you notice on Be Right Here is the natural swagger which the record possesses. It’s often laid back, relaxed, easy. Starr’s rich, warming vocals are instantly recognisable, as the opening track Dig A Hole kicks in. It’s a smooth combination of guitar riff and the swirling Wurlitzer of Still. A song that talks about choosing your own path in life, it also gives the first ripping guitar solo on the album. It’s the right choice to open the album. A pleasingly big stomp on Hammer And Nails, co-written with Nelson and taking another approach to family ties moves us into the heart of the album.
Other highlights include the elegant folk ballad Azalea is heavy on emotion. “It’s a heavy song. It’s not a happy song, per se,” Starr says. “There’s some hope in there, too. It comes with both Travis and I being fathers. Hold on to your kids as tight as you can without smothering them.” Gentle acoustic guitars and Starr’s soulful delivery make it unmissable.
It’s rare that a Blackberry Smoke album contains any filler, such is the quality of the writing. Be Right Here may be relaxed in vibe, but there are some deeper thoughts threaded through the song writing. Life experiences, family commitments, relationships, they are all included. Closing out the album, we have the soulful gospel singers who bring the intro to Little Bit Crazy before a classic Smoke groove kicks in, whilst the album ends with the organ-driven power ballad, Barefoot Angels. A love song in every sense, this is Starr at his most open. “It’s either me singing about my wife or some guy singing about his wife that’s in the same situation, which is, I wouldn’t be able to do anything without her. When I’m worried and feeling bad, she makes it better.”
There was a saying on early Blackberry Smoke shirts, that read “Too rock for Country, Too Country for Rock”. These days they are merely Blackberry Smoke. If you like it, you’ll love it. If not, then there is plenty of other music around. For me, this is another fine addition to a discography with few flaws, by a band who 24 years after their formation, continue to impress every time. 9/10
Von Hertzen Brothers – Live At Tavastia (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Live At Tavastia is a live album from Finnish prog siblings Von Hertzen Brothers, recorded in February 2023 in front of a hometown crowd while on a short tour surrounding Winter’s End Festival supporting 2022’s Red Alert In The Blue Forest their eighth studio album.
Recorded in late 2022 / early 2023, this is an album that the band are no doubt itching to tour. The good news is that although Turner is continuing to receive treatment, he remains an active band member, alongside Starr, guitarist/vocalist Paul Jackson, bassist/vocalist Richard Turner and keyboard player Brandon Still. Recorded in studios in Georgia, Blackberry Smoke called on producer Dave Cobb again, following his stellar work on You Hear Georgia. Starr has collaborated with not only his bandmates, but regular contributors Travis Meadows and Levi Lowrey. We also get former Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson adding a riff to Like It Was Yesterday. The foundations are clearly solid. So, what about the songs themselves?
Tracked live as per previous recordings, the first thing you notice on Be Right Here is the natural swagger which the record possesses. It’s often laid back, relaxed, easy. Starr’s rich, warming vocals are instantly recognisable, as the opening track Dig A Hole kicks in. It’s a smooth combination of guitar riff and the swirling Wurlitzer of Still. A song that talks about choosing your own path in life, it also gives the first ripping guitar solo on the album. It’s the right choice to open the album. A pleasingly big stomp on Hammer And Nails, co-written with Nelson and taking another approach to family ties moves us into the heart of the album.
Other highlights include the elegant folk ballad Azalea is heavy on emotion. “It’s a heavy song. It’s not a happy song, per se,” Starr says. “There’s some hope in there, too. It comes with both Travis and I being fathers. Hold on to your kids as tight as you can without smothering them.” Gentle acoustic guitars and Starr’s soulful delivery make it unmissable.
It’s rare that a Blackberry Smoke album contains any filler, such is the quality of the writing. Be Right Here may be relaxed in vibe, but there are some deeper thoughts threaded through the song writing. Life experiences, family commitments, relationships, they are all included. Closing out the album, we have the soulful gospel singers who bring the intro to Little Bit Crazy before a classic Smoke groove kicks in, whilst the album ends with the organ-driven power ballad, Barefoot Angels. A love song in every sense, this is Starr at his most open. “It’s either me singing about my wife or some guy singing about his wife that’s in the same situation, which is, I wouldn’t be able to do anything without her. When I’m worried and feeling bad, she makes it better.”
There was a saying on early Blackberry Smoke shirts, that read “Too rock for Country, Too Country for Rock”. These days they are merely Blackberry Smoke. If you like it, you’ll love it. If not, then there is plenty of other music around. For me, this is another fine addition to a discography with few flaws, by a band who 24 years after their formation, continue to impress every time. 9/10
Von Hertzen Brothers – Live At Tavastia (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Live At Tavastia is a live album from Finnish prog siblings Von Hertzen Brothers, recorded in February 2023 in front of a hometown crowd while on a short tour surrounding Winter’s End Festival supporting 2022’s Red Alert In The Blue Forest their eighth studio album.
Playing in their native Helsinki means we get their festival set with six from RAITBF, four from New Day Rising, three from War Is Over and 1 each from Approach, Love Remains The Same and Nine Lives. Joining Mikko (vocals/guitar), Kie (guitar/vocals), Jonne (bass/keys) are drummer Sami Kuoppamäki and keyboardist Robert Engstrand who adds to the delicious vocal harmonies that have become the bands trademark and made them one of the most popular prog rock acts around.
They don’t spare the horses and lull you, in both Day Of Reckoning and Blue Forest talk of the impending environmental disaster, the one flowing into the other, the latter closing with a bit of jazz and the first hearty applause since they arrive on stage. These a structured moments so as not to break the flow, VHB creating an atmosphere, a soundscape with their music, shifting between various influences, effortless in its technicality.
With a lot of the new album played, long term fans of course will rejoice in the inclusion of You Don’t Know My Name, Flowers And Rust and New Day Rising as a tasty triple threat towards the end of the set. Hearing VHB in full flow is always a pleasure, seeing them is even better, almost perfectly recreating their album sound in a live setting, Live At Tavastia, is not essential but will be of interest to anyone who missed these four(?) shows with this specific setlist. 8/10
Vanir - Epitome (Mighty Music) [James Jackson]
Denmark’s Vanir have changed their sound quite a bit if the albums found on various platforms are anything to go by.
Their debut album released in 2011 has a very folk metal feel to it, along the way however that folk element has taken quite the back seat and the band now, very competently, performs a more melodic death metal style. Epitome is the band’s seventh album and whilst those musical folk metal influences are more or less non-existent, the lyrical focus is still grounded in the rich history of the band’s home country.
Historical bloody events such as The Stockholm Bloodbath, a series of executions in the early 1500’s inspire the lyrics of Twisting The Knife, the first track on the album and also the first single to have been released, a huge slab of riffs and tempo changes, adorned with a hint of symphonic elements similar to that of Greece’s Septicflesh. That symphonic touch is notable throughout, little touches of string orchestration adding a layer of finesse to an already competent melodeath album.
All the traits of melodic death metal are on show here, the blast beat drumming and frenetic riffing of death metal blending well with the Melodic elements, those symphonic notes I mentioned accompanying the roots of the song to great effect, vocally it’s what you’d expect from any death metal album, no clean vocals here but while I’ve never been a fan of the style, much preferring a blend of clean and growled vocals, it doesn’t feel too tiresome.
For fans of Septicflesh, Dark Tranquillity and Amon Amarth this is one that any fan of melodic death metal should consider. 7/10
Cutting Crew - All For You: The Virgin Years 1986-1992 (Cherry Red Records) [Rich Piva]
I may have gotten in over my head volunteering to review the new Cutting Crew box set from the awesome label Cherry Red Records, who are experts at this kind of package and really any other type of reissue you are looking for. If you are alive in the 80s you know Cutting Crew’s big hit, (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight, which, by any measurement, is one of the best hits of the 1980s. This is as far as I go with my knowledge of the band, but apparently, they had other hits worldwide, but none that I was aware of. That one song, however, it excellent so could their other stuff measure up to that classic 80s hit?
Well, no, as Cutting Crew are painfully boring and have zero edge to their music. The music is overproduced 80s lab work and l struggled to find anything else I enjoyed except for the remix version of the aforementioned song. So, this set is not for the casual listener, but for a fan or completest, as you get everything the band did over that six-year span, including their three studio albums for Virgin Records, some B-sides, rare tracks, and remixes. If this was, say, a Duran Duran box set of the same ilk it would be a ten out of ten from me, but given the Crew’s music does absolutely nothing for me, I really struggled to get all the way through.
So musically, I would give this a two, but package wise and getting the Cherry Red treatment is always a ten, hence the middle ground here. Don’t let my number scare you if you are a fan though, because it just must have been something you said. 5/10
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