Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Respect is something that is short supply in the modern world but this is hardly a new tale, a new belief; for no matter what an artist or person on the street may do, there will always be someone who finds it easy to belittle the effort, the strength of character it took to return to a place where heroes once swore battle and where the first images of insight first shone through.
We honour the past, not because it stands over us like a towering arsenal of fear but because it reminds of us of where we come from, the lessons learned by others and our own passionate search for grounding, for a sense of the continuous. Whether we find the past handed to us via the gracious hands of ghosts or by a return of our own endeavours, we must admit there is a permanence when we open up Black To The Blues and the principles therein.
Black Stone Cherry return to their own homage to heroes in Black To Blues Volume 2, six songs in which the masters that captivated the Kentucky band’s imagination, now resound with a different flavour, with the Cherry aroma infused through its heart and soul.
Following in the path of your hero can be a double-edged sword, one that can cut through the tenderest of skin and the stoniest of hearts and yet as the groove weaves its magic and the smile of the band shines inevitably through, through artists such as Howlin’ Wolf and Freddie King songs as wild and storm kicking as Big Legged Woman, Me & The Devil Blues, All Your Love (I Miss Loving), Down In The Bottom, Early One Morning and Son House’s Death Letter Blues respond to the respect and memory shown by the musicians of Black Stone Cherry.
Six strong songs worth their weight in gold, Back To Blues, a return to the future, Black Stone Cherry once more fit the bill of respect sensationally.
Black Stone Cherry release Black To Blues Volume 2 on October 18th via Mascot Label Group.
Ian D. Hall