Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
To capture the heat, energy and sublime talent of a legend, one must surely believe that they are not just merely copying the master but can enhance it, that they can place their own name into the same written and verbal sentence with humility, but also with an eye of purpose which shows their adept skill at performance.
We have become too entrenched in the idea of the feel of the original that we forget that a tribute is not a way for an artist to cut corners or to make what could be described as easy money, For some, it is the window to their world, what drove them to look at the authentic as a fluid machine whilst always keeping honour and integrity as rigid unyielding rod in which others can count upon, the notches made are the guide in which respect is earned and shown.
One of the genuine, and rightly lauded players of the American Blues, Mike Zito, has always had that unwavering outlook upon the beauty of the machine, and has also risen against it, respect and mutual assurance of the craft uppermost in his mind, and whilst the Blues call daily, it is with a look to the history of the musician’s musical love that steers the integrity to the point of broadening the scope of his output, and in the honest reflection that comes through every song on his latest album, Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Tribute To Chuck Berry.
The King of the Rock and Roll sentiment, the godfather of the intricate spellbound riff, to take on such a musician’s songs, to include some of the finest music minds in the endeavour, notably Walter Trout, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Sonny Landreth, Ally Venable and Albert Castiglia, is not only setting out the stall of past and its influence on the present day, but there throughout a sense of the invincibility, a strategy of the importance of what Chuck Berry and Mike Zito have brought to the ears of the fans and the audiences across time.
The convincing nature of the album is as pure, as patient as anything Mike Zito has produced, and across songs such as Johnny B Goode, Memphis, I Want To Be Your Driver, No Particular Place To Go, Too Much Monkey Business, Brown Eyed Handsome Man and Thirty Days, the beat of the heart is matched impeccably by the rhythm of the sound created, not only majestic but honourable.
Chuck Berry will never be forgotten for what he gave music audiences in the long days of a country still reeling after World War Two, his influence on the 50s and subsequent decades surely never dismissed but with Mike Zito and Friends adding to the spectacular warmth of the man’s output it becomes not just a tribute, but a testimony to both men.
Mike Zito And Friends will release Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Tribute To Chuck Berry on November 1st via Ruf Records.
Ian D. Hall