Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The soundtrack of our life is a deeply individual and unique, we might have more than one play list, we could be listening to a whole variety of songs and special insightful tracks, we might even permit others to share in some of those moments where the guitar and the vocal capture the zeitgeist of personal interaction, but the final result is one that holds together what are as a person, as a distinctive, exceptional, irreplaceable human being.
Our own soundtrack though is made infinitely more alluring and heart breaking when we listen to the indomitable, when we hear the words of the self-confessed resurrected playing in our ears, and to that end, one of the great American musicians of our time, Mike Zito comes roaring back from the glorious Quarantine Blues, and holds an open hand for the listener to join him on the road to Resurrection.
It is not that Mike Zito needs the revitalisation, nor does he need to be restored in the national conscious, however as we all have found in the last eighteen months, we need the signs of rebirth, to hope that we can understand what we have been through, and emerged from, and bring a renaissance for of the human soul and spirit; and in the power that comes from such enlightenment, resurrection is the key.
From the opening auspicious openings of the beautiful and stirring cover of J.J. Cale’s I’ll Make Love To You, Don’t Bring Me Down, and Dreaming Of You, the superb reinterpretation of Eric Clapton’s Presence Of The Lord, You Don’t Have Me, Running Man, Willie Dixon’s Evil and the album’s title track of Resurrection, Mike Zitoand the band soar in elegance, and find the stature that has long been theirs to control, now feeds others, the listeners, and the fans, to such an extent that it has become a feeling of the restorative, the continuation of the Blues that has in itself been resurgent since the dawn of the 21st Century, and it is welcome absolutely.
With resurrection comes life, with life comes hope and love, and for Mike Zito, those elements of humanity are what make Resurrection possible.
Mike Zito releases his new album, Resurrection, on July 16th via Gulf Coast Records.
Ian D. Hall