"Hands On"

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Michael K’s Rumble Pack

Pleasure & Pain Productions

This Swedish band has really taken a love affair with the city of Portland, Oregon and it’s blues scene which is reflected in several ways on their new album Hands On. From being printed at the city’s BullEyeDisc, to notes of Dave’s Killer Bread, and use of local photographer Tony Kutter’s work on the jacket, to mentions of a number of friends in the city on “Portland Women” and also the Americanized spelling of Kahari’s name (from Mikael to Michael). But let’s just say, if the band wants to be a part of the Portland blues family, they’re more than welcome to be so.

The music on this CD is exceptional. Who said Europeans couldn’t play the blues? That statement has been proved false time and time again, and it’s been done here as well. Opening the disc with a rockin’ “Baby Of The Blues” is a good case in point. Michael tells you right off if you don’t think that they’re playing the blues he doesn’t really care, then naming off a number of rockin’ blues artists that did pretty well themselves. The guitar work of Kahari is spectacular. He can pump it up with those rockin’ pieces, get a little swampy in “Mojodoc’s Cure” or lay down some sweet sounding licks as in “Pleasure & Pain.” He is capably backed with the tight rhythm section of Lasse Johansson on drums and Staffan Myrman on bass. There is a lot of fun material found on Hands On, with all of the tracks, save one, written by Kahari. This is a very pleasing album with nothing but really fun songs throughout and perhaps ending with the best of the bunch, “Black Cadillac” where Michael tells us he’s going home with this last ride in the big black Cadillac and where he’s going there is no coming back.

Michael K’s Rumble Pack may be a band that most people in the United States are unfamiliar with, but hopefully Hands On will get them some well deserved attention outside of Scandinavia. It certainly has the grit and down home feel that blues lovers crave.

Total Time: 41:56

Baby Of The Blues / Mojodoc’s Cure / Pleasure & Pain / Confusion / True Crime Of Passion / Portland Women / Not With You / Stop Messing With Me / Rub It In / Black Cadillac

Reviewed by Greg Johnson

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CD Reviews

"Blues Cures Studio Jam, Vol. 4"

Various Artists

Tony’s Treasures Productions

Sean Carney’s Blues For A Cure concerts have become an annual holiday tradition in Columbus, Ohio with Sean bringing in all-star line-ups every year to raise money to help fight cancer. It has also become routine for many of the performers to gather afterward in a studio to record a jam session that is released on CD to further raise funds for research and to help support The Blues Foundation’s HART Fund to assist aging and in need musicians.

This fourth compilation of the jam sessions includes an impressive array of performers, with annual regulars Sean Carney and Jonn Del Toro Richardson leading the way with brilliant guitar work. Artists offered in this year’s release include harmonica ace Omar Coleman, 2006 International Blues Challenge champion Joey Gilmore, vocalist Long Tall Deb, and guitarists Dave Workman and Ray Fuller among many others.

Songs on the disc are mostly well-known traditional blues standards by song writers such as Willie Dixon, Little Milton, Z.Z. Hill, Elmore James and Don Robey. Original numbers include “Blues Don’t Care (Married To The Blues)” by Long Tall Deb Landolt and “Your Death (Is Killing Me)” by guitar player Hunter Wolfe who is also featured on the recording.

These Blues Cures Jams are outstanding and if you have not heard any of them all are well worth picking up by going to www.bluesforacure.com. Not only do you receive amazing music, you know you’re helping out for a great cause, too.

Total Time: 59:42

Too Late / That’s What Love Will Make You Do / So Many Roads / Every Day I Have The Blues / The Sky Is Crying / Bluesman / Blues Don’t Care (Married To The Blues) / You’re Gonna Make Me Cry / Shake, Rattle & Roll / Your Death (Is Killing Me) / Love The World