Slackjaw It’s Always Something
It’s Always Some-
thing, the second album from New Jersey blues rockers Slackjaw, rapidly grabbed my atten- tion with its tight musicianship and
devil-may-care lyrics. This trio consists of singer/guitarist John Thompson, drum- mer/harmonicist Randy Marinelli, and bassist/backing vocalist Carl Capodice. Album opener “Carried By Six” is
smothered in Texas blues and sounds great. Not only is Thompson one hell of a guitar slinger, but Capodice and Marinelli hold the fort down quite nicely to boot. When it comes to relationships, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. That’s the message in the rocking title track, “It’s Always Something”. Thompson seriously tears it up, and throws down the gauntlet when it comes to blasting out intense guitar licks. A funky bluesy rhythm with a Spin Doc- tors flair gives the light-hearted love song, “New Addiction” a feel-good groovy sound. This one surely puts me in my happy place. Tempo shifts, and more out- standing hard-driving riffs, make the melodic “Whiskey Lane” one of my fa- vorites. Slackjaw closes out with the carousing
song, “Bottle of Whiskey”. This partying track is the perfect closer, and gets stuck inside my head quite often now. All in all, It’s Always Something is a rambunc- tiously good listen.
-Phillip Smith
The Almost Brothers Band A Band of Roadies (Indie)
The Almost
Brothers was born out of the many times during the ‘73-’74 tours of The Allman Brothers Band when certain band members were unable to
make ti to sound check, and the roadies would do the sound check for them. As Chuck Leavell writes in the liner notes, “As we began to tour behind the release [of Brothers And Sisters ] in 1973 there were times when, for various reasons, the band wouldn’t or couldn’t make sound checks.” We will not even begin to theorize on those “various reasons.” The album these guys created is good
enough to stand on its own. It is damned good, actually. contains a nice mix of orig- inals and classic cover tunes, overflowing with blues, jazz riffs, and serious jams, not unlike their more famous Brothers. The band members included the late
Twiggs Lyndon – the Allmans’ original road manager – playing guitar; longtime road crew member, the late Joseph “Red Dog” Campbell played the drums, with sound man Michael Artz on the other kit. Buddy Thornton (Front-of-house sound) played bass. Virginia Speed (keyboard tech) sat in on piano and Dave “Trash” Cole (Guitar tech) played guitar. With the addition of band friend Joe English (Dixie Dreggs, Wings) on congas, the Almost Brothers took on a vibe that foreshadowed the Allmans post-1989 vibe after Marc Quiñones joined. Lots of killer percussion. One of my favorite things.
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