http://www.bluesrockers.ws/emp.html
At
last a British blues act with the style, panache, song-writing ability and
multi instrumental talent to do justice to the blues. That is not to say
that there aren’t a raft of great players in either the UK or London
in particular, but lets face it, the amount of strong song writers in the
genre can be counted on one hand.
No such problems with Eddie Martin whose confidence in his own playing ability is transferred into 10 songs that are topped and tailed by the bar room tale of ‘Contrary Mary’ and the magnificent road narrative ‘Ingolstadt’.
Described by Get Ready To Rock as ‘A slide guitar tour de force played with style and panache by an essential player’, ‘Contrary Mary’ finds Eddie Martin making his move as a contemporary crossover artist with this classy guitar driven rootsy exemplar, full of peerless playing, well honed grooves and a glossy production on a superb album by one of the top UK blues artists of the last decade.
Of course it has to be noted that Eddie did spend some considerable time in the States both honing his playing style and soaking up a Texas blues feel as evidenced on ‘Something about You Baby (I Like)’. But ultimately as this album thrillingly demonstrates he has produced something uniquely his own
The cd’s real strength lies in the sum of its parts which never lose sight of the greater whole. Thus while the album neatly defies outright categorisation, outside of its obvious rootsy feel, there is enough magnificent playing, and magical moments to keep even the most jaded contemporary music palate interested. Eddie plays some low down harp on ‘Watching the Weather’, which turns out to be a powerful rocker that The Fabulous Thunderbirds, or at least Kim Wilson, would have been proud of. This track alone demonstrates Eddie’s ability to turn something almost down home into a slice of contemporary rocking.
On ‘Beautiful Miracles’ he returns to his trademark dirty slide, and rocks out on a meaty shuffle ‘Give It Time’, which is a master stoke and another example of the light and shade of an album that deals in hues and tonal colours. ‘Give It Time’ is in fact the first shuffle on the album, and it is as dynamic as it is brief, before Eddie teases out some of his most delicate notes, as the rhythm section of Marion Dalton on bass and Michael Wiedrich on drums do their stuff in exemplary fashion.
From there on in Eddie proves a master of his craft delving into a compelling mix of gentle shuffle boogie on ‘Better The Devil You Know’, slides all over the place on ‘Strong For You’, and saves the best for last with ‘Ingolstadt’ a quite beautiful account of life on the Bavarian road. The latter like much of this album should at the very least be destined for lots of radio plays.
Pete Feenstra - www.feenstra.co.uk
The
Band:
Eddie Martin - guitar, harmonica, vocals
Marion Dalton – bass
Michael Wiedrich – drums
Tracks:
1. Contrary Mary - 2. Something About You baby (I Like) - 3. Watching The
Weather - 4. Month of Mondays - 5. Beautiful Miracles - 6. Give It Time -
7. Better The Devil You Know - 8. Strong For You - 9. Living For The Weekend
- 10. Ingolstadt.
Link:
www.eddiemartin.com
