Ivy Gold: Live at the Jovel

Live At The Jovel is the first Live album from German hard blues/hard rock act Ivy Gold, composed by Manou (german female singer), veteran session and live drummer Tal Bergman (Billy Idol, Joe Bonamassa, Rod Stewart), Sebastian Eder on guitars (Avalon), Kevin Moore on bass, and Anders Olinder on keyboards (Glenn Hughes). This is the first time I’ve heard of this band/project or any of its members, so I dug into their catalog and streamed their debut Six Dusty Winds (one and only) which was a cool listen, tasty and soulful music… now it was time for the live stuff and out of curiosity and before listening to Live At The Jovel I compared both track lists and the only difference is the drum solo, besides that this live album is the studio debut played in a different order than that of the studio version.

Manou has a strong voice and knows how to use it, even though sometimes she might sound like a German version of an Etheridge/Crow mix, the hard blues punch alla Joplin makes her unique style solid and enjoyable. Guitars are super tasty and well executed and when partnered with the keys they can bring the mood to retro world or go modern hard blues territory, but the real highlight for me here is the rhythmic section, Mr. Bergman is one talented guy very clean and precise (no wonder why he is charge of the only additional track here) and his wingman Mr. Moore gets him perfectly and helps him shine… They chose to open this “gig� with two very solid and catchy tunes, the heartfelt and confessional rocker “This is My Time� and the heavy and wild “Face of Deceit�, sound and production are pristine. “Believe� brings some funky groove to the table, a very well executed hard bluesy tune that only suffers from the heavy German accent on Manou’s voice, but only briefly, just for a bit. Then comes the love song (too soon!) “Without You�, a classic blues tune that gets rapidly rescued by the great guitar work of Mr. Eder who wins all deserved applauses from the audience, and cool keys towards the end too. “Born Again� is one of the best songs of the album, it has that raunchy rocker mood similar to Rainbow, Purple and Heep, no need for melodies here because the band, especially the fat rhythmic bass is top notch, and the song is a great prelude to the “Drum Solo�, a nice and different approach by Tal Bergman, kind of jazzy at spots.

“Six Dusty Winds� is a more modern sounding tune with a cool vocalization from Manou and the rest of the band, another pretty good guitar solo only shadowed by the 70’s sounding keys. “Shine On� doesn’t change the route that much, nice groove and tight instrumentation that reaches its peak when the solo hits, not my favorite vocals so far. “Suspicion� opens the last quarter of the album with a great performance by the band, a little weak lyrically wise but pretty good overall. “We are One� sees Manou’s best vocals yet who smartly saved her crunchiness for the final part of the show and that rhythmic section again is truly on fire, well… everyone is on fire here and in the last song, “Retribution�, which confidentially is the best sounding song of them all, heavy and somehow spacey, alternative heavy blues? Good listen. I did miss one or two covers…

Track Listing:

1. This is My Time (4:40)
2. Face of Deceit (4:01)
3. Believe (3:39)
4. Without You (4:56)
5. Born Again (5:11)
6. Drum Solo (5:03)
7. Six Dust Wings (4:23)
8. Shine On (5:03)
9. Suspicion (5:19)
10. We are One (4:16)
11. Retribution (5:55)

Added: June 18th 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 544
Language: english

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