Johnnie K Band, The: Keep On Pushin'

Talk-box, you either love it or hate it and I HATE it. To all guitar players past present and future, if you absolutely MUST use the squawker, please never EVER use it on the very first track of your CD. Johnnie does that here and as a result I cannot really get into the album until about track three. There is some good playing here- Johnnie has listened to a lot of Hendrix, Marino, Roth and Page. Particularly some of the interesting riffs are reminiscent of Pagey more in form than in sound. There is a good mix of bluesy, psychedelic and ballsy rock in these grooves with great vocals that match the vibe, yet the sound production itself could use a little brightening up and punchiness in spots. I was provided with an additional remix of the tune "Crying Hearts" which will be included on the album, either as a bonus track or replacing the version on the promo copy I received. This is a great track, starting out with a languid acoustic riff that immediately made me think of Judas Priest's "Last Rose of Summer" and "Dreamer Deceiver". This is a great tune and the remix sounds vastly improved to the version on my demo. The tune builds behind an insistent riff with swirling and interesting guitar solos. I would love to hear Johnnie's instrumental debut Electric Angel. There is still a place for this type of music with the resurgent Frank Marino, Robb Howell's Peace Machine and Rick Ray's product, and I think Johnnie K will have a place in this realm.

Track Listing
1. Come on Everybody
2. Got to Hold on
3. Kickin'
4. Mahogany Man
5. Crying Hearts
6. Stand Alone
7. Keep on Pushin'
8. Flying Away
9. Burning Desire

Added: August 14th 2005
Reviewer: Mike Blackburn
Score:
Related Link: Johnnie K Website
Hits: 4406
Language: english

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