| CD REVIEW Electric Mary |
 |
|
Band : Electric Mary Woah man, with Down To The Bone by Melbourne based Electric Mary, the people at Powerage Records finally got themselves another band of the same arena stage quality as their very first release (Viking Skulls’ Doom Gloom Heartache And Whiskey, issued in November of last year)! Stylistically, EM tap from a slightly different source though, hailing the Classic Rock tunes of the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple (and the ensuing outings of its members, Whitesnake, Glenn Hughes solo, ), Free, AC/DC, Bad Company, Paul Rodgers, and many, many more!!! (Taken & slightly re-written from the band’s official biography at poweragerecords.com) The roots of the band go back to 2003, when singer/songwriter Rusty B (of Mr. Brown), having found out that musical tastes all over the world were changing and in need for a fresh approach, decided to tackle his guitarist friend Irwin Thomas (formerly of Southern Sons)…and headed out to New York! They did the tourist thing…for two days…and while sitting on a bench at the JohnLennon memorial listening to some buskers turning out some pretty awful versions of Beatles songs, Rusty realized he was chasing a sound with no heart or soul. Nah, if anything, he realized that it was much better to go back to the sounds of old in stead! So the next few days were spent looking at New York with a completely different perspective. A chance meeting at a gig led to the duo hooking up with legendary studio manager Mary Cambell, owner of Electric Lady Studio…once the property of one Jimi Hendrix! They got an invitation to visit the studio, visit during which Mary told them stories about artists such as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Guns ‘n’ Roses, the Kinks, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and Bad Company…leaving the duo in awe and humbled respect in the company of such illustrous company. Eventually Mary handed over her business card to Rusty with the words: “That’s me at the bottom of the card, electric Mary…”, and right there and then Electric Mary was born! The seed was planted, and on the flight home Rusty decided to go back to his musical roots and begin a band playing the kind of music that had instigated him to start a singing career in the first place! With the help of Irwin, aided out by second guitarist Pete Robinson (ex-Sneak), bassist Neilo, and drummer Venom, he was sure to find likewise stemmed people, and in 2004 the band privately issued their debut EP release Four Hands High. Playing live was the main objective in those days though! Following more live work in 2005, the band recorded their follow-up 5-track EP The Definition Of Insanity, which was re-issued through the Irustu label in June 2007. Weirdly enough, a first version of the band’s official debut album Down To The Bone (including re-recorded versions of all tracks on the band’s 2nd EP) was first issued in France and the Benelux during 2008, and Irustu only issued the album in March 2009…around which time the album was also licenced to Powerage for an April release (well, I ain’t too sure about the exact date, because other sources than poweragerecords.com mention early May as release date) with two bonus tracks “Gasoline And Guns” and “Spread the Electric Luv”. Although soaked with influences from many of the Classic Rock bands, the ones most coming out are the harder side of Bad Company, and Led Zeppelin, with an occasional touch of AC/DC to boot! With that nice hoarse quality to his voice, Rusty falls somewhere in between Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant anyway (the latter comparison mostly holds when he sings in the higher regions of the octave), you know! The combination makes for a compelling attraction which draws you in from the first time you give the album a listening session! The fun thing, is that each additional session will draw you in deeper and deeper. I mean, having been able to give the album numerous listening sessions during my vacation, I still cannot get enough while listening to the album over again to give it its review…and in my book, that is a sign of quality, because usually I get somewhat “bored” of albums once I get what they’re about, see? On a couple of the harder tracks (“Gasoline And Guns”, “No One Does It Better Than Me”, “Crashdown” and “Luv Me”), the guitars have a somewhat down-tuned sound, and where one would (in theory) expect this fact to give the songs a “Stoner” touch, it actually accentuates the Classic Rock autenticity instead! Get a whiff of what this band is about by listening to the (no less than 6!!!) tracks posted at myspace.com/electricmary, and be seduced in subsequently going out to the record store to buy the album! Hard to tell which of the songs carry my personal preference, as I can’t help myself to hum along to each and every one of the 14 songs on the album! Over In Australia, the boys have been getting quite a rep since the beginning of this year, having supported Whitesnake on their Melbourne area gigs (later also on the European shows), having done a national Australian tour with Judas Priest, supported Glenn Hughes (late April to early May) on his first official Australian tour…and a support slot still coming up this month on an Alice Cooper Australian tour. Late September the guys are flying over to the US as well! I’d like to finish this review with a comment on the words the band posted at their Myspace page, under the “Similar to” section: “Whatever you want it to sound like … We have no control over your thought, we have no control ovver your thoughts, we have no control …When I snap my fingers you will wake up and believe that we are the greatest thing you’ve ever heard and you have an undying luv for everything we do …snap!”. Well guys, no need to hypnotize me with anything else but your music, which DEFINITELY belongs among the better things I’ve heard lately! Hence the nomination into my personal “Best Album Of 2009”-list! 98/100 Tony. |