When Black Stone Cherry released ‘Kentucky’ just over a year ago the band took their sound all the way back to their roots – using the same hometown studio that they recorded their debut and it worked, not just well, but astonishingly well. With the space of a year to re-evaluate I look back on it now as their crowning glory, and it ended up quite rightly so as our album of the year. What do you do next after a release like that? You take it even further back of course with an EP of reimagined Blues classics. Not only that though: you recorded it in the same studio and track it in two days, leaving it nice a gritty and just a little darker than you might imagine.
Covers of course are an integral part of the mix for the boys from Kentucky – over the years they’ve introduced legions of fans to the songs that made them what they are today – from Led Zeppelin and Hendrix, AC/DC and Motörhead to the deeper sounds of masters like Willie Dixon (who wrote two of the songs here), Johnny Cash, Joe Walsh, Muddy Waters and so many more.
It’s fitting though that their most played cover song ‘Built For Comfort’ opens up this six song EP. It’s a song penned by Dixon but most famously perhaps recorded by Howlin’ Wolf and if you want a lesson in harnessing the soul of a song whilst applying your own unique touch it’s this opener. It’s a song of course tat most will have heard before, full of energy, huge riffage and Chris Robinson’s sweet whiskey-soaked vocal. It rises and falls like a force of nature and does what it should do – leave you with a huge grin all over your face. It’s a great way to get the blood pumping.
There’s many bands that have covered Muddy Waters’ ‘Champagne and Reefer’ (written by McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters) from The Rolling Stones to The Black Crowes, and Buddy Guy has of course pretty much laid claim to the song over the years. Here Black Stone Cherry have somehow managed to give it a new ‘kick’ and that solo, man, that’s just the way we like it. It’s the next track though that might just be the hidden gem.
Freddy King’s ‘Palace of The King’ (written by Nix, Dunn and Russell) might be less of an established standard to mainstream rock fans, especially when the same man is famous for ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ (Which Black Stone cherry have also covered live and get to later) but this distorted beauty should, I hope intentionally, have you running to explore the great man’s back catalogue. Half way in we’re more than happy.
Of all the tracks here ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ might just be the most familiar. It’s a track that many would cite as a perfect example of the form, and another penned by Willie Dixon (though made famous by Muddy Waters) and played over the years by just about everyone. Black Stone Cherry give it the respect it deserves before ripping it up and adding some wonderful and unexpectedly cool horns into the heady mix. It’s another take on a classic that gets that gritty down home treatment and sounds all the more honest for it.
Just to prove that though we all associate certain Blues artists with certain songs the writers are actually largely unsung Albert King’s ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ (written by Book T and William Bell) hits like a freight train, again struck through with resplendent horns it’s a great take on an iconic song.
The EP is rounded out by rather traditional take on Willie Dixon’s ‘I Want to be Loved’, the third of his compositions here. It’s a song that is shown a huge amount of love, resting on big riffs and some sumptuous keys that really set it off in all its glory. Like the opener its going to raise a huge grin and it rounds off what could have been a stop-gap release with a passion and a fire that makes this EP a worthy addition to the catalogue.
Best EP of the year? There seem no doubt about it…
