The Dt's - Hard Fixed (CD)

All Music Guide

You sure can't accuse former Mono Men guitarist and Estrus Records straw boss Dave Crider of repeating himself with his new outfit, The DT's. Leaving behind the highcranked garage rock thunder that's been Crider's trademark, The DT's call their sound "hard soul," and the description fits fusing the passion of classic RB with the muscle of hard rock, The DT's add Crider's potent sixstring growl to the cool but fullbodied keyboards of Patti Bell, while vocalist Diana YoungBlanchard testifies with the force of a classic soul belter. Crider kicks out the jams all right, but he's also picked up a decidedly bluesy sense of space and time, sort of like Keith Richards with a side portion of fuzz, and while YoungBlanchard's vocals bring to mind the shades of Janis Joplin and Tina Turner, she's got the chops to take their influences and move forward them forward. Add the solid support of Bell's keyboards and Phil Carter's drums and you have a band that could give blueeyed soul a good name agai...n. Hard Fixed is a strong debut from a band with muscle to spare, and hopefully they've got more mojo where this came from. - Mark Deming, All Music Guide Read more Less