Soledad Brothers - Hardest Walk (CD)

Potent Stones-influenced garage-blues

By redtunictroll  Apr 25, 2006

Pros: Fine British Invasion influenced blues garage rock.

Cons: Nothing innovative, but that isn't necessarily a "con."

Grown in the same Detroit firmament as The White Stripes, this three-piece offers a similar blend of garage rock and blues, but without the two-piece minimalism. Their fifth album, the first for the California-based Alive Records, gains its intensity... and blues heaviness more from the British Invasion (particularly the Stones, Yardbirds and Pretty Things) than directly from the Mississippi Delta or Chicago bars. The potent rhythm guitar interplay and the punk-tinged vocals are particularly remindful of mid-60s blues reinterpreters. The band's originals add touches of psychedelia and glamrock swagger, and on "Good Feeling" a taste of the Memphis soul that Big Star brought to the rock 'n' roll party. The band's fascination with the Stones hasn't subsided, but it's definitely evolved, as though their debt has been paid but not forgotten. [©2006 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] Read more Less