Painkillers
If Robert Johnson took a midnight stroll to
meet the devil at the crossroads and exchange his soul for the blues, this
collaboration between punk-blues label-mates Left Lane Cruiser and James Leg
sounds like they've got a direct line to the fiery pits of hell.
As
Leg, one half of The Black Diamond Heavies, growls at the moon, Frederick ‘Joe’
Evans IV accompanies him with a feverish slide-guitar squall, while drummer
Brenn ‘Sausage Paw’ Breck pounds out a relentless, jackhammer beat. With
producer Jim Diamond sitting in on bass and 66-year-old bluesman Harmonica Shah
guesting on harp, Painkillers doesn't so much breathe life into as
provide electric shock treatment for the 10 covers collected here, including an
excellent brooding psych-blues rendition of Bob Seger's 'Come To Poppa', Jimi
Hendrix's 'If 6 Was 9', both with Leg on organ, and Robert Johnson's 'Ramblin' On
My Mind'.
Alan Brown
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