Bob Brozman - Post Industrial Blues
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Music Reviews of Post Industrial Blues
Music Review: Mostly first rate
Rating: 4 Stars
Okay, first for a disclaimer: I'm a National guitar junky. (Whenever you read a review about a Bob Brozman project, you have to separate the resophonic guitar geeks from those who just like good music. The former just can't retrain their praise for this man's musicianship, but it might not suit the needs of the later.)
First, as always, you have to ignore Bob's singing style. It's sort of cross between Dean Martin and someone playing the saw. (Maybe not exactly Dean Martin, but definitely a saw.) He reminds me of Leon Redbone, the guy who did the beer commercials in the 1980s. I mean, if a band needed just a lead singer, Bob wouldn't get the call. Sorry, Bob....
But, I must say that on several tracks, Bob restrains the strange vocal lilt he brings to his songs. I'll bet this was unintentional, but it was a relief because sometimes his singing gets in the way of the lyrics, and of course his great ability at playing several instruments.
Now, why did I give this new CD four stars?
First, with all the turmoil in the world, much of it caused by our country, Bob has produced a genuine protest album! The opening songs, Follow the Money and Look at New Orleans, two Brozman originals, express the anger of millions of Americans. (Too bad only a few thousand will probably hear these songs.) And the playing in Look at New Orleans is quite haunting. Kudos, Bob!
Next, (well, a couple of tracks later), Bob switches gears and plays a swing number called Shafafa. Follow that with Lonely Children (the title says it all) and Three Family Blues (a song about the effects of war), and you see that Bob has some things to say, and his lyrics do it very well.
The entire CD contains displays of Bob's amazing musicianship. Countless time he makes me ask, "how did he do that?" In Strange Ukulele Blues, he actually plays a resophonic uke in almost a Flamingo style. Amazing! And he opens Rolling Through the World, in which he plays a National baritone tricone (that's the geek in me talking) with a set of chords and flourish that's pure, well, Brozman. When I heard this tune for the first time, I kept hitting the "replay" button; I listened to the incredible opening several times before I played the entire song. Yes, he had me asking, "How'd he do that?"
The second to last track on the CD is the Doors song, People Are Strange. It sounds like it might be interesting and fun, but it's not. It's sort of a cross between the Doors and the Munsters. It would be great for a psychedelic Halloween party, but not much else. (As the reso geeks know, Bob's main guitar contains the inscription, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." That applies to this track.)
On balance, if you know Bob Brozman and appreciate what he does, you'll love this CD (Four stars.) If you don't know him and have know interest in more avant garde music or blues, you might be happier listening to something else.
Music Review: "...the looks we get are cold."
Rating: 5 Stars
The Bob Brozman & Ruf Records brotherhood is now a very impressive 3 for 3. What a great album!
Post-Industrial Blues is where Live in Germany and Blues Reflex meet Bob's worldview put into words (though not every song is "political"). We're also bathed in top-shelf playing/composing/arranging, and his touch/tone on some of my favorite instruments.
The old english 7-string banjo does a ton for this album (though it's not on every track). Old Man's Blues mixes the banjo with the sanshin (Takashi's main instrument on Jin Jin/Firefly and Nankuru Naisa) to great effect. Who'd have thought that a sanshin and an old english banjo would bring late-years Docks Boggs to my mind? Fresh from its starring role on Lumiere, the little baglama also appears beautifully on Lonely Children.
With Look at New Orleans and Three Families Blues we get 2 original lyrics that may even surpass Rolling Through This World (still a favorite here in its 4th cd and/or dvd appearance in the past 5 or 6 years) for heavy emotional power. Beautiful, important stuff. Forget "politics". This is about people and compassion before profit. And most importantly for an album of music, they're songs I love.
This is Bob's album of the year for me. From the songs/music to the recording quality. It's true that some of these songs tread different lyrical terrain than have past Brozman songs but this is still an album for anyone who loves Bob's continuing, evolving notions of how pre-war music can live in the present without being beholden to precedent. This album is still about Nationals, and Bob being the man who brings the best of the '20s, '30s and early '40s into the 21st Century with dignity, creativity, emotion and forward motion... without sentimentality or Museum Quality stagnancy. With ears that travel and learn from the world as well as look inward, if globalization has a bright spot... a guidepost to the way it ought to be happening... Brozman's artistic output is it.
Music Review: Blues Indeed
Rating: 3 Stars
I love Bob Brozman's playing. I'm afraid that I'm not in love with his singing style. And some of these songs are pretty grim. Still, Bob plays better than most anyone else.