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Mike Zito’s fifth album Pearl River and second on Eclecto Groove Records, continues to give more credibility to his viability as a major artist playing blues rock.
Zito and his crackerjack band take you through thirteen high energy blues rock soaked numbers featuring his hefty vocals and sharp guitar licks. Right at the starting line “Dirty Blonde” kicks everything into high gear. No pun intended but the guitar is down and “dirty” as it gets on this track. “Big Mouth” features a funky groove loaded with hooks that have a tendency to hang onto you throughout the song, I can picture dancing the night away to a track like that.
To give the listener a little variety and to mix up the formula, Zito teams up with Anders Osborne on “One Step At a Time”, a snappy duet that is clearly the most commercially accessible tune and should be earmarked for a single release. Similarly on “Shoes Blues” Susan Cowsill (remember the family band The Cowsills?) steps in to offer a woman’s touch to the blues with plenty of grit and determination, giving the recording yet more variety to bite into.
I have to say again that Zito is just smokin’ hot in every department on this release just as he was on the previous two releases. The artist keeps kicking it up another notch on every release, raising the bar for his contemporaries. The production elements are top shelf, the musicianship stellar, and the way Zito mixes up the selections is ideal.
The blues can get predictable and downright monotonous if you always put out what everyone expects to hear. Zito does not allow his approach or game plan to take any turns without him steering and he keeps the listener’s attention and interest until the CD stops spinning. That is a great accomplishment and I commend him for his vision and the way he takes blues-rock and makes it work for him, not the other way around.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
October 3, 2009