Sass O'Frass Tunic - As Blue As The State Allows

This band totally took me from left from left field some 15 years ago when I first heard them. Sass O'Frass Tunic is a gospel centered southern delta blues band that transcends the label of Christian or religious based music. For anyone who has spent any time listening to gospel music knows that the "par for the course" is pallid and uncreative at best. The same cannot be said for this band.

Fronted by Fred T. Friend and consisiting of a group of outstanding musicians, the album starts off with "Which One Are You?", which is reminiscent of Bob Dylan's "You Gotta Serve Somebody" lyrically. But the comparison ends there. An accapella track, it sets into your psyche just as the track "Mr Tumbleweed" begins with a chugging blues progression that most assuredly have your toe tapping if not get you dancing (yes, gospel music can make you boogie).

While I do not generally review religious based music as a rule, this disc is an anomaly simply for the integrity of the music and should by the very definition of what this site was created for be shared equally. I spent quite a time debating about this because of the subject but in the end the music won out over all else.

"Stopwhatyadoin' ", a self introspective track is so taut with personal reflection that I found myself lost within it. What else can you say about music that can do that to you other than to recommend others to hear it. Other Standouts include Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog", a forlorn rendition of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and the best track IMHO on the disc "My World is Falling Down", another introspective track that I have actually covered over the years at parties and the such on an old beat up acoustic guitar.

I would highly recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of the blues for sure, especially fans of Sam Cooke, Robert Johnson, BB King and their contemporaries. Be prepared to hear about the bands beliefs, but also be open to the great music that it is presented with. Much again like the albums in which Bob Dylan spoke of his religious beliefs, this album is equally musically outstanding as well as it is a soul searching touch of genius. I honestly believe this is one of the albums that literally affected my life in a profound way and I hope that it at least entertains you.

Sass O"Frass Tunic - As Blue As The State Allows

Artist: Sass O'Frass Tunic
Album: As Blue As The State Allows
Genre: Gospel/Blues

By Lord Bez

Leave The Light On - Beth Hart

From BC about this album:

Beth Hart first became known to the world in the very tail end of the 1990s with her massive hit "LA Song" and her in your face "this is me like it or fuck off" take on life kept her and the song in the media long after sales for that album "Screaming For My Supper" slowed to a snails pace. The only problem with this was, LA Song was the only single released off the album that charted, and most assumed that Beth was a one hit wonder deemed for the 1990s related obscurity that acts like OMC, Fastball and The Heights now dwell in.

But this wouldn't do for Beth. She didn't care that the major lables weren't pushing her anymore, she kept working, she turned out afew more albums, and one of them, her newest one to date, from 2003, "Leave The Light On" is truely a jem that should not be passed by. It spans the spectrum from pop, to southern style rock, to jazz and blues, to gospel, to soul, to female vocalist. There is no real way to pin down this album, it shows that Beth has become so much more as she's gotten older and worked more and more on her craft.

Beth has really changed, she started out as what most dismissed as a foul mouthed Tori Amos rip off, but her voice and her style has changed so much that, it seems silly now to have ever compaired the two. Beth's voice is somewhere between Anastacia Newkirk and just about any soul diva you can think of, there is alot of Aretha in her writing she's claimed, I hear more Patte Le Belle, but thats just me I guess. Doesn't really take away from how good this disc is.

I would say this disc is for anyone thats not fully tired of the mainstream, but would like to see what some of those that the mainstream has forgotten are up too these days. Her subject matter jumps all over the place, from love, to drug addictions and drinking to sexual abuse against a child (what the title song "Leave The Light On" is about), self redemption, and afew other things along the way. Its a true masterpiece.

Artist: Beth Hart
Album: Leave The Light On
genre: Female Vocalist

Leave The Light On by Beth Hart

By BC