On his fourth outing for Blind Pig Records,
Bill Perry takes his own brand of modern electric blues and turbocharges it.
Perry's songwriting has been developing consistently from the 1990s during his tenure with Virgin's Point Blank label. And while it's true most blues fans only care about that fiery guitar playing of his, the real depth of his writing was revealed on the Blind Pig releases
Crazy Kind of Life and
Raw Deal. Here, combining tight, tough hooks on tunes like "My Baby Loves to Dance," and the National Steel-driven "I Don't Know Nothin' Bout Love" and "Waitin' for My Luck to Change," actually fall in line with a lyric sensibility that's clever and humorous. The same goes for "Accuse Me of Lyin'," with its gritty R&B feel. While
Perry's songs here fall down like hard rain, his covers are unique, too, and there are three. The first is
Dave Bartholomew's and
Fats Domino's "Hello Josephine" that shuffles and choogles to a midtempo groove with
Perry's knotty leads filling in between the lines and a killer, funky wah wah powered guitar solo. The next is
Barrett Strong's "Ball of Confusion." If you're thinking, "Why would anybody cover a song that was defined by
the Temptations?" think again.
Perry's version is unique, almost metallic, its guitars roar.
Popa Chubby's production here is straight-ahead, beefy and deep blue funky.
Perry sings with conviction and turns the rhythm into a steady plodding rock & roll heartbeat. The bottom line is that
Perry strikes again, and the modern blues are luckier for it. ~ Thom Jurek