The British Isles have provided plenty of great blues bands (and a few bad ones as well), the latest export being
the Radiotones, self-labeled as "insurgent alt.blues." As a drummerless three-piece group,
the Radiotones can't simply rock out and get themselves across through sheer force on
Whiskey'd Up, their second full-length album. Instead, they rely on practiced musicianship, exceptional interplay among harmonica (Jim Harcus), National guitar (Dave Arcari), and electric bass (Andrian Paterson), and a good set of original tunes peppered with the requisite standards. The only significant problem with
Whiskey'd Up is Arcari's vocal delivery. Instead of sounding bluesy, his voice comes off as being forced, with an odd gruffness that overshadows what he's singing. It's a shame, really, because his guitar playing on tunes like
Muddy Waters' "Can't Be Satisfied" and
Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" just plain blazes. At the heart of Arcari's painfully bad singing is a rough working class voice that would probably better serve
the Radiotones in its natural state. Think of
the Clash doing acoustic blues music. That's just what
the Radiotones could sound like if they really tried.