Customer Reviews

Gonna Get Wild

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First let me say that I am a big fan of Mr. Holmstrom's playing. He is one of the few unique voices in blues guitar. Meaning, he doesn't copy SRV or BB King. If anything, he may sound a bit like Jr. Watson- and that my dear readers, is no mean feat. I loved his first CD- it is a trasure trove of blues guitar. I was expecting more of the same on this outing, but I was mistaken. Rick tries his hand at singing on this disc, and he largely succesful. His voice is somewhat like Rusy Zinn. My complaint lies with his guitar sound. He has a very muddy, distorted tone on many songs. I can only guess that he is going for a unique sound. However, I feel it is distracting on some of the songs. Overall the CD is good, but do not expect a rehash of the first CD......(which is one of my favorite guitar instumental CD's of all time)

You have got to hand it to this guy. How can he possibley pull so many diffrent tones and tastfully deliver great songs in so many diffrent styles. If you like your blues innovate this is the one for you. This album, swings, boogies, grinds, lounges and rocks.

"Have you seen my Girl" has a screaming Chuck Berry esq. solo that is truly remarkable. "Lovin Ways" has an outragous groove driven by Jr. Watsons basline that would make James Jamerson green with envy. "What's Alin You" sound like a lost Jimmie Vaughn track from his Thunderbird Days.

Holmstrom is pulling his ideas from all of the right sources with out copying them but still expanding the ideas one step further. Most artists get a handel on one or two of these styles and then spend the rest of their careers rehashing the same sound. You won't find anything stale on this CD.

Now-quit reading the reviews and buy this one.

One of the best guitarists of the "new" west coast blues scene, Holmstrom looks like a young Steve Cropper and plays his hip-shaking, finger-snapping, swinging, rocking blues with the fluency of a veteran twenty years his senior. You can tell this music is not just a job for Holmstrom; it's a lifestyle, a mission, a calling. The guitar on the title cut has that blown-amp "Rocket-88" sound--big and brash--and the cuts just get better and better from there, from the string-bending humor of "Wiggle Stick" to the Jimmie Vaughan-esque "Lucky Day" to the sad/happy skip and stop-time of "You Missed Your Chance."

I was a bit disappointed when I first listened to Holmsrom's new CD. There are only a few songs I find really interesting...this lowdown guitar sound he makes, I like it for a few songs, but not in all....secondly I expected more blasting guitar work from the 5 instrumental songs, but none of them swings as well as the two instrumentals on the two Piazza-CD's (Tough and Tender-Under the big top and Here and Now-Spit Shine); the good parts: I like his singing and the song "Have you seen my girl" is really a knockout! Still, everybody being a westcoast blues fan, HAS to buy this Cd.

For the uninitiated, L.A. Rick is one of the premier blues guitarists today. He can tear the roof off a swing tune, get a burn on a slow blues, put the right feel behind a harmonica, and now with his vocals on his second CD, give blues lovers the entire package. My hat is off to the man for, as Lightning Hopkins put it, "Diggin' a new field with a old plow." However, I have to say, as much as I enjoyed "Gonna Get Wild," his first CD, "Lookout!" still remains my favorite for its overall better tone and sheer exuberant playing. As a guitar player myself, I have the utmost respect for Rick, and Rick, if you're listening, I'm stealing--er, ah, being influenced by--your chops on a near daily basis.