Customer Reviews

Semi Automatic Slim

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

 

 

"Sniff, snort.. chuckle.. Whew! I see what you mean brother..." While Rick Carroll combines the blues of Jimi and the power of Chicago - the combination wins for everyone.

To paraphrase Hendrix is the best of choice compliments, I can't wait for the real McCoy at Momma's Blues Palace in Charleston...

See Everyone There!!!!

(A Real Musician's Fan)

New England area locals Rick Carroll & Wicked Blue crank out 7 originals and 3 classics on Semi Automatic Slim. Rick Carroll is lead guitarist and singer. Rick's voice, sounding like an angry growl with a bad attitude, is distinctive, though not exceptionally musical.

The guitar playing is what I enjoy about this CD. Rick plays raunchy, emotional leads with power and authority. But traditional blues fans and the weak of heart take heed. This music goes far beyond blues or even blues/rock. This is heavy blues, and would fit in quite nicely over at the Blues Bureau division of Shrapnel Records. Most of the songs are built on a basic blues foundation, but Rick's guitar playing and delivery of the music has a prominent hard rock/metal edge. Of the original tunes, I found the up-tempo Got My Eye On You and the melodic instrumental Can't Find The Reason Why to be most notable. Little Bird, a heavy blues ballad of sorts, is also interesting.

Rick apply's his own styling to three cover tunes. By far my favorite song on the CD is I Just Want To Make Love To You. Rick's aggressive playing and snarling vocals work really well with this song. Come On In My Kitchen is also very good. But I found I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man to be too far removed from the original, or perhaps I should say it's too far removed from the other blues/rock versions I've heard.

You'll definitely need to be a fan of heavy blues for this music to catch your interest. If that's the case, then I'd say chances are good. There's plenty of guitar, and enough good songs to make this an interesting CD.

... Rick Carroll, takes elements from the blues, superheats them with his band, and fires them out of his six string cannon like a wanted poster fugitive on his latest album Semi Automatic Slim. He's got that thick, mid-ranged, funky Texas Strat sound that supercharges an array of imaginative blues arrangements like "Come On In My Kitchen", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Just Want To Make Love To You", along with some cleverly crafted originals. His wiskey soaked voice is also a natural accompaniment to his guitar slinger image; graveling, dark and drenched in emotion.

On Carroll's sophomore effort, Semi Automatic Slim, he is ably assisted by bassists Dave LeMay and Bob Plourde, along with drummers Tom Sousa and Steve Fortuna. Rick Carroll & Wicked Blue are a formidable group and a welcome addition to the New England Blues community. Good Stuff!

The guitar work is explosive throughout, screaming guitar of harder rock or metal at times, but always in relation to the blues at the core of the music. This CD is "not going to soothe you, so you may as well turn it up to 11 and let it scream." I did, and it works.

... Rick Carroll, takes elements from the blues, superheats them with his band, and fires them out of his six string cannon like a wanted poster fugitive on his latest album Semi Automatic Slim. He's got that thick, mid-ranged, funky Texas Strat sound that supercharges an array of imaginative blues arrangements like "Come On In My Kitchen", "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Just Want To Make Love To You", along with some cleverly crafted originals. His wiskey soaked voice is also a natural accompaniment to his guitar slinger image; graveling, dark and drenched in emotion.

On Carroll's sophomore effort, Semi Automatic Slim, he is ably assisted by bassists Dave LeMay and Bob Plourde, along with drummers Tom Sousa and Steve Fortuna. Rick Carroll & Wicked Blue are a formidable group and a welcome addition to the New England Blues community. Good Stuff!

Lots of folks suggest CDs or artists to me based on my being a Hendrix fan. Many of them are not Hendrixy at all to me, or are not what I liked about Hendrix. They often have lots of fast guitar or sound real spacy, but they don`t have the good Hendrix blues and R&B base in the songwriting or guitar playing. And since I became a blues fan, I have discovered that the blues sound and songwriting is what was usually determining whether I liked a rock group or didn`t like them.

I recently received Semi Automatic Slim, by Rick Carroll and Wicked Blue. Now these guys have lots of that great bluesy Hendrix sound and songwriting and also have that great raw strat sound. They do three covers of great blues classics and really do a creative ( and Hendrixy)interpretation of them. Reflective and earthy, with growling gritty vocals. The songs they write themselves also remind me of the slower blues/R&B songs by Hendrix. And like Hendrix, Rick Carroll can really sing and emote with a guitar. Very soulful and creative. Poetic lyrics like Hendrix too. Lots of imagery and symbolism. I was also impressed with the recording sound quality.