One of the great unsung legends of the late-'60s
British blues
boom,
Dr. K's Blues Band
's eponymous debut album is a heavyweight mix of original material (penned, for the most part, by pianist
Richard Kay
-- the
Dr. K
of the title), and well-arranged standards.
"Key to the Highway"
and
"Messin' With the Kid"
both receive invigorating workouts, with the star of the show being guitarist
Geoff Krivit
, a tastefully imaginative player cut firmly in a
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
-type vein. The majority of the cuts are surprisingly short. Just three top three minutes, including
Krivit
's own brooding
"Walking"
Kay
's
"Long Distance Call"
; for the most part,
the Blues Band
simply throw themselves at a song, say everything that needs to be said, and then move on. This emphasis on brevity does hamstring the album somewhat, although there are a few grand surprises --
"Rolty's Banjo Shuffle,"
for example, doesn't actually feature a banjo, while the distinctly
psychedelic
title
"Strobe Lemming's Lament"
emerges a boogie-down
piano showpiece. Even the number most frequently cited as a highlight of the album,
"Crippled Clarence"
(another pounding piano
boogie
) is just 120 seconds long. It does, however, serve as a powerful introduction to the album's true piece de resistance, slide player
Roger Rolt
"Pet Cream Man,"
an echoey, atmospheric 12-bar
blues
that is as distinctive as any
Fleetwood Mac
,
Chicken Shack
, or
Groundhogs
opus, and for which
merit so much more than the footnote they currently occupy. ~ Dave Thompson