It's a funny thing about
Mick Abrahams
-- he and his one-time
Jethro Tull
bandmate
Ian Anderson
are both "trapped" in time warps, but of very differing kinds:
Anderson
in a folky
art rock
musical loop and
Abrahams
in a '60s-style
electric blues
cycle, with the echoes of
Chess Records
' roster and also
Albert King
et al. rippling through his work. And at this late date,
may be the one with slightly more elbow room. The opening track on
Mick's Back
,
Percy Mayfield
's
"The River's Invitation,"
could almost pass for an early-'60s
Howlin' Wolf
track, and the rest doesn't try to be much more advanced, nor does it have to be --
"Cold Women With Warm Hearts"
offers
in his own "voice," and it all sounds very close to the kind of rootsy
blues
that
Alexis Korner
and
Blues Incorporated
used to do, with some of the virtuosity of
the Graham Bond Organisation
in there as well. The electric guitar is, of course, very prominently featured throughout, and there are saxes and even a little brass, but they're sufficiently subdued to keep the focus on
' playing where it belongs. His singing is also expressive, a powerful, raspy instrument in its own right -- coupled with the rippling instrumental breaks on songs like
"Time to Love"
and the mixed acoustic/electric textures of
"Leaving Home Blues,"
the CD justifies itself as a still very credible version of '60s
British blues
, which will appeal to anyone who loved early
Cyril Davies
Graham Bond
, or the first two
Cream
albums. ~ Bruce Eder