Album Review for 8 Ball Aitken – Swamp Blues 2 – Released Independently.
This is the Australian flame-haired swamp blues rocker’s eleventh album to date and follows on from the success of his last release, Swamp Blues. Thirteen songs, all originals with differing genres, and themes, and his backing band is superb.
JJ Johnson on drums keeps the beat with Glenn Fukunaga on bass, and Buddy Leach (George Thurgood’s Destroyers) on saxophone. This has got class written through it. The opener, Tremolo Rain, takes you to New Orleans, and there is some great guitar pedal on this.
Week Man has some stunning lyrics and is a good play on words with a dirty groove. Murderer’s Bar is about a place he used to sing in and this flows well. Thirty Nine is about an age gap between partners.
My Sexy Guitar is about another love of his life and has some great licks. Living On The River has Southern swagger and The Bed That You Made has a nice country blues feel.
My Darling shows a softer side to the flowing tempo, as does, Cherry which is another slide driven tune.
Chocolate, Jack Daniels and LSD has to be the highlight though, a real crowd-pleaser.
L.O.V.E. is a song his partner challenged him to write and has intricate guitar work throughout and it is a very personal song and comes from the heart. Cold Shower brings the album to a close and is about the loneliness of touring and leaving friends and family behind.
A superb release with razor-sharp lyrics, searing nasty guitar licks blending with passion for the blues style he chooses, it’s a real joy!
Album Review by Colin Campbell.
To read a recent Q&A article with 8 Ball Aitken please click here.
