Tuesday February 28, 1995
ADRIAN JACKSON
Blue Heat. Central Club Hotel, Friday.
LAUNCHING their debut CD (Marooned, on Blues Club Records), Warrnambool blues band, Blue Heat, entertained a modest crowd at the Central Club. They really deserved to be playing to a full house.
For musicianship, quality of material, and the high-spirited energy they put into their performance, they stand comparison with the very best blues bands that can be heard in Melbourne or Sydney.
The first thing that hit me when Blue Heat started playing was the size of their sound. The mix was a notch louder than I would have chosen, but it was not a matter of volume, so much as the weight of sound the power that they could produce with an organ at the heart of the band and three horns blowing hard.
Bass guitarist Graeme Galbraith and drummer Barry Galbraith provided a rock-solid foundation, while trumpeter Matthew Trenery, trombonist Paul Lemke and tenor saxophonist Bradley Harrison gave the band its distinctive sound, playing exuberant riffs.
At the centre of everything was guitarist and singer Marco Goldsmith, who was rewarding in both roles. He sang with complete assurance and plenty of feeling, often reaching into the falsetto register for good emotive effect.
Goldsmith's guitar playing was sensational, without ever being flashy or exhibitionist. He knew how to pace his solos, showing a keen sense of drama as he built to a climax on slower numbers like I Cried All Day.
Richard Tankard played an electric keyboard with organ, electric piano and clavinet settings, and gave the band another strong solo voice to contrast with Goldsmith. So did Harrison, whose beefy tenor solos generally wasted no time reaching a frantic peak of energy, and stayed right there.
Apart from one song by the American blues star, Joe Louis Walker, Blue Heat played an all-original program, with lyrics by Goldsmith and musical arrangements by the whole band. The style of their material was within the modern American blues tradition Chicago blues with a dash of R&B but it would be foolish to dismiss Blue Heat's music as derivative.
The lyrics may not look especially deep on paper, but in performance they provided a fresh, personal look at the perennial subjects of the blues and the joys and woes of physical attraction and personal relationships, with an appealing element of wit.
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Here I go again ! Irresistible Behaviour by Marco Goldsmith's Blue Heat is the best Australian blues album since Blue Heat's previous album, Marooned.
The seven strong Warrnambool outfit crank up a sophisticated brand of urban R&B with just a touch of the woodshed, no pretension whatsoever and mountains of class and cool.
Quality is in top order and not one lick is overblown or dragged out in the name of false improvisation. Blue heat swings the blues courtesy of fabulously subtle horns that have the inherent ability to make one cry as attested by the fills and the changes of "Don't You Love Me Too Much".
The fraternal tightness of the Galbraith brothers rhythm section anchors the 10 tracks perfectly - just the security that Bradley Harrison needs to float a sinuous sax fill. Or for Mr. Goldsmith himself, the hip vocalist, writer, and guitarist who uses it to inject his craft. Yes, Blue Heat has got it right on all three stages of the song - the intro, the body and the finale.
"I'm Comin' Home" and "Right Track" are so good they warrant a long eulogising paragraph. Richard Tankard's slick keyboards provide the most subtle intro to this refined tune but if you were to intro-scan the intros to each tune at 10 seconds a song, you would have, in 100 seconds, all the persuasion needed to shell out your hard earned for what is another hallmark in Blue Heat's remarkably short recording career.
Marco Goldsmith's Blue Heat has the same tenacity, the same verve, the same economical yet improvisatory craft and deep feel that the best R&B bands from Houston, Los Angeles and West Memphis exhibited in the '40's, 50's and 60's. And yet this band is very much part of today's scene.
The next time this most esteemed gentlemen of the blues, Mr. B. B. King comes to Melbourne, he would be well advised to employ Blue Heat for himself. That's for sure!
This review is copyright © September 1996 by Terry Reilly. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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Blue Heat / Blog
An Evening Of Hot But Underrated Blues - The Age
Tuesday February 28, 1995 ADRIAN JACKSON Blue Heat. Central Club Hotel, Friday. LAUNCHING their debut CD (Marooned, on Blues Club Records), Warrnambool blues band, Blue Heat, entertained a modest crowd at the Central Club. They really deserved to be playing to a full house. For musicianship, quality of material, and the high-spirited energy they put into their performance, they stand comparison with the very best blues bands that can be heard in Melbourne or Sydney. The first thing that hit me when Blue Heat started playing was the size of their sound. The mix was a notch louder than I would have chosen, but it was not a matter of volume, so much as the weight of sound the power that they could produce with an organ at the heart of the band and three horns blowing hard. Bass guitarist Graeme Galbraith and drummer Barry Galbraith provided a rock-solid foundation, while trumpeter Matthew Trenery, trombonist Paul Lemke and tenor saxophonist Bradley Harrison gave the band its distinctive sound, playing exuberant riffs. At the centre of everything was guitarist and singer Marco Goldsmith, who was rewarding in both roles. He sang with complete assurance and plenty of feeling, often reaching into the falsetto register for good emotive effect. Goldsmith's guitar playing was sensational, without ever being flashy or exhibitionist. He knew how to pace his solos, showing a keen sense of drama as he built to a climax on slower numbers like I Cried All Day. Richard Tankard played an electric keyboard with organ, electric piano and clavinet settings, and gave the band another strong solo voice to contrast with Goldsmith. So did Harrison, whose beefy tenor solos generally wasted no time reaching a frantic peak of energy, and stayed right there. Apart from one song by the American blues star, Joe Louis Walker, Blue Heat played an all-original program, with lyrics by Goldsmith and musical arrangements by the whole band. The style of their material was within the modern American blues tradition Chicago blues with a dash of R&B but it would be foolish to dismiss Blue Heat's music as derivative. The lyrics may not look especially deep on paper, but in performance they provided a fresh, personal look at the perennial subjects of the blues and the joys and woes of physical attraction and personal relationships, with an appealing element of wit.
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Blue Heat's Irresistible Behaviour by Terry Reilly, The Age
Here I go again ! Irresistible Behaviour by Marco Goldsmith's Blue Heat is the best Australian blues album since Blue Heat's previous album, Marooned. The seven strong Warrnambool outfit crank up a sophisticated brand of urban R&B with just a touch of the woodshed, no pretension whatsoever and mountains of class and cool. Quality is in top order and not one lick is overblown or dragged out in the name of false improvisation. Blue heat swings the blues courtesy of fabulously subtle horns that have the inherent ability to make one cry as attested by the fills and the changes of "Don't You Love Me Too Much". The fraternal tightness of the Galbraith brothers rhythm section anchors the 10 tracks perfectly - just the security that Bradley Harrison needs to float a sinuous sax fill. Or for Mr. Goldsmith himself, the hip vocalist, writer, and guitarist who uses it to inject his craft. Yes, Blue Heat has got it right on all three stages of the song - the intro, the body and the finale. "I'm Comin' Home" and "Right Track" are so good they warrant a long eulogising paragraph. Richard Tankard's slick keyboards provide the most subtle intro to this refined tune but if you were to intro-scan the intros to each tune at 10 seconds a song, you would have, in 100 seconds, all the persuasion needed to shell out your hard earned for what is another hallmark in Blue Heat's remarkably short recording career. Marco Goldsmith's Blue Heat has the same tenacity, the same verve, the same economical yet improvisatory craft and deep feel that the best R&B bands from Houston, Los Angeles and West Memphis exhibited in the '40's, 50's and 60's. And yet this band is very much part of today's scene. The next time this most esteemed gentlemen of the blues, Mr. B. B. King comes to Melbourne, he would be well advised to employ Blue Heat for himself. That's for sure! This review is copyright © September 1996 by Terry Reilly. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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