Imagine the music of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mark Knopfler rolled
into one - brusque vocals, tasteful guitar and well thought out keyboard
textures. Well The Strats seem to have incorporated all these traits
into
their music, and have added their own slant on where they want their
music
to go.
All 10 tracks on this, their first c.d. are self-penned by guitarist
Will
Ludford, with nice arrangements aided and abetted by keyboard player
Nigel
Branigan.
The Strats are a two-piece combo with Will also on vocals and Nigel
handling the bass lines. They also use a SR116 drum machine, preferring
to
keep the sound on the c.d. as you would hear them live. [It would have
been easy to hire a guest drummer for the album, but the lads wanted to
remain honest with their listeners].
The Strats are from County Monaghan in Ireland and to keep the costs of
touring down to a minimum they prefer to use the drum machine. As a duo
rather than a three-piece, it helps to get more gigs especially in pubs
and clubs.
The material on the album could be described as "commercial rhythm 'n'
blues". It's more bouncy and rocky than traditional r'n'b, yet it's
never
far from having a bluesy feeling about it.
I expect the purists won't like it, but my opinion is that; yes it's
different - but then so was Muddy Waters in his day, as was Clapton and
Hendrix in theirs.
O.K The Strats are unlikely to become as popular as these guys, but they
are pushing out the boundaries of R'n'B, and in my book, that's not a
bad
thing. After all, how many versions of "Hoochie Coochie Man" do we need?
Highlights on the c.d. for me are the full blooded "You can't go Back,"
"Don't leave me Baby," "She's a Danger Zone" and the Dire Straits-like
title track "Warriors of the Night."
I like this c.d. because it's well played and honest. What you hear is
what you get - no frills, just thoroughly entertaining and sincere music
and what can be better than that?
Mike Prendergast.
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Review
When I first heard the British
blues based rock bands in the late 60s and
early 70s, I knew right away that this was my music. Bands like
Fleetwood
Mac, Cream and Free. Once in a while there comes a long a band the
reminds
me of why I love this music so much and one such band is the Irish based
The Strats and their new CD "Warriors of the Night".
The band consists of Will Ludford and Nigel Brannigan. Both veterans on
the music scene.
One of the tings I really love about this album is the sound. Both the
guitars and keybords have an authentic sound that unfotunately has
become
rare these days. It does not sound retro in any way, just genuine. And
that leads me to what would be my favorite track on the album, the
appropriately named smoking opening track "You Can`t Go Back". Great
blistering guitar work with excellent vocals as well. You can`t go back
as
the title says, but there is no need to musically when you create music
like this.
Another clear favorite is the slow blues "I Won`t Survive". Apart from
being a most beautiful song, the sound strikes me again. The guitar and
organ sounds like I feel it`s supposed too.
The title track "Warriors Of The Night" has a clear reference to Dire
Straits but still sounds distinctly The Strats. A song about starting up
playing in a band and being on the road gigging. It has some brilliant
guitar work by Will Ludford.
"God Loves Everyone" is a simple and beautiful song of believe and hope.
A
clear statement with an optimistic message.
I do not know if it is intended, but this album sounds like a homage to
the music we loved in the 60s and early 70s. Done with respect and still
manages to keep it`s own sound. That said, you do not have to have lived
that period to enjoy this album. If you like good music based in blues,
blues rock and rock you will love this one. Comes highly recommended by
this reviewer.
Kaj Sperrås
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