Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Originals , by The Togs , a pair of musicians from France. Togs is Peter Callate on lead vocal and guitar and Stag Augagmeur on rhythm guitar. Opening with Migrant's Song , Callate leads off with clean acoustic guitar accompaniment  and his own unique voice. Following a basic folk blues format he and Augagneur really set a clean pace. On Someday , addition of piano adds dimensionality and clever additional guitar fingering shows solid instrumentation. With it's quick pace, Hold Me Tight is one of my favorites on the release. It has solid vocals and clear, almost Jimmy Page like acoustic guitar strumming. Second Chance has a particularly strong melody and composition with emotional vocals by Callate almost bringing to mind one of my favorite contemporary singers, Frank Black. Wrapping the release is Lonely Hearts with a strong acoustic punky rock feel and an interesting electric guitar solo. This is a solid cl...

I just received the latest release, The Motown 7s Box , from Island Records Group and it's a fast paced mouthful of savory soul and R&B style. Opening with Marvin Gaye 's This Love Starved Heart , the release is hopping from the start. The Spinners ', What More Could A Boy Ask For , is slick and smooth with horn and vocal backing. Frank Wilson 's Do I Love You is a strong driver with full orchestration. Wilson is on top of his game on this track. The Originals ' Suspicion has such a strong Motown trademark sound with the drums in front with the vocals and underlying strings and backing vocals. Very nice. The Supremes do a straight up version of Stormy . This is a really cool track with classic styling. Stevie Wonder , one of the best song smiths of our time, is up next with Just Enough To Ease The Pain . This track is closely related to Light My Fire melodically with a definite Wonder twist. The Four Tops ' Clip My Wings moves along at a fast moving cl...