Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Overdrive Live! from The Blues Overdrive and it's really solid. Recorded at one of Denmark's biggest and most prestigious festivals, Smukfest, TBD opens with Death On The Highway with it's laid back JJ Cale or Eric Clapton style country blues rocker feel. Martin Olsen fronts the band on lead vocal and guitar with Brother Birck on bass, Louisian Boltner on drums and Andreas Andersen on lead guitar. On shuffle track, Three Time Lover , the band gets a cool groove going with extended soloing by Andersen. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Ball & Chain (not Big Mama's) but with a strong San Francisco sound, lush ringing chords and interesting guitar work by Andersen under Olsen's vocals. Very nice. With a touch of hill country sound and a heavy bass rhythm, Bob Dylan's High Water (For Charley Patton) is a really strong track that really draws me in. Excellent! With a straight up rhyt...

I just received the newest release, Clinch! by The Blues Overdrive and I really like it! Opening with suspenseful track, Pistol Blues , this Danish band really understands it's craft. With a feel of North Mississippi and easy instrumentation by Martin Olsen on guitar and vocal, Andreas Andersen on guitar, Thomas Birck on bass and Lars Heiberg on drums these guys create an invite to their cool blues interpretation. Rolling Thunder steps up the rock feel but maintains the stripped down feel with cool double stopped guitar riffs. Cool! Shuffle track, Three Time Lover, starts to show more of the richness of Olsen's vocals and Olsen and Andersen compliment each other nicely as they trade lead/rhythm guitar riffs. Duke Robillard steps up with a signature solo of his own blending right in. Very cool! A little twist of Latin in the rhythm give Woman Of Love a more pop blues feel. Simple guitar riffs and overtones of JJ Cale make the track smooth and breezy. John Nemeth's Dau...

I just received a new self titled release from The Blues Overdrive , on of Denmark's most talented blues bands. The release is made up of 10 original tracks and one never released track by JJ Cale. The opening track, Death On The Highway, is a jazzy boogie style track with head boppin' guitar riffs. Out In The Country has a lot of the musical characteristics of a Jim Morrison composition. Dual lead guitar players Martin Olsen and Andreas Andersen share the space rather than vying for it. I Was Wron g is a really uptempo shuffle track and gives the band great opportunities to riff away. bassist Thomas Birck and Drummer Lars Heiberg lay down a solid bottom for strong lead guitar slinging. Ball and Chain is a stripped down slow blues very reminiscent of early British blues including vibrato enhanced guitar effects over a solitary vocal track and chorded rhythm guitar with simple guitar leads. I really like this track. Puts me in mind of some of the early creative work by Kim ...