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Elly Roberts reviews
One Little Indian
- September 2007
- Rating: 10/10+
Alabama 3 – my new favourite band.
Somewhere in the depths of Brixton, London, there’snine rough and ready souls making the most incrediblemusic. They’re not household name: may never be. Shame.
Their musical influences seem to lie Stateside, thoughtraces of British influences seep through. Nine ofthem appear to gel perfectly on their best album in adecade. They’ve also been described as the ‘best liveband in Britain’ and the greatest American act the UKever did produce.
Their music is a heady combination of Rock’n’Roll (a real spirit of the ’70shangs heavy too), techno, country and western,blues, gospel, reggae and (nottoo much) rap, making them a unique presence on the UK scene. Sounds like mykind of band !
Somewhere, they appear to be shifting between Dr.John, Fun Lovin’ Criminals,Primal Scream, Happy Mondays and even Lou Reed, but more expansive inrepetoire. This sixth album has a confusing title – M.O.R (Middle Of The Road), which it isn’t. Alabama 3 like to confuse people as WelshmanRob Spragg aka Larry Lovesays in his fake American accent, “Who else wouldmix acid with techno, country and western and blues? But then we’ve alwaysbeen about smokescreens. We like the idea of confusing people but also luringthem in, then dazzling the.” They’ve certainly done that to me.
For real music fans, there’s nothing about Alabama 3 to dislike, possibly evento the casual listener. M.O.R. takes flight slowly using F/X and mock airport/pilotannouncements, a precursor to the’ bumpy ride’ ahead.
And what a magnificent ride it is. Fly, a mellow techno ditty featuringsongbird Devlin Love’s glorious soulful vocals.The cool beats and wiry guitarsonly add to its uniqueness. The Klan is a fun and jaunty take on C&Wwith mesmerising steel guitar ghosting in the background, and again, an upliftingchorus rounded off by rap.
Further in, The Doghouse Chronicles brings out their gentler (acoustic)C&W leanings as Love does a great Dylan-like vocal, similarly on the easyrambler (shades of Eagles) on the Middle Of The Road, complete withsing-a-long chorus.
American southern boogie-blues a la Lynyrd Skynyrd takes us on a romp ofstomping proprtions for Amos Moses, bolstered by dazzling wailing guitar just forthe hell of it. Lazy techno beats drive the ultra cool Way Beyond The Blueswith Love doing his mercurila thing on vocals.Their mostr subtle techno isAre You A Souljah? with rapping adding an extra dimension to the shiftingbeats. Gospel-tinged Holy Blood, initially driven by keys, turns into astirring crescendo.
Their earthy approach comes across as the most polished rough’n’ready album toever surface. This wonderful freewheeling effort has all the hallmarks of a21st century classic.
Weblinks:alabama3.co.uk /indian.co.uk /myspace.com/alabama3uk /mojoscotland.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Check In
2. Fly
3. Lockdown and Loaded
4. Monday Don’t Mean Anything
5. Amos Moses
6. Are You A Souljah?
7. The Klan
8. Hooked
9. Doghouse Chronicles
10. Middle of the Road
11. Work It (All Night Long)
12. Way Beyond The Blues
13. Holy Blood
14. Sweet Joy
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.