Walter Trout
The Blues Came Calling
Mascot Label Group/Provogue
More like ‘The Grim Reaper Came Calling’ ! – Trout’s major operation and ongoing (hopeful) recovery there from are well documented and I have spoken to Walter for a piece thereon, but meantime here is the latest set of recordings. I prefer the studio recording of this artist to the live performances and I think his subtleness comes over much better away from the stage, where naturally adrenaline and the moment takes over and bravura rules.
This set is full of exciting moments and reflective phases – certainly there is no relaxing in quality or delivery to reflect Walter’s physical tribulations. There is a definite Mayall touch to ‘The World Is Going Crazy’; ‘The Bottom of the River’ is a bluesrock fable to beat them all, a real ‘Damascus’ tale that makes you stop all and listen. ‘The Whale’ is a kind of rhumba with a hint of J B Lenoir.
Mayall himself plays piano- with no warm up- ‘Mayall’s Piano Boogie’ and it could hardly be called anything else… ‘Tight Shoes’ is a lurching shuffle with Trout’s Freddie King influences showing through. I like the cool wobbly riff in the background on ‘Hard Time’.
It’s that mixture of a knowing streetwise sensibility and hard-driving blues rock heritage sheer ability that Trout brews up together so very well – maybe the best since Luther Allison at doing that? Walter and co-producer Eric Corne have bottled it superbly.
‘Wastin’ Away – the single- is an excellent opener and the dark outro track ‘Nobody Moves Me Like You Do’ hits home; ‘Willie’ sounds like prime Canned Heat and concerns the grim side of life.
You probably contributed to Trout’s medical funds- you certainly did if you were at the SBE all-star show in London- and you can safely invest in the album if you like your blues hard and driven with plenty of fluid expressive guitar.
Oh and there’s an edition with a fine documentary about Walter, well worth acquiring if you are a Trout fan.
By Pete Sargeant
