Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
Remains To Be Heard

This time folks, we're talking about blues, since the DeBaser container still has plenty of space to welcome certain exquisite items without expiration date, set aside due to the continuous demands imposed by current events. But how can one appreciate conceptual art without admiring the cave paintings of Altamira? Apparently, everything is possible (and here goes the usual debate). I, however, persist in my stubborn adventure, even if I might seem like a graveyard goer, a grave digger, persistently attracted by a strange intoxicating aroma not always perceivable in things "too fresh".

I was saying, the blues is an authoritarian regime that dictates the guidelines to follow, where interpretation is possible, but one cannot step out of the established patterns (the times, bars, scales, tones), a kind of open-air prison where crying is allowed, even recommended. Sometimes complaining matters, but often it's unbearable whining; does this also apply to the "blue notes"? Certainly! It's like saying that the decadent motivations of American blues transform in the British revival into a sort of entertainment happening, which, in its controversial historical position, has also produced magnificent results, in the bubbling scene of Swinging London, stretched towards new expressive temptations.

From the majestic American wave at the end of the '50s, innovative stylistic elements are retained to be rearranged, from which the so-called "blues revival" is born and developed, as an equally effective response called "British Invasion". During this period, a myriad of groups flourish, more or less "faithful to the line", of notable importance, we mention one above all for its coherence, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, but now, I find it fitting to pay tribute to a very talented underground group, like Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, finding not a single DeBaser review about them (which surprises me), with their fourth and last work "Remains To Be Heard" from 1970.

I can safely consider this album a foresight on the fate of the "genre" in question. A group founded by the English drummer Aynsley Dunbar, first with John Mayall, then with Frank Zappa, among others, in the line-up, we find the great Victor Brox, none other than the voice of "Caiaphas" in the original recording of "Jesus Christ Superstar", his wife Annette and the skilled guitarist John Morshead. Shall we say that from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, groups like Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation and others contributed to producing everything that was missing in the evolution of the style? Okay, but if you're doing blues, you need to do blues. The scope of action, consequently, unfolds within those consolidated propositions, now too dear to tradition, the jealous custodian, and severe judge. But we cannot deny that blues, especially that of the second British quinquennium, will dissect all the expressive potential inherent in the genre, remaining true to itself until the end. Almost nothing will remain, except for the primitive legacy, the soul of the ancestors to be exhumed.

"Remains To Be Heard" with the unmistakable cover suggests that we are facing their spiritual testament, the culmination of their quest, the blues taken up from where giants like Muddy Waters, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson left off, is developed in a didactic key. Gradually over the years, the sound will become denser, richer (in light of technological progress) but also more melancholic; it will no longer be possible after '70 to have a sincere approach, due to the surplus, the looming history, and an increasingly mannered attitude that will lead the style towards a slow agony. Regarding "Remains To Be Heard", what would it have been without the charming, nasal-toned voice of Victor Brox? A true master! Without the use of the Leslie organ à la Brian Auger and Morshead's dense and spleen electric guitar? I leave to you the difficult verdict. I want to remind you that among these splendid artifacts, the over five-minute farewell expressed by "Toga" stands out, a sort of funeral banquet, whose diners find solace in orchestrating a provocative and sad tune, "clanging glasses with cutlery". Surrender or foresight? "Remains to be heard", indeed!