Cry of Love
Brother

Outstanding record, without a doubt. Discovered thanks to one of my go-to stores selling this CD at a rock-bottom price. "Brother" was there, waiting for me, in the super deals section, among disco music compilations, albano and romana, Latin American at three euros. A true gem amidst the trash, even though I didn't know it yet; I bought it "blind" and it was a very good idea.

Cry Of Love are Americans from North Carolina and they arrive twenty/twenty-five years late, making their debut here in 1993, to play the ultimate, perfect, incredibly inspired, tough, even "accessible" rock blues. Zero innovations, everything already well-known and predictable: Zeppelin, Free, Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Cream, the Stones, Jonny Winter, and especially Jimi Hendrix are all there, under the fingers and drumsticks of the three musicians and in the fervent throat of the singer, all four of them are excellent, skilled, cohesive, playing their ineffable British blues (Americanized), a version of rock that I personally find wonderful: dry, straightforward, immediate, with something ancestral, fundamental, primal, respectful and respectable, close to the origins and meanings of this music. You can tell that bass, guitar, and drums are playing together in the studio, with almost no overdubs. A splash of organ now and then, a hint of reverb just a minimum to create an atmosphere, and that's it. You hear everything, every nuance, the instruments surround the listener's ears. The synergies between them are constant, so essential to successfully execute almost all musical genres but especially this one, so bare, stripped, direct, ruthless in the sense that it doesn't forgive any mediocre inspiration.
You have to play well, with spirit, passion, and conviction, to succeed, in 2008, in still surprising the music enthusiast with a proposal that's forty years old, without the slightest stylistic evolution since then except for a pinch of cunning in some choruses, with only the advantages of an enormous improvement in recording quality compared to back then. We are still there, like in the seventies: there's bass and drums pumping rhythm and power, and a Fender Stratocaster that spins in the hands of a true "master", Audley Freed, dealing with the well-known, yet immortal and compelling rock blues guitar clichés. His sound is clean, perfect, his control of the six strings absolute, his virtuosic touch allows him to give infinite nuances to every note played, his taste enables him not to show off, to play what's needed, to savor even the pauses and silences. Jimi Hendrix remains the precise point of reference, even if his immense touch wealth refers to the unreachable Jeff Beck, or the lamented Rory Gallagher, maybe even Mark Knopfler (in a much grittier and decisive context). What a guitarist! One of those who make their colleagues want to quit playing, because that sensitivity, that taste, that timing, that utterly piercing phrasing are a prerogative of a few.
The singer's name is Kelly Holland, and he knows his stuff. Plenty of grit, generous lungs, soul and passion in every tone. The bassist's name is Robert Kearns and the drummer is Jason Patterson; they both do what's needed, excellently, powerful and precise.

A real shame that a group like this was only capable of two records (the second in 1997, with a different and less talented singer, Robert Mason, formerly of Lynch Mob) before definitively falling apart. Freed then moved on to The Black Crowes (album "Lyons") taking the satisfaction of touring with one of his sure idols: Jimmy Page (in "Live At The Greek", where the Crowes cover Zeppelin with Jimmy, he's there too), later collaborating with Aerosmith and others: everyone seeks him, no one retains him! He's a standout and industry insiders have known it for a long time; let's hope that in the future, he manages to regularly release records and in a group of suitable recognition.

I don't want to highlight any track from "Brother", the album should be devoured from start to finish, the songwriting is more or less consistent, nothing particularly stands out from the rest, for better or for worse. It's rock blues more than accessible, sometimes almost bordering on AOR, played by God-tier musicians. In my opinion, this record is among the best of the past decade, unmissable in my humble opinion.