Point Blank
The Hard Way

Explanatory title for the fourth album by the Texan band Point Blank (out of a total of seven, released in 1980): their southern rock, among the toughest from the start, here sheds all its country rock and swing components (while necessarily retaining the blues component) to resolutely highlight the hard aspect.

Symbolic of this is the most prominent track on this record, the highly effective live rendition of the Purpleian "Highway Star." The talented sextet's frontman John O'Daniel has no overwhelming problems emulating Ian Gillan's feats, attacking the track from start to finish, including the essential ferocious screams here and there. The pair of guitarists have fun and excel, cohesive and determined; after all, Blackmore's immortal solo, the cherry on top of the song, was already built in the studio with a second guitar overdubbed in harmony. Left-handed Rusty Burns and the late Kim Davis (who passed away two years ago, not even sixty) brilliantly execute, note for note, the deadly triplets upon which millions of guitarists worldwide have studied and enjoyed once mastered; the audience appreciates and applauds eagerly.

As proof that Point Blank, true rockers that they are, perform better on stage than within the four walls of a studio, there are the other two live gems placed in the setlist one after the other to close the album: "Wrong To Cry" is a canonical blues, warm and soulful, a springboard for the wild boogie "Thank You Mama," in which solos by all the instrumentalists follow one another (very brief bass and drum solos, as they should be), followed by a grand finale with O'Daniel's powerful and extensive vocals, displaying scat, various warblings, and ending with a couple of tremendous tonsil-shredding screams. The beauty is that the sound and instrumental quality of the three concert tracks is far better than that of the remaining five recorded in the studio! More than justified, therefore, is the choice of a "mixed" album; in fact, more live episodes would have been better.

Among the studio tracks, the one that titles the work stands out, and especially "Guessing Game," with the lucid arpeggio progression by keyboardist Karl Berkebile tying very well with the two guitars, which at the end interestingly but very effectively take a parallel solo!: Davis on the left and Burns on the right of the stereo image riffing with plenty of taste and feeling, building entirely distinct phrases that only meet a couple of times until the final stop. It's the best "simultaneous solo" of guitars that I know! Truly worth listening to.

For those still interested in CDs, "The Hard Way" is rather rare to find in specialized shops or fairs, and expensive to order via the internet. In the last reissue, a few years ago, additional live tracks were added, unfortunately not from the same magical evening as the three originals: the era is different, the lineup playing is different, and the sounds, less balanced and warm, don't hold up in comparison. A pity.