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Eddie Martin ‘Contrary
Mary’ Blueblood records |
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At last a British blues act with the style, panache,
song-writing ability and multi instrumental talent to do justice to
the blues. That is not to say that there aren’t a raft of
great players in either the UK or London in particular, but lets
face it, the amount of strong song writers in the genre can be
counted on one hand.
No such problems with Eddie Martin whose confidence in his own
playing ability is transferred into 10 songs that are topped and
tailed by the bar room tale of ‘Contrary Mary’ and the
magnificent road narrative
‘Ingolstadt’. |
Described by Get Ready To Rock as ‘A slide guitar tour
de force played with style and panache by an
essential player’, ‘Contrary Mary’ finds Eddie
Martin making his move as a contemporary crossover artist with this
classy guitar driven rootsy exemplar, full of peerless playing,
well honed grooves and a glossy production on a superb album by one
of the top UK blues artists of the last decade.
Of course it has to be noted that Eddie did spend some
considerable time in the States both honing his playing style and
soaking up a Texas blues feel as evidenced on ‘Something
about You Baby (I Like)’. But ultimately as this album
thrillingly demonstrates he has produced something uniquely his
own
The cd’s real strength lies in the sum of its parts which
never lose sight of the greater whole. Thus while the album neatly
defies outright categorisation, outside of its obvious rootsy feel,
there is enough magnificent playing, and magical moments to keep
even the most jaded contemporary music palate interested. Eddie
plays some low down harp on ‘Watching the Weather’,
which turns out to be a powerful rocker that The Fabulous
Thunderbirds, or at least Kim Wilson, would have been proud of.
This track alone demonstrates Eddie’s ability to turn
something almost down home into a slice of contemporary
rocking.
On ‘Beautiful Miracles’ he returns to his trademark
dirty slide, and rocks out on a meaty shuffle ‘Give It
Time’, which is a master stoke and another example of the
light and shade of an album that deals in hues and tonal colours.
‘Give It Time’ is in fact the first shuffle on the
album, and it is as dynamic as it is brief, before Eddie teases out
some of his most delicate notes, as the rhythm section of Marion
Dalton on bass and Michael Wiedrich on drums do their stuff in
exemplary fashion.
From there on in Eddie proves a master of his craft delving into a
compelling mix of gentle shuffle boogie on ‘Better The Devil
You Know’, slides all over the place on ‘Strong For
You’, and saves the best for last with
‘Ingolstadt’ a quite beautiful account of life on the
Bavarian road. The latter like much of this album should at the
very least be destined for lots of radio plays.
Pete Feenstra -
www.feenstra.co.uk
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The Band:
Eddie Martin - guitar, harmonica, vocals
Marion Dalton – bass
Michael Wiedrich – drums
Tracks:
1. Contrary Mary - 2. Something About You baby (I Like) - 3.
Watching The Weather - 4. Month of Mondays - 5. Beautiful Miracles
- 6. Give It Time - 7. Better The Devil You Know - 8. Strong For
You - 9. Living For The Weekend - 10. Ingolstadt.
Link: www.eddiemartin.com
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