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JAY GORDON & THE PENETRATORS
"Gold Rings Silver Bullets" (Shuttle
Music;
2007)
Reviewed by Mike SOS
Blues guitar players have such a fire: Although it's one that smolders when they play, it still burns bright. Jay Gordon's slide must have grooves in it because he makes those strings beg to be let free. Blues rock is where Jay Gordon belongs. His voice is gravelly enough to bring the blues forefront and he can power a track to hard rock heights.
When Jay isn't laying down a blues riff he's cutting some boogie so the backing band can speed things up. On this disc, there are 16 tracks and over 73 minutes of incredible blues guitar and I'm impressed to say that there is not a sleeper among them. I have a few blues guitar CDs on tap when I want to water the roots of rock and this one will surely grow my collection.
The solos are nasty: picking, sliding and the hexatonic scale will have you bowing down to a new master of the gitfiddle. Since Jay is a student of the blues he speaks about how when his friends were out playing baseball he was thinking about guitar and it shows.
He's been compared to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix because of his style but Jay Gordon really has a style all his own. As you might know the blues is about heartache, drinking too much and loving too little. Each song is a story that easy to understand when his guitar sings the blues.
When Jay does slow things down his voice elevates above his guitar talent and when the slow solos come rounding the bend you get some great playing with incredible vocals. The backing band, known as The Penetrators, plays tight and right along with Jay. Every now and then you can hear some Rush, Kiss and other hard rock tendencies. This is one full throttle band.
Jay Gordon & the Penetrators: Jay Gordon – all guitars,
slide guitar and all vocals; John Schayer – bass guitar; Rick Daly – drums on a
few songs; Johnny Walker – drums; Lee Davis – drums.
For more information, check out
http://www.jaygordonandthepenetrators.com.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright © 2010 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights reserved.
