April 2004 Newsletter

• American Folk Blues Festival DVD •
• Tab Benoit •
• Chet Cannon & the Committee •
• Rockie Charles •
• Eric Clapton •
• Deborah Coleman •
• Robert Cray •
• BuddyGuy •
• Jus Von •
• Bryan Lee •
• Hip Linkchain •
• Sam McClain •
• Nick Moss and the FlipTops •
• Stew Moss •
• Charlie Musselwhite •
• Robert Randolph •
• Rock the Joint •
• Lil' Buck Sinegal •
• Jimmy Thackery •
• Walter Trout & the Radicals •
• Carl Weathersby •
• Joe Lewis Walker •
• Tony Joe White •

Relentless - The Concert
Walter Trout and the Radicals
Ruf Records DVD
165 min. run time
Also available on CD

Recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam last May, this DVD presents Walter Trout in concert with 17 songs plus two bonus tracks. Trout is a veteran guitar player who has played with the likes of Canned Heat and John Mayall before starting a solo career. The title refers to the band’s heavy schedule of live shows and the intensity level of Trout’s music.

This is a straight forward concert presentation with Dolby Digital 5:1 sound - just Trout and the Radicals on stage doing 15 originals and two covers, "Dust My Broom" and "Serve Me Right To Suffer", which open and close the show. Trout is a high energy guitar player who typically straddles the fence between blues and rock, leaning a bit more to the rock side. He knows his way around a guitar fretboard, whipping off lightning quick runs without a thought. He is backed by his long-time band, the Radicals, featuring Sonny Avila with some fine Hammond B-3 organ playing that provides a nice complement to Trout’s work.

Two of the cuts feature Trout on acoustic guitar. "Jericho Road" is more of a folk/rock tune but is one of my favorites with some nice harmony vocals. Trout handles "Lonely Tonight" by himself and shows that he can be as tough on an acoustic guitar as electric.

The other fifteen tracks are a mix of rockers and slow blues with plenty of guitar. The camera stays focused on the band with shots of the audience revealing that Trout appeals to a wide age range of fans. Having seen Trout live several times, I can vouch that the DVD presents a typical Trout performance. Bonus material includes separate audio tracks, an interview with Walter answering questions about his guitar set-up, a sequence of behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Trout’s wife.

This is a very solid package that does an admirable job of documenting a hard-working band doing what they do best - play live and relentless. If you like lot’s of guitar work and no-frills music, you will find lots to enjoy with this DVD from Walter Trout.

If video isn’t your cup of tea, Ruf has released the concert in CD format. That version has 15 tracks featuring all of Trout’s original tunes. The two covers tunes mentioned above are not on the disc. The song order of the disc is different than the DVD.

- reviewed by Mark Thompson