1 	How Ya Doin? 	6:06
2 	Gimme That 	3:52
3 	Mama Said 	4:43
4 	Be My Baby 	5:44
5 	Later On 	5:38
6 	Black Rat 	3:00
7 	Ends Meet 	4:55
8 	How Bright The Moon 	4:01
9 	Turn On Your Love Light 	5:10
10 	The Breeze 	9:45

Dana "Danger" Athens - vocals
High Top - guitar
Tina "T Bone" Gorin - guitar
Hail Mary Z - bass
Melissa "Cool Whip" Houston - drums

Blues fans, don’t let the name of this NYC band fool you. Jane Lee Hooker consists of rock mavens, pure and simple. They brand their style of music “punk blues,” but their sophomore album leans vastly more to the punk side than the blues side. One might make the same observation about Ana Popovic, another Ruf Records recording artist, and be absolutely right. The appeal of all these fabulous females lies in their Spiritus – spirit – which Jane Lee Hooker and her all-gal quintet bare, holding nothing back. With a touch of Sheryl Crow, a dash of Alanis Morissette, and a pinch of the immortal Janis, they know how to stir classic influences into their original material. Out of ten songs, only two are covers: Minnie Lawler’s “Black Rat” (reviewed below) and Don Robey’s “Turn On Your Love Light.” Unsurprisingly, these tracks are the ones that sound the most like traditional blues. On all selections, the usual New York City adjectives apply: realist, gritty, edgy, hard-bitten, electric, and of course, avant-garde. In the Big Apple, if musicians aren’t pushing the envelope of their genre, they might as well be pushing up daisies. Young blues fans may really dig this CD, but baby-boomer purists will probably look elsewhere to get their genre jones satisfied.

“We’re a gang,” says the lineup: Dana “Danger” Athens on vocals, piano and organ; Tracy “High Top” Almazan on guitar; Tina “T-Bone” Gorin on guitar; Melissa “Cool Whip” Houston on drums, and “Hail Mary” Zadroga on bass. “We’re a family.” As for the album itself, “Spiritus is almost entirely original music written by the band as a unit, which has been really exciting and really gratifying. We write so naturally together; it’s been pretty effortless.” When it comes to studio effects and slick editing, however, you won’t find much. “We wanted this album to sound like we do live – raw and high-energy. And we operated under the same credo we had with [our debut release] No B! – all live, no effects, no pedals, no overdubbing nonsense. I think we captured the excitement, and we have the same real sounds that we loved so much on No B!”

The following cover hurtles like a Maglev train toward its conclusion. There’s no stopping it.

Track 06: “Black Rat” – Listen well and listen fast. The lyrics come, and then they’re past: “You is one black rat. One day I’ll find your trail. Then I’ll hide my shoes right near your shirttail!” Moral? What goes around comes around, and for this rambling rodent, hopefully sooner than later. Every musician is on full-blast here, and “Danger” Athens’ vocals are spot-on Joplin.

When it comes to Jane Lee Hooker’s second release, they’ve delivered on all the goals and promises mentioned earlier. With that said, there’s one major caveat yours truly must deliver: It’s not that Spiritus isn’t good. It’s just not blues. ---Rainey Wetnight, bluesblastmagazine.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex mediafire ulozto cloudmailru gett

back

01. Wade In The Water (4:31)
02. Mean Town Blues (5:08]
03. I Believe To My Soul (5:20)
04. Bumble Bee (4:57)
05. In The Valley (3:28]
06. Free Me (3:42)
07. The Hunter (3:36)
08. Champagne And Reefer (4:08]
09. Didn't It Rain (6:16)
10. Mannish Boy (5:02)
11. Shake For Me (5:40)

Dana “Danger” Athens - Vocals
Tracy Hightop - Guitar
Tina “T-Bone” Gorin - Guitar
Hail Mary Z - Bass
Melissa “Cool Whip” Houston – Drums

Should you choose to fall for the charms, the determination and the blistering Blues of Jane Lee Hooker, should the infectious demands of gravel toned vocals obliterate any doubts placed in the way of just what is in store as the groove and blues start to delve between the ribs and cause the heart to pound, then you know just how superb the feeling of nostalgic punches to the musical gut are, just how dominating Jane Lee Hooker are with their debut album, No B!

Many who find themselves in the company of New York’s finest tend to only think of certain areas, only one of the main boroughs as producing anything of importance or satisfaction, yet from out of Brooklyn rocket fuel is added to the Blues anthems, the taste of high octane energy is rife in the air and the impending explosion is one that is keenly anticipated.

The explosion comes quickly, it bounds with quicksilver and is felt beyond the confines of Manhattan’s Battery Park, it blisters and oozes sentiment and before long the first peaks of volcanic intent are to be felt grumbling away with the desire of want. This is no Sunday afternoon walk in the park, safe with bird song and the babbling innocence of water playfully stirring happiness, this is an album of relentless passion, of raw obsession with the genre and one that holds everything together with the vice like grip of a dominatrix teaching nuns not to be worry about the delight of rage and combustible energy they are about to experience.

Dana ‘Danger’ Athens’ vocals offer the ballsy punch of fury that just makes the hairs on the back of the neck bristle with joy, that makes them understand the thrill to come and on tracks by celebrated artist such as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters’ and Johnny Winter, Jane Lee Hooker’s enthusiastic zeal, of the pounding and relentless march, all is made wholesome and creatively beautiful.

Tracks such as Mean Town Blues, Bumble Bee, Champagne and Reefer and Mannish Boy exemplify the feeling of contentment to be found in allowing one of Brooklyn’s finest room in your soul. The fury, the scorching path of female driven Blues is enough to blow holes in anything else you are likely to feel that day, you may as well surrender to what the music has in store for you, because nothing else is going fill it as much as Jane Lee Hooker and No B! ---Ian D. Hall, liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex mediafire ulozto solidfiles

back