Nominated by: The Big G
Music club: Wander to Wozza's
Playlist addition: Ybor City, Orange Blossoms
I hadn't heard of JJ and his band prior to GK's nomination. A quick Google search reveals that this is their fourth album and the sound is a combination of southern rock, soul, and blues. Wikipedia calls it swamp rock but I have no idea what that means.
The JJ Grey figure is the head honcho - i.e. lead singer and guitarist, a.k.a. John Higginbotham.
Before I get stuck in to Orange Blossoms - a slight diversion:
Repetition in music is a given.
Chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat...
A lot of repetition can become riveting, too much can become boring. It's sometimes a fine line.
Paul McCartney is a genius. He has a song called Rinse The Raindrops that goes for just over 10 minutes. It has two verses (8 lines in total) that repeat throughout that 10 minutes and I love it.
Neil Young, another genius, can also get away with major repetition on the lengthy T-bone (the entire lyric is 'Got mashed potatoes; ain't got no T-bone').
And so, on to this week's selection.
Orange Blossoms, the album, gets off to a good start - there's the terrific cover and then the title song. JJ and band get into a nice funky groove and stay there with good effect.
I really like the use of horns. Fat Freddy's Drop use them in the same way - to provide colour and sonic texture to their extended grooves. Fat Freddy's Drop also use repetition as a weapon.
For me, FFD get into deeper funkier grooves which allows them the time and space to repeat phrases and they are judicious in its use of repetition - as in, they know instinctively when to stop and vary things. Like Macca and Neil, they never become boring.
Over the length of this album, and I admit I struggled to get past it, JJ Grey and Mofro suffer from comparison to FFD. The grooves are not as deep, the space is not quite there, the repetition is not judiciously employed.
Worst offenders feature in the mid album slump of On Fire, Move it on, Higher You Climb, Dew Drops. I just found the repeated riff and lyrics a bit boring in each of those.
That would be my central complaint, but it's also way too long as an album.
On the positive side, there was also plenty I liked: the more up tempo Ybor City is great with its Nutbush City Limits steal (needed more tracks like that one); JJ's singing is easy on the ear, the lead guitar and slide guitar work is excellent, and that Hammond B3 organ sound gets me every time!
It occurs to me that we may listen to some of these albums in a very different context. I can see you both grooving to this as you work from home - the repetition would not be an impediment in that context. Actually, you may not be aware of it, or else it is a positive feature for you in that you don't need to concentrate on lyrics, just let the sounds wash around you.
I listened to the album mostly on my hour commute so I focus on the songs comparatively closely I suspect (btw, I know it's a long album because I needed one and a half journeys to get through it all).
So, it's a three star effort from me - a set of songs played well, but JJ et al are not in the flawed genius league IMHO.
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