Is there really a better name for a band that celebrates all things blues than Supersonic Blues Machine? An all-star project masterminded by Fabrizio Grossi, Supersonic Blues Machine impressed mightily with their debut album, ‘west of Flushing, South of Frisco’, and now return with ‘Californisoul’, an album that is self-described as “the missing soundtrack to a summertime drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 1971!” It is an apt description, and, despite the fact that the album has appeared just as the leaves start to fade to a rich shade of gold, it does indeed conjure up images of the vast open spaces of America as witnessed from an open-top gas-guzzler. With fewer guests than the first outing, ‘Californisoul’ is a more confident, wonderfully enjoyable album from a band who have employ the blues as a means to take their listener on a vibrant journey, and a glorious journey it is.
‘Californisoul’ gets off to a perfect start, channelling its inner Santana with ‘I am done missing you’, a track that pairs creamy guitars with a gritty vocal and some truly exquisite (if brief) soloing. It eases the listener in to both album and journey and it lays the ground for the stinging blues of ‘somebody’s fool’ (featuring Robben Ford), a glorious piece of road rock that eats up the tarmac with soulful backing vocals, a relentless beat and a series of licks that prowl and tear at the wasteland that abuts the highway. As sweet a piece of psychedelic soul as you could wish for, ‘L.O.V.E’ captures a vibe that has increasingly been cast to the wind in this age of instant communication and regressive, nationalistic politics, and it is heartening indeed to hear that a more carefree age can still be summoned by those with the heart so to do. Lance Lopez (who provides the core band with guitar and vocals) leads the track, his vocals delivered with just enough gravel and his guitar work full of sunshine and love as Fabrizio (bass) and Kenny (Aronoff – drums) nail the beat behind him. With backing singers sweetening the sound yet further, I challenge anyone to listen to ‘L.O.V.E’ and not conclude the track with a huge, soppy grin plastered across their features – it’s just that kind of track. However, the journey from LA to San Francisco is a long one and, if you need to step on the gas, who better to encourage the meeting of pedal and metal than Billy F. Gibbons, who appears on the chugging ‘Broken heart’, a huge, rock’n’roll monster of a track that sees the kilometres skipping past. Adding stinging funk to their repertoire, ‘Bad boys’ sounds like Jimmy Hendrix jamming on the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and it places the sun firmly in the sky as the car surges ever forward, eating up the road in time to the band’s taut tempo. The star of the show is, once again, Lance Lopez whose versatile vocals bed perfectly into the track, although Fabrizio and Kenny are, once again, on fire as the rhythm section. The first half of the album comes to an explosive climax with ‘elevate’ a track which, in featuring the sublime talents of Eric Gales, positively explodes with positivity, Eric’s ebullient personality adding yet greater fire to the band’s music. Soulful, joyful, and as extrovert as the musicians who made it, ‘Elevate’ is one of the single most glorious pieces of music that I’ve heard this year, and if this were the only track on the album repeated some thirteen times, I’d probably still recommend the disc for purchase!
Any track following on from ‘Elevate’ would have a hard time, and so the band don’t even try to compete, taking things down a notch with the nostalgic blues of ‘the one’ recalling nothing so much as Robert Cray with its smooth licks and restrained vocal. Things stay restrained, as the blazing sun gives way to the calmer ruminations of dusk, but happily Steve Lukather is on hand for ‘hard times’ and his fluid soloing certainly adds an additional dimension to the extended run time of the song. As dusk gives way to night and the only company is the gleaming headlights from across the road, so we get to the gently introspective monologue of ‘cry’, all crooned backing vocals and subtle fret-work. As the night gets deeper, so we get the sanguine warning of ‘the stranger’, a dark, heavy blues with funky underpinnings and a whiff of the underworld about it. It threatens hellfire by the dashboard light and it is with both relief and regret that the song comes to an end with our soul still safely in our possession. With the satanic hitchhiker of ‘the stranger’ left at a roadside stop, we edge into the glorious ‘what’s wrong’, a track that features an awe-inspiring contribution from Walter Trout who lends both guitar and vocals to the piece. The album concludes as the sun edges its way back into the sky on the funky ‘thank you’. It sees the dark thoughts of the night time dispatched by bold brass and soulful backing vocals before the journey comes to an end with ‘this is love’, a soulful coda that remains in the mind long after the album has spun to a halt.
‘Californisoul’ is an old school blues record intended to be heard as a single piece and perfectly sequenced with that in mind. A lengthy journey, it conjures images of an America long left behind to by the relentless march of progress, and yet, in hearts and souls up and down the country, that great nation still exists and will, with luck, exist again. An America of soul and blues, an America of hope and progress and an America of adventure – it’s all here in these thirteen brilliant songs and ‘Californisoul’ brings it vividly to life. Reviewing this album was a pleasure, and I have no doubt that this record will remain a treasured possession for years to come. Forget the names of the guests and simply kick back in the sun-kissed glory of the music – you’ll not regret it. 10
