LIVE REVIEW
Winterblues Festival - Almeria 13th March 2009
The night was opened by Slam Bluesy Band at 9.00pm, with British punctuality, as it could not be any other way, with a style that takes you inmediately across the sea to the North of the USA, Chicago. A pure root style with touches of fusion, small details, big details, of quality music that made the public get into it from the first minute. Good group whose captain is Chas Burnett, who presented his first cd and left the public hungry for more. - El Almeria
Abrieron la noche Slam Bluesy Band, a las 21 horas, con puntualidad británica, como no podía ser de otra forma, pero con un estilo que te lleva inmediatamente a cruzar el charco, a EEUU, al norte, a Chicago. Un estilo de raíces puras y con toques de fusión, pequeños detalles, grandes detalles, de calidad musical que hizo al público meterse en el papel desde el primer minuto. Buen grupo el capitaneado por Chas Burnett, que hizo la presentación de su primer disco y dejó un grandísimo sabor de boca. - El Almeria
CD REVIEWS
Blues It Up
Straight from the Costa del Sol live music scene comes The Chas Burnett Blues Band with their debut album, 'Blues It Up' - and what a tidy piece of work it is!! Slick contemporary blues to rival anything out there; concise blues, precise blues, squeaky-clean blues. The Chas Burnett Blues Band is a three-piece with loads of blues and gigging experience both individually and collectively. Together they give a beautifully polished and well rounded performance here with an album of twelve original songs that demonstrate consummate professionalism and well focussed attention to detail. The band comprises Chas Burnett (lead vocals and guitar), Andy Mackechnie (drums and vocals) and Karl Hoffmann (bass and vocals) and together they make it all sound so simple and at times almost too bloody easy! Quite clearly these are well - heeled, well-practiced musicians that have come together, with a shared passion, to form a solid entity that generates a beautifully full and nicely proportioned sound. The songs here are good and strong and the guys play with well considered precision and clarity which results in a wonderfully clear finished sound that allows the listener full access to all the component parts. My one and only minor criticism would be that the vocals tend to be a little samey and lacking in real blues emotion - things could do with a little bit of 'dirtying up', an injection of blues passion to make the words even more convincing. Apart from that, The Chas Burnett Blues Band sound totally on track and ready to take on all-comers within their chosen field. Certainly, 'Blues It Up' is a very tasty debut album and bodes well for the future of this classy sounding blues combo.
--- Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk) ---
This is a lively three piece band operating on the Costa del Sol music scene and their album displays the wealth of collective experience of the members. All 12 songs are original and set in a modern blues genre with effortless playing from all concerned. Opening track 'Talk To Me' boogies along solidly with a good guitar break and tight playing from the rhythm section. 'When The Silence Is Broken' is a slow blues featuring an excellent Gary Moore style guitar solo with lots of sustain. 'Bring the Curtain Down' is a funky little number with a touch of Cream in the style and the catchy guitar riff. 'Taxi' is a rocker which features a thumping beat and some tasty slide guitar work from Burnett. 'Green Eyed Boogie' does what it says on the tin and thrashes along in heads down no nonsense syle. Closing track 'Things Must Change' is a heavy riffin' mid tempo rocker featuring chiming guitar licks and pleading vocals. This is a very promising debut album and I look forward to hearing more.
--- Dave Drury - Blues Matters! ---
"Blues It Up!!" is real rockin' blues from ex-pat blues trio, The Chas Burnett Blues Band. Hailing from different parts of the UK, the band migrated to Spain where they've made a living grafting along the Costa Del Sol. Taking the opportunity of long days in the sun to perfect their craft. Burnett, a broadcaster as well as a musician, penned the twelve songs on the album. Hands up there are some familiar themes that run through the album and a few familiar riffs here and there, but it doesn't detract from an album that ultimately hits the entertainment buttons.
--- Golly Gallager - Fatea Web Site ---
Recorded out in Marbella, Spain this set couldn't be further removed from the chilled-out pissed-up nightclub sound ou might associate with that neck of the woods – the tight guitar-led trio having a very Lonnie Mack vibe as first track ' Talk To Me' bursts out and then follower the sustain-driven 'When the Silence Is Broken' tells its tale of a communication breakdown of the sorriest kind. Chas Burnett (great surname for a blues man !) is featured as a strong singer ; bassist Karl Hoffmann is steady as a rock and pumping in the style of a Gwyn Ashton rhythm section cat, whilst drummer Andy Mackechnie has a great cymbal wash technique and relentless snare sound. What they seem to be going for here is the defined shape of the numbers, presumably saving the fiery stuff for stage appearances – so this sounds very like a Paul Jones radio show session and none the worse for that. 'Bring The Curtain Down' evokes Bad Company and must be a live favourite with its ascending change and gritty guitar-tone solo's ; Chas of course should be shot for starting a song with 'I Woke Up This Morning' as he does on 'Ironical Blues' but the song is an acoustic-intro'd corker with a fine vocal and reverb'd greasy slide guitar and toe-tapping pace. The band sound most comfortable on this selection so the mean stuff is their forte, we must conclude. Almost as good is the ensemble-vocal 'One Way Journey' showing their Chuck Berry roots, maybe via Steve Gibbons ? 'Green Eyed Boogie' works in a Blues Band vein though is not original in any sense. Closer 'Things Must Change' is a stomper that sounds as though it's an 'introduce the band' playout song, again great dirty guitar tones. Inevitably, the coldness of studio recording cannot ulimately help the songs come to life, as they surely must do in front of an audience. Most enduring overall impression of hearing this album though is: what a good singer we have here
--- Pete Sargeant www.fairhearing.co.uk ---
The Chas Burnett Blues Band is a good little blues band, resident in the South of Spain, and comprising English guitarist and vocalist Chas Burnett, Scottish drummer Andy McKechnie, and American bass player Karl Hoffman (originally from Kansas)– it’s a good mix! The band is based in the Millionaire’s playground of Marbella, but tend to play along the coast in bars and clubs where the normal people congregate! Blues It Up (self-produced) is their first album and unusually it is 12 original tracks written mainly by guitarist/ vocalist Chas Burnett. It’s only available via the band’s website, at the moment. It’s refreshing to see a band put down a whole album of original tracks, but personally I would have liked to have seen two or three covers of standard blues mixed in amongst the original material. The album opens with “Talk To Me” with some slightly weak lyrics, but great blues nonetheless, with a nice boogie beat. Track two, “When The Silence Is Broken,” is much better , a slow ballad with good lyrics, and guitar a little reminiscent of Gary Moore, with great support from the rhythm section. Track three, “Bring The Curtain Down”, brings the tempo back up to medium, and puts me a little in mind of the later material produced by Cream – well written and with excellent support from drummer Andy McKechnie, and a good bass line. Track five, “I’ve Got My Eye On You,” suffers from having fairly repetitive lyrics, but the following track, “Ironical Blues,” addresses this problem and gets the album back in line – the rest of the CD alternating between ballad, mid tempo and boogie and containing probably the best three tracks on the CD – “He’s The Man”, “Taxi” and “Green Eyed Boogie” – the latter probably the best of the bunch. This is a good start for a new band, and promised good things to come – keep an eye open for future CDs!
--- Terry Clear - OCI Radio & Blues Bytes ---
