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G Love solo
When you get the spark, you got to ride that energy, says G. Love, and that spark certainly ignites on his 10th studio full-length Love Saves The Day. He calls the new release the fullest realization of the hip-hop blues that he first pioneered with Special Sauce in the early 90s. The album, due out October 30 on Brushfire Records, not only features G. Loves long-term Special Sauce rhythm section upright bassist James Jimi Jazz Prescott, and drummer Jeffrey The Houseman Clemens but also prominent guest performers including Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo, Lucinda Williams, Citizen Cope, Ozomatli, DJ Logic, Money Mark, Zach Gill and Adam Topol.
To create their down and dirty trashcan blues sound, G. Love and Special Sauce returned to Brushfire Records Solar Powered Plastic Plant in Los Angeles. The band was excited to reteam with Sugar engineer and producer Robert Carranza (Jack Johnson, Beastie Boys, Mars Volta). They recorded live with few edits to capture the immediacy of the music: G. Love making his guitar snarl and his harmonica moan, bassist Prescott bringing nimble funk to the bottom end and Clemens drum work crackling with power. The music, G. Love enthuses, jumped off the tape.
The new album completes the trilogy for G. Love that started with 2011s Fixin To Die. That disc stripped his music down to its roots and saw him record with The Avett Brothers, while Sugar, in G. Loves words, reconnected the blues with the electric side and reunited the original trio to create the bands signature style of blending John Lee Hooker blues with Golden Era hip-hop beats. On Love Saves The Day the group dives even deeper, making the grooves heavier, the music rawer and the performances more authentic.
G. Love also feels Love Saves The Day is his most rock n roll record yet. Just listen to the title track that opens the album and youll hear why. This blast of furious blues, powered by David Hidalgos wicked guitar work, stands toe-to-toe with the classic work of Cream and the other blues-inspired bands of the 60s and early 70s. Hidalgo, a returnee from the Sugar sessions, plays on two other songs, Dis Song and That Girl. Besides being the first tracks recorded, G. Love sees these three tunes as forming the core of the album. They also lead off the release and set the records rugged, raucous tone.
This wonderfully unruly spirit flows through the revved-up rendition of the old Leadbelly tune New York City, where G. Love does a delightfully ragged duet with celebrated singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. On the mesmerizing Muse, which arose from an all-night writing session he had with his old pal Citizen Cope, G. Loves sinewy slide guitar drives the tunes southern rock/hip-hop hybrid groove. Baby Why You Do Me Like That kicks off with scratching from another old friend, D.J. Logic, and features the albums heaviest hip-hop beats. Adding to the groove on Muse and Baby is the energetic horn work supplied by L.A. band Ozomatli; however, their contributions really shine on Lets Have A Good Time, a super funky jam that could have easily been a lost James Brown gem.
Although Lets Have A Good Time, along with the catchy, power-of-love ode Peanut Butter Lips, rank as the lighter tunes on the album, the overall lyrical mood, as G. Love easily admits, tends to favor the darker side. Even the seemingly optimistic title track turns heavy towards the end. Standout cut Back To Boston, which examines a troubled relationship, was written on a drive from New York City to Boston. Longtime fans will recognize the tune from the acoustic EP Bloodshot & Blue, but G. Love wanted to give it the full-band treatment, with the new version showcasing frequent collaborator Mark Boyces jazzy organ work. The rough-hewn performances on tracks like That Girl, Pick Up The Phone and R U Kidding Me! further reflect the lyrics raw emotions, with the sharp-tongued Dis Song representing the peak of, as G. Love calls it, pissed-off-ness.
Whether angrily railing about a girl with a shotgun tongue in Dis Song, joyfully leading a party celebration in Lets Have A Good Time, or solemnly addressing love woes on the solo acoustic tune Lil Run Around, G. Loves vocals vividly express his torn-from-the-heart emotions. He has been putting more emphasis on his singing in the past few years, and feels his vocals on the new album are his strongest ever. G. Love admits that singing with Citizen Cope and Lucinda Williams on this album, and the great session singer Merry Clayton on Sugar, made him raise his game.
He certainly has come a long way in the 20 years since drummer Clemens discovered him performing in a Boston pub. The two started playing together and, after Clemens brought in upright bassist Prescott, G. Love & Special Sauce was born. Their self-titled debut, featuring the hit Cold Beverage, wound up going gold. The band became known for their live shows and performed around the world. G. Love has played with and without Special Sauce over the years, but now the trio is back together and it feels right. G. Love believes the current manifestation of the band is stronger than ever and is riding a creative high, adding and we didnt want to kill each other.
Love Saves The Day marks G. Loves sixth with Brushfire Records and hes thrilled with their relationship. He lauds label chief Emmett Malloy as someone driven by creativity first and whose aesthetic tastes he trusts. G. Love views todays music world as the Wild West, with all the lines washed away; however, his genre-blurring music now is more relevant than when he started. Its a good time to be doing what we are doing, he asserts, noting Gary Clark Jr., Jack White, Robert Randolph and Galactic as some fellow keepers of the blues flame who maintain the roots but push music forward.
G. Love proudly describes himself as a road dog who will be touring until I fall off the earth and plans to keep on pushing with Special Sauce from stage to stage. Whether Love Saves The Day makes one dollar or a million isnt a big concern to him. It stands as a huge success because he made the gritty, honest album that he intended by keeping it raw, keeping it immediate, keeping it real. Its an approach that he has honed over the years: be original and be true to what you do.
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