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BLUEPRINT MAGAZINE
Sibun's guitar work has been attracting plaudits
for a decade or so now, and
this disc is by my estimation, his fourth full album under his
own name. He
has also toured and recorded with Robert Plant,played with Peter
Green and
been part of the incredibly talented Blues explosion group that
also produced
Tony Caddle,Mike Hoddinott, and John Baggott from it's ranks.
There is less straight ahead blues in Sibun's act nowadays, since
he
generally prefers to operate in the hinterland between rock and
blues,
roughly the sort of area that Free, Bad company and early Zeppelin
inhabited.
Very good at it he is too, and his taste and talent are reflected
in and
matched by the really excellent vocal work of his singer and
fellow
songwriter, Steve Robinson.
All the material is original and although there are several
instrumentals, these are by no means mere filler. "Schluters
walking blues",
although barely a minute long, gives a welcome glimpse of Sibun
the acoustic
bluesman, as does the Ry Cooder-ish title track; elsewhere there
are touches
of Hendrix and, perhaps more understandably, Jimmy Page. There
are moments of
quite exquisite beauty here too: the guitar figure that leads
into another
instrumental, "Angelstar", is simply marvelous, as
is the lovely ballad "It's
too late" and the delicate miniature "Your lighthouse".
"So tired" is first
rate slow blues, "Such a fool" would be considered
a major entry in the Eric
Clapton or Rod Stewart canons.
To sum up then, this is an exceptional collection of traditional
rock,
rock/blues and ballads featuring some unusually sensitive songwriting
and
some fabulous playing by the whole band. It's not quite a blues
record, but
I'm sure most would agree that this should be filed under "Excellent".
RATING:9 Paul Lewis.
THE GUITAR MAGAZINE
Hard travelling SG-wielding UK bluesman Sibun
returns with a set of
left-of-cliched originals spiced with enough classic Brit-pop,R&B,
and gentle
psychedelia to keep him well clear of the overstuffed trad blues
bag.
From the wobble-wah'd riff frenzy of "Beautiful day"
to "Angelstar"'s
flutey,wiry, Hendrix-inflected noodlings, it wont disappoint
the devoted.
PICK OF THE MONTH.
Press response to the new album 'East monroe'
VENUE MAGAZINE.
If this album had been recorded by one of
the icons of guitar-based rock
music,it would probably be called a classic. As it was recorded
by the
little known Innes Sibun,it will probably become something of
a muso
trainspotters' delight,which is a crying shame.Good songs,excellent
arrangements and
classy playing make this album something special. It also illustrates
just how
well the guitar of Innes and the vocals of Steve Robinson go
together-the Jeff
Beck/Rod Stewart combination for the 21st.century! Praise should
also go
to Andy Maggs (bass) and Rob Brian (drums), who lay down the
foundation on
which Sibun and Robinson build their superb interplay. Two of
these songs first
saw the light on Innes's live album "After dark" last
year, but otherwise it's all new material. There are several
first-rate instrumentals,of which the pick is "Schluters
walking blues", and a couple of slower numbers including
the stunning "It's too late". Carefully sequenced among
the rockier up-tempo numbers,the result is a wonderfully balanced
album of classic rock music.
Tony Slinger * * * * ALBUM OF THE ISSUE.
GUITARIST MAGAZINE
East monroe sees a development in songwriting
skills which takes Innes's brand of funked-up blues to a higher
plateau. The smooth voice of Steve Robinson brings each track
to life against a backdrop of accomplished blues-rock guitar,sometimes
ambient and relaxed,sometimes frantic and adventurous. At points
the playing is so emotional that convention takes a back seat
and feel leapfrogs accuracy to suit the mood. Acoustic numbers
like "East monroe" and "Schluters walking blues"
reveal a rootsy side to Sibun's playing a nd serve as reminders
that what you're hearing here are influences from the original
bluesmen right up to contemporary players like Robben Ford. Recommended.
Ben Bartlett * * * *
RECORD BUYER & MUSIC COLLECTOR MAGAZINE.
The name meant nothing to me,but in a moment
of idle curiosity it seemed only
reasonable to give this album on the Berlin-based Ulftone label
a spin,and it
must be admitted that the curiously named guitarist can strum
up a storm -
well,he's a high note botherer in his solo's,which isn't such
a bad thing,but
like many others who play blues/rock lead guitar,the material
he uses is
lyrically rather derivative.
Perhaps there aren't too many ways to say my baby has
left me and I'm
very unhappy about it that haven't already been used,and it does
seem that
writing a new blues/R&B songwhich doesn't sound like some
distillation of
half a dozen other pieces is at least difficult,and on a bad
day,nigh-on
impossible. Anyway,Sibun leads a band which includes tight-trousered
vocalist
Steve Robinson,bass player Andy Maggs and drummer Rob Brian.Robinson
also
wrote a couple of the songs here,"Gimme a taste" and
"Bloodhounds",while
Maggs wrote the lyrics to "Time stood still",but otherwise
it's Sibun who
takes care of the material.
Zeppelin fans may have come across him before,as he was
lead
guitarist on Robert Plant's 1995 world tour,and more recently
rejoined the
man with the curly mane to record a track for the Moby Grape
tribute album
(or should that be Skip Spence tribute album?) "More oar".
Sibun also
apparantly appears on the Peter Green tribute album,and seemingly
made a
previous album ten years ago which was produced by Mike Vernon,and
was voted
best UK blues album of 1991 bt RTE viewers/listeners in Ireland.
"East monroe", which is distributed in the UK
by Proper,also includes
several instrumentals which further demonstrate Sibun's ability
to produce
what the accompanying press release describes (reasonably enough)
as "Mind
bending solo pyrotechnics". Plenty of inferior albums of
this type have
passed my ears, and this one seems better than most.
John Tobler.
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