CD Reviews

The Boston Horns

Shibuya Gumbo | bostonhorns.com

By TED DROZDOWSKI | April 9, 2008

3.0 Stars

The Boston Horns

These primal-funk black belts led by former Heavy Metal Horns leaders Henley Douglas Jr. (sax) and Garret Savluk (trumpet) spare no grease on their sixth studio album. Things kick in with the Average White Band–style groover “Ask Me Later” and end with “It’s a . . . Vocal,” an update of the J.B.s’ sound with fellow Boston R&B sparkplug Barrence Whitfield filling in for the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. And if you don’t know who that was, maybe this booty-rockin’ disc can help you plug that hole in yo’ soul. In between there’s pumping originals, a throbbing recast of blues giant Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love to You” (also featuring Whitfield’s honking vocalise), Mr. Brown’s own “Givin’ Up Food for Funk,” and Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s working man’s anthem “A Real Mother for Ya.” Don’t let their provincial name fool you: this sextet are a world-class outfit.

Boston Horns with Barrence Whitfield | Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville | April 19 | 617.776.2004

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Willie Dixon, More

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 02/20 ] "Optical Noise: American & British Prints/Films from the 1960s-1970s: @ David Winton Bell Gallery

[ 02/20 ] Third Annual Providence Children's Film Festival @ Cable Car Cinema

[ 02/20 ] "The Providence Postcard Project" @ Brown University's Granoff Center, Martinos Auditorium

ARTICLES BY TED DROZDOWSKI

TOM HAMBRIDGE | BOOM! | August 23, 2011
Roots rock is the new country and ex-Bostonian Tom Hambridge is the style's current MPV.

COUNTRY STRONG | SOUNDTRACK | January 11, 2011
This steaming pile of songs is emblematic of the state of mainstream country music — all artifice, no heart, calculated anthems written to formula and meant, like the film itself, to do no more than capitalize on the genre's current success and rob its undiscriminating fans.

MARC RIBOT | SILENT MOVIES | November 02, 2010
This exceptional, eccentric guitarist has traced a slow evolution from screamer to dreamer.

IN MEMORIAM: SOLOMON BURKE, 1940 — 2010 | October 11, 2010

REVIEW: RONNIE EARL AND THE BROADCASTERS | SPREAD THE LOVE | September 07, 2010
Boston-based blues-guitar virtuoso Ronnie Earl seems to be considering his past on his 23rd album as a leader.