Canadian Lou “Loud” DeAdder kindly informs us that his birthdate is October 20th 1951. Lou is either telling us this to deter “the kids” who might otherwise have mistaken him as the new Pete Doherty or he feels that he’s now matured enough to be called a bluesman, the “rockin’ blues” being the genre of choice for Lou.
‘Loud’ is Lou’s first solo outing on record, having served his time in lots of bands I’ve never heard, bands with names that sound like something John Thompson might have invented for Jazz Club: Mother Nature, Whip, Level Crossing, 100 Proof and Hickory Creek, mmmm nice. Mysteriously Lou also “did a single for about 12 years” which I assume means he played guitar on his own for that period of time and not that he spent some 50,000 hours in the studio working on a 7”: not even Steely Dan could compete with that level of tinkering.
Talking of whom, although Lou is well-versed in The Blues, there is something of ‘the Dan’ in parts of his self-penned debut. Second track ‘You Said’ and the instrumental ‘Struttin’ start as fairly conventional Blues numbers but the chord changes that Lou introduces and some of the instrumental breaks recall the mannered jazz stylings of early career Steely Dan. The flute on ‘You Said’ is a welcome contribution alongside the laid-back brass section interspersed across several tracks. Elsewhere, the heavier tones of ‘Burn Me Down’ (recalling Deep Purple), the hill-billy strut of ‘Space Cowboy’ and the organ and sax contributions on ‘Ten Minutes’ mean that Lou DeAdder is a far more interesting Blues proposition than one might initially expect.
Indeed Lou is to be applauded for restraining himself from subjecting us to tiresome and endless guitar work-outs, opting to limit these in favour of more interesting and varied arrangements, preferring proper songs to formless jamming sessions and giving his tracks space to grow beyond their roots with the addition of other instrumentation. His generosity to the other musicians on this album, giving them freedom and space to express themselves, is ultimately what keeps the whole thing alive and interesting. Don’t get me wrong, this is The Blues - as more straight-forward tracks like ‘Beer Drinkin’ Mama’ and ‘Tell Me ‘Bout Your Problem’ more clearly testify - but Lou’s approach caters for other sensibilities, thereby making ‘Loud’ a more note-worthy compilation. Never judge a guitar swinging Bluesman by his album cover, I say.
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I’m no connoisseur of this style but Lou’s guitar work sounds great, mainly because it never monopolises the music within. His voice is fine if perhaps workmanlike and not as worn and battle-weary as one might have expected for a man of his years. ‘Loud’ ain’t gonna change your life nor be the album that captures the imagination of a new generation but as the first efforts of a mid-fifties self-confessed blues fan it offers some subtle and engaging touches in a well-worn genre.
www.loudeadder.com
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