I will confess to never having heard of Loz Netto before receiving ‘Bridge of Dreams’, and from looking at the CD didn’t quite know what to expect. Thankfully, The Loz Netto Band is great and continues a long line of blues contributors that are in a similar vein to Dr. Feelgood.
Loz Netto started in the business in probably what was the best possible circumstances, being Ben E. King’s guitarist, and then went on to have success with his band ‘Sniff ‘N’ The Tears’, before having a varied career which included composing film and TV soundtracks. This is his latest album, which features Loz’s excellent guitar and vocal work along with Nigel Ball on bass and backing vocals, and Rob Kenny on drums.
For me, what sets this album above a multitude of musicians operating in the same genre, is the care and professionalism that has gone into this work. All tracks are either live, or ‘live in the studio’ with no overdubs and recorded in one or two takes. The sound quality is excellent with a clarity that is difficult to match.
Another area, which allows the band to shine, is in their choice of cover versions. Of the nine tracks on the album, six are covers.
The opening track ‘Bridge of Dreams’ is a Loz Netto composition and is an instrumental heavy blues guitar number. This basically showcases the band members’ abilities and is a great start.
‘This is Hip’ is the old John Lee Hooker cover, which stands out as different, as Loz has a great, gravely bluesman’s shout, and plays some excellent slide guitar on this.‘Am I Wrong?’ is a Keb’ Mo’ cover which here is complete with false start that adds a quirky intimacy to the proceedings.
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The next two tracks ‘Dixie Chicken’ and ‘On Your Way Down’ are two excellent covers of tracks by ‘Little Feat’, the former being a countrified slide blues with, again, some great playing.
‘Use Me Up’ is a Bill Withers cover, which here is turned into an eight-minute blues jam that is just perfect and adds to the original.‘Get Rhythm’, the old Johnny Cash chestnut works quite well here being slightly laid back, but lacks the thrust of Johnny’s rockabilly version.
The final two tracks, ‘Wild’ and ‘What U Dun’ are Loz Netto originals, with clever lyrics that suit the music – ‘Wild’is espeically memorable: “Tune up your sound and your vision, set your speed better take your position/ It’s a game called life and you’d better think twice/ For you to roll the dice with me baby.”
This allows Loz’s own work to blend in well with the covers and there is no discernable drop in quality throughout. Overall, I loved this CD and whilst it might not be to everyone’s taste, it is certainly one to put on as a finale to a good night out.
Loz Netto Band online
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