European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 3, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Byro Staggenborg staff writer the natives were getting restless. After suffering through a tedious 45-minute opening set by newcomers wild life the crowd milled about the Sta Thalle in Offenbach Germany monday night waiting for something a anything a better than wild life a pseudo blues. Intermission had never seemed so Long. When the lights dimmed some 20 minutes later Bass player Joe Rockman led guitar wizard Jeff Healey to his chair Center stage. Healey plucked at his strings As an Amber Stream of Light fell upon his Golden locks. In front of a crowd that was ready to hang onto his every word his every fret his every move something Wasny to right. The 24-year-old Canadian blues Man summoned a technician to his chair who scurried off seconds later to fix the problem. Healey apologized in his Humble Way and proceeded to scorch the Sta Thalle with River of no return from his 1988 debut album see the Light. So began Jeff Healey a no frills plenty of thrills offering to a capacity crowd of a few thousand in Offenbach. Healey the latest of a dying Breed of True blues men to hit the music scene in the last decade ripped through the Sta Thalle with his distinctive Brand of guitar Mastery. His signature combines the styles of All the great blues guitarists from . King to John Lee Hooker Eric Clapton to Robert Cray. The end result is a mind altering trip through guitar heaven. When the Blind axeman Tore into his cover of Zzz tops Blue Jean blues the second song of his two hour set there was no question who was in control. The uniqueness of Healey a style stems not from the fact that he is Blind but that he plays the guitar sitting in a chair with the instrument in his Lap. This enables him to play the guitar with All five fingers. The difference is not merely cosmetic though it appears awkward. Rather it adds musically by allowing Healey to reach chords that traditional guitarists cannot. During Blue Jean blues Healey sat in his chair sliding his hand up and Down the neck like a slide caught in the act the Jeff Healey bands amps Jim Derheim Jeff Healey in concert a mind altering trip through guitar heaven. Guitar then for the first time that night jumped to his feet at the height of the song ending Solo. With Rockman laying a deep gutting Bass track and drummer Tom Stephens pounding out a thundering beat Healey remained at Center stage throughout the night cranking out torrid renditions of Confidence Man from see the Light and something to hold onto i think i love you too much and a burning version of Highway of dreams All from his 1990 release hell to pay. The concert Wasny to without its flaws. While Healey left the crowd s jaws dangling with his Fretwork his singing was unimpressive. His Laid Back personality was at times too much to stomach his song introductions were barely audible at certain Points he tended to ramble Between numbers his Pep talks shot past the onlookers with nary a notice and his Banshee style of guitar playing seemed to have left his band mates in never never land at one Point in the show. Healey made amends late in the evening with a sweltering version of the doors roadhouse blues which he first performed in the Patrick Swayze feature film Dud roadhouse. When Healey seemed to have lost the captive fans at one Point he did something to grab their undivided attention again. Necks craned As fans tried to catch a glimpse of the guitar god when he stood up and hopped Chuck Berry style across the stage. Then he thrust his guitar behind his head and stroked out a few chords. When he played his axe with his Teeth k la Jimi Hendrix the partisan party screamed with enthusiasm. Healey capped the set with see the Light a psychedelic masterfully orchestrated tune that got the crowd begging for More. He left the stage but returned a few minutes later with his first of two encores. He singed the final curtain with a cover of the beatles while my guitar gently weeps from hell to pay and iced the crowd Down with a version of Hendrix Sall along the watchtower that would have made even Jimi himself gently weep with Joy. Watchtower worked the crowd into a final frenzy with Healey a unorthodox guitar frills driving rhythm and mind boggling solos that left the fans shaking their Heads in Awe. In a rolling Stone interview in 1988, the late blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan predicted that Healey would Quot revolutionize the Way the guitar can be ask any one of the Offenbach crowd and you d think Healey already had. Hammersmith Odeon oct. 10 amp nov. 10 Newport Center oct i 1 Portsmouth Guildhall oct. 12 Germany St. Wer Jendel sport hallo oct. 26pebbles a always if producers . And baby face Are the Jinmy Jam and Terry Lewis of West coast ramp a then pebbles is their Janet Jackson. Good As the analogy is though it Isnit enough to make always the California equivalent of Jackson a rhythm nation. Granted this album does boast a similar assortment of Issue oriented dance songs say a prayer for me and gooey love ballads Why do i believe. But instead of the muscular insistence of Jackson a music pebbles prefers a softer sell one which takes its strength from Subtle soulfulness. And while that hardly keeps the Singer from getting Nasty when need be a notice How easily she keeps Pace with Salt a Pepa on backyard it makes for enticingly understated Nixon a Otis in interviews Mojo Nixon has said that his Solo album Otis is dedicated to a variety of Olises Otic ranging from ramp a legend Otis Redding to blues great Otis Rush to Rock Pioneer Otis Blackwell. But the Otis that Otis most clearly resembles is the Otis elevator because these songs really go up and Down. There Are laughs to be had in Perry Mason of love or put a sex to Sheen in the White House though not As Many As Nixon seems to think while such songs As i Wanna race Bigfoot trucks and took out the trash and never came Back Are Only As amusing As their titles. Still any album that would include the likes of destroy All lawyers and the infamous Don Henley must die has to be Worth at least a couple of Parker a roots revisited. As any serious student of Funk knows Maceo Parker is probably the most recognizable ramp a saxophonist since King Curtis having been both James Browne a resident sax machine and a mainstay of the parliament what s what s n Funk Adelic mob. But Parker is also something of a jazzman and As roots revisited demonstrates an impressive one at that. Although his tone can be a bit grating on ballads like Over the Rainbow hand him a straight ahead tune like Charles Mingus better get hit in you soul and he More than holds his own even against sidemen As seasoned As keyboardist Don Pullen. A pleasant a Cherry pie lets face it the sort of Low level sexual innuendo that can be found in the words to warrant songs like Cherry pie or sure feels Good to me is childish unimaginative and frankly rather Boring. But anyone who would dismiss the new warrant album Cherry pie on the basis of its Lyric Sheet is completely missing the Point. Sure there Are some questionable phrases on the album in fact the satirical ode to Tipper Gore is practically Wall to Wall obscenities. So what truth is the Only things that really matter on a hard Rock album like this one Are High Watt Hooks and hard hitting guitars and warrant has both in abundance. Record a review Neil Young a ragged glory if Ever an album lived up to its title it is Neil Youngs gleefully noisy ragged glory. A masterful exercise in garage Rock grunge it is packed to the rafters with growling guitars exhilarating bursts of feedback and the sort of Loose climbed arrangements that suggest a Good Deal More empathy than rehearsal. But Young balances his sonic excesses with some of his strongest melodies in years from the edgy harmonies of mansion on the Hill to the crusty innocence of Mother Earth natural Anthem. As a result even the albums designated shocker a curious confessional tune entitled Fiina up Well that show he spells tends up As unexpectedly engaging. A . Considine Baltimore Sun Char pop a singles 1. Close to you Maxi priest 2. Praying for time a George Michael 3. Love and affection Nelson 4. Something happened on the Wayto heaven Phil Collins 5.1 done to have the heart James Ingram 6. Blaze of glory a Jon Bon Jovi 7. Ice ice baby Vanilla ice 8. Of girl Paul Young 9. Domei a Bell blvd Evoe 10. Release me Wilson Phillips pop a albums 1. Please Hammer Don t Hurt Mem . Hammer 2. Wilson Philips Wilson Phillips 3. Mariah Carey a Marlah Carey 4. Blaze of glory Young guns ii Jon Bon Jovi 5. Listen without prejudice George Michael 6. Poison Bell blvd Devoe 7. Empire a Queens Che 8. Graffiti Bridge Prince 9. Ghost soundtrack various artists 10. Flesh and blood Poison country a singles 1. Friends in Low places Garth Brooks 2. Holding a Good hand a Leo Greenwood 3.1 fell in love a Carlono Carter 4. Jukebox in my mind Alabama 5. Too cold at Home a Mark Chesnutt 6. Drinking Champagne George Strait 7. You be Reba Mcentyre 8. Precious thing Steve Warner 9.1 meant every word he said Rocky Van Shelton 10. Born to be Blue the judds Black a singles 1. Giving you the Benefit pebbles 2. Everybody everybody Black Box 3. Heaven knows a Lalah Hathaway 4. Thieves in the Temple Prince 5. Close to you Maxi priest 6. Fairweather Friend Johnny Gill 7. Crazy a the boys 8. The booming system la. Cool j 9. So you Uke what you see Samuelle 10. Merry go round Keith sweat wednesday october 3, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17
