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""Middle Of The Road" marks the return of the prodigy Eric Gales, an atypical guitarist in the world of the blues and the six-string. A varied and inspired album that is simply unmissable."
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5/5
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Eric Gales, ex-young prodigy, is an atypical guitarist in the world of the blues and the six-string. In addition to his resemblance to Samuel L. Jackson, disturbing on the cover of his new album, this 43 year old American is left-handed but uses a right-handed guitar. Moreover, he keeps the tuning without reversing it, which is quite rare. And when you know that the man makes blues tutorials on the web, you can wonder how many people this is really for. Joe Bonamassa talks about him as "... one of the best guitarists in the world, if not the best". Business card.
"Middle Of The Road" is already the tenth album from the Memphis native, a city filled with rock and blues history. Blues? There is some! And good ones. Inspired by the gospel with communicative energy, 'Good Time' kicks off with a simple, jerky and effective riff. In the same incantatory soul register but more intimate, 'Help Me Let Go' also seems to be imbued with the scent of a white wooden church overlooking a small southern village.
Coming from a more classic blues, 'Change In Me', 'Boogie Man' (cover of Freddy King) and 'Been So Long' highlight Eric Gales' virtuosity with its clear sound and its twirling solos which are not without reminding Stevie Ray Vaughan, source of inspiration visibly present all along this "Middle Of The Road". The more rootsy blues of 'Swamp' or 'I've Been Deceived' refers to the roots of black American music.
The first half of the album having served to reassure the fans of blues, Gales then explores other musical regions by straying alternately on the side reggae with a very dancing 'Help Yourself', then grooving on the funkizing 'Repetition' with the slapping snoring bass and this groovy sound reminding the first albums of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. More modern, 'I Don't Know' with its jerky rhythm and its beat box, and 'Carry Yourself' in a more metallic rock vein, show the extent of the creative talent of an Eric Gales visibly at the top of his shape.
It would thus be reductive to confine Gales to the only blues since the guitarist proposes an album of an exemplary eclecticism while keeping a guideline, a product of his writing and of his play from now on quite recognizable. Blues, funk, rock, swamp, gospel, reggae? There is also, and for all the tastes on this "Middle Of The Road". This album of an exceptional maturity and mastery could well reach a very broad public and bring everyone to appreciate the the whole album whose variety is competing the quality of writing with an astonishing fluidity, the result of an irreproachable work of composition and production. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Good Time
02. Change In Me (the Rebirth)
03. Carry Yourself
04. Boogie Man
05. Been So Long
06. Help Yourself
07. I've Never Been Deceived
08. Repetition
09. Help Me Let Go
10. I Don't Know
11. Swamp
LINEUP:
Aaron Haggerty: Batterie
Dylan Wiggins: Claviers
Eric Gales: Chant / Guitares / Basse
Maxwell ‘wizard’ Drummey: Mellotron On 'repetition'
Christone “kingfish” Ingram: Guitares / Invité
Eugene Gales: Guitares / Invité
Gary Clark Jr: Guitares / Invité
Ladonna Gales: Invité / Chœurs
Lance Lopez: Guitares / Invité
Lauryn Hill: Invité / Chœurs
Raphael Saadiq: Invité / Beat Box
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STAFF:
5/5 (1 view(s))
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT ERIC GALES
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