What Are You Listening To?

[Ruby]

The Rides – Pierced Arrow released May 2016. The Rides are Stephen Stills, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Barry Goldberg – also, notably, drums by Chris Layton of Double Trouble.




Mr Stills and associates have served up a perfectly executed plate of blues rock – seriously – this is the musical equivalent of fine dining, IMHO – well, ok – maybe not quite haute cuisine, but a gourmet burger at the very least, lol! A real pleasure to listen to with just a couple of tracks I could do without (which is not to say they are not well done), and the only slightly bum notes belonging to the now very craggy voice of the man with the plush toy giraffe; that said, it’s amazing how shades of the CSN sound remain discernible in places, cracked vocals notwithstanding. Stills and Kenny Wayne share vocal duty and the whole affair comes across as remarkably relaxed – very nice keys from Barry Goldberg - the musicianship is beyond question IMHO, and the masterful handling makes my heart sing. They’re proud of their old school (analogue) recording and justifiably so - it’s such a relief to know, a mere thirty seconds into the first track, that it’s all gonna be ok.

Some picks ….

“There Was A Place” – Stills lead vocal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9VbwbQ5osE

“By My Side” – Kenny Wayne lead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMtWtDEH2V4

“Virtual World” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yp2UIfi8WI

“I’ve Got To Use My Imagination” – KWS again

[video=youtube;VCrbyR_IETc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCrbyR_IETc[/video]