 |
|
 |
|
|
 English
Formed in late 2001, Goofer Dust are a five-piece acoustic band from Brighton, England. The five members come from very different, though complementary, musical backgrounds. Eclectism is very much the watch word when talking about their approach to music-making, but let's call it "Acoustic country blues meets jazz and country". Summing up the influences, there is a mixture of country blues (a la Kelly Joe Phelps, Mance Lipcomb & Eric Bibb), Tom Waits, as well as the country stylings of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
English
Goofer Dust released a 3 track ep "Trading Faces" in August 2002 that was well received. "Blood's Turning Black" is their first album.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
English
blues in britain - volume 1 / issue 31 (july 2004)
Goofer Dust - Blood's Turning Black
This is Tall Paul Foss's band and this is their first album although I reviewed their three-track EP a while back. The band is Paul Foss vcl/gtr/bs; Darren Causton hca; Jeff Howlett sax; Gordon McGoochan perc, with some friends helping out on odd tracks. There are ten tracks including two versions of one of the songs. Eight songs (or is that seven?) are originals with two covers from quite disparate genres. The style here is the band's own as blues, country, folk and jazz influences all play their part. Not all the band appear on all the tracks so there is some variation in sound and tone.
The album's title is taken from the lyrics of the opening track, "The Final Time", a song which is a reflection on impending death, phew, what a way to start a CD! The mood is lifted by the next song, "Maybe Not", a funky acoustic number with some jazzy sax work. The song "Sugar Babe", which appears twice was inspired by Mance Lipscomb and features some excellent harp and Tom Waits-ish style vocals. The second version sees some electronic distortion/trickery on the vocals which I found distracted rather than enhanced the track. "Conversation With GW" continues the Tom Waits influence with both sax and harp contributions and interesting and confusing lyrics. "What Can I Do" is a more reflective folk-blues piece with just guitar and percussion, as is "My Friend" but with the sax added. There's good slide guitar on "Burning". a bittersweet (far more bitter than sweet though) song of lost love. The two covers are "Last Train To Clarksville", sorry this doesn't work for me, and the Gospel song "You've Got To Move" with good harp and slide and some odd percussion effects.
Firstly it has to be said that this is not blues-lite, this album needs listening to. Dark, brooding, intense, even morbid in places (Leonard Cohen blues?), this is not an uplifting album but it does repay careful listening. There is good songwriting and excellent musicianship on display here particularly the harp, which makes several telling contributions. Overall I like what this band is doing.
Rating: 8/10 - R. Jim Greaves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
