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The Blues Will Get Ya! – Here’s why …

Formed London in 1999, Moon Dogs are fast gaining cult status on the live circuit for their relentless, heady brew of blues rock.

One glance at this album’s credits tells you why.

The line-up: Derik Timms/Guitars/vocal (Dave Edmunds, Albert Lee, George Harrison, Kiki Dee), Eddie Masters/Bass and Graham Walker/ Drums (both Albert Collins, BB King, Gary Moore).

The songs: Timms with Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann’s Earthband), Mike Richardson (Elkie Brooks), Steve Simpson (Roger Chapman's Short List), Andy Pyle (Juicy Lucy, Wishbone Ash, The Kinks).

The studio guests: Rod Argent (Zombies, Argent), Jim Rodford (The Animals, The Zombies, The Kinks), Richard Smith (Fat Marrow), John ‘Guinness’ Gordon (Alan Price, Highway), Lindsay Bridgwater (Ozzy Osbourne, Denny Laine), and Kwaku Dzidzornu (Stereo MCs).

 

 

 This album will do what it says ‘on the tin’. Ya better buy it!
 

Made in England

A Market Square Record

MSMCD131

Market Square Music Ltd

Buckingham MK18 3AF, UK

www.marketsquarerecords.co.uk 


Market House  Market Square 
Winslow MK18 3AF  United Kingdom
Tel. + 44 (0) 1296 715228
Fax + 44 (0) 1296 715486

 

 

 

Blues in Britain February 2005

REVIEW

www.NetRhythms.co.uk  

 Moondogs - The Blues'll Get Ya' (Market Square)

Given the Moondogs pedigree (sorry) you would expect The Blues'll Get Ya' to be a little special. You will not be disappointed. Guitarist Derik Timms has played with Dave Edmunds, Albert Lee, George Harrison & Kiki Dee and rhythm section Eddie Masters (bass) and Graham Walker (drums) have played with Albert Collins, BB King & Gary Moore. Opening with the fuzzed up hard core Everything, the Moondogs serve up wall-to-wall British R&B. The Midnight Rider has great riffs, sounds reminiscent of The Doobie Brothers (although it's an Allman Brothers song) and is rock the way it should be played.They slow things down for the blues influenced Travelling Show and there's some great organ work from none other than Rod Argent. Blue Tattoo is blues rock and the use of harmonica at the start is quite novel. There's some good slide guitar and Timms' vocal is one of his best. The Blues'll Get You is another slow blues but this time with a stinging guitar intro.It takes plenty of guts to take on The Little Red Rooster and the oft performed Willie Dixon classic has never really had a better version than Howlin' Wolf's although The Rolling Stones did turn in a passable blue-eyed version. Timms' vocal is not up to the Wolf or Jagger's but his guitar and Richard 'Standby' Smith's harmonica certainly are. Moon Dog Boogie is just Timms enjoying himself on guitar without the rest of the band and That's What She Said is great R&B again, with classic riffs and a manic guitar solo.Don't Worry 'Bout A Thing is acoustic driven and although the lyrics are a little trite the Tom Petty-esque effort will be a great live track. Tank Full Of Fuel is a mixture of Dave Edmunds and Petty again and is a slow blues rock grinder. The penultimate track, Hitman, is a low-key, slightly uninspired disappointment, mainly because the rest of the album is so good. They finish of with a rocked up version of Big Joe Williams' classic Baby Please Don't Go and Timms lets loose. The feet are tapping and the head is nodding – yours will be too.



 
 

REVIEW

Record Collector

****

THE MOONDOGS - The Blues'll Get Ya


Market Square MSMCD 131 (51:03)

A healthy balance of instinct and professionalism

 Formed in 1999, this group's mainstay is Derik Timms, who plays note-bending guitar with a subtlety that Eric Clapton appears to have lost, and who steers clear of the de rigueur strangled efforts you'll hear from that singer fronting a run-of-the-mill blues band in a pub near you. Moreover, this distinguished London session player has breathed the conditioned studio air round Dave Edmunds, Kiki Dee and George Harrison, and was able to call upon the likes of Rod Argent, Jethro Tull founder member Clive Bunker and latter-day Kink Andy Pyle to assist with twelve thoroughly road-drilled tracks, down in two takes each at most.

 Thus Derik and his boys, famous or otherwise, deliver sound goods without complacen­cy. A pile-driving Baby Please Don't Go contrasts with the down­beat if spirited Travelling Show, one of a majority of self-penned items. Pushing the envelope of blues beyond simple stylisation too, menacing Hitman and loose-limbed Don't Worry 'Bout A Thing -notable for an idiosyncratic organ solo from ex-Foundation Chris Gore - are among many highlights on an album that displays eclecti­cism and unpredictability in com­patible amounts. Alan Clayson
 
 
 

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