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The Bonedrivers - Mobile

Blueblack Records

www.myspace.com/bonedrivers

Total Time: 56:09

Have I got a band for you if you’re partial to Foghat, Grand Funk Railroad, southern rock, BTO or the crunchier reaches of the Led Zeppelin catalog. Throw in a dash of The Outlaws and stir vigorously. Snippets of classic rock tunes appear as regular as Betty White on the tube. Blues-rock paradise awaits you compliments of this San Francisco boogie band. Thick power chords, thumping jungle-drums, manic slide guitar excursions and even harmony vocals are here for the taking. Front man-guitarist-singer Keith Karloff leads his merry troupe thru power-rock accented by funk and the requisite positive “dude commander vibe”. His adequate vocals suit this medium just fine.

Oh here comes their cover of “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”…..oh no….it’s “The Trouble With Love”, one of ten Karloff originals. What sounds like pedal steel gives it an Outlaws-meets-Poco twist. “High Tides And Mellow Country Meets Captain Crunch” anyone? Great googily moogily now it’s “Rocky Mountain Way”…….would you believe “You Win Again”?, the band’s closest foray into straight blues territory. Karloff stretches out his guitar prowess here in fine form, helped out by blues piano.

Our daily dose of “Foghat Boogie” comes in the form of “Moonlight Ride”, whose title would not be out of place in the genuine article’s repertoire. “Northwest Girl” is a vehicle for a slide guitar workout that is interrupted briefly by boogie-woogie piano courtesy of Austin DeLone. “Honky Tonk Prayer” slows things down as a county-ish lament. “Locked And Loaded” begins life with jazzy guitar segueing into a tale of a bad girl who loses her skinny man in a fire….go figure. Alright!!!!....Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith form a super group…..wait…it’s “That’s The Way I Roll”. The band pulls off a perfect Zep “Houses Of The Holy” crunch-romp complete with patented Jimmy Page stop-start-stutter single string runs. “It’s A Beautiful Thing” sounds like funky-period Grand Funk with its organ-fueled summery-riff and harmony vocals.

Very little Blues included here, but these guys have sure absorbed the ins-and-outs of classic rock and blues-rock to a tee. The heavy backing provided by the rhythm section completes the effect. The lead vocals show more depth with each repeated listening. Four radio-edited versions are included as extras, trimmed by a minute or so. This isn’t my cup of tea, but they do their chosen genre proud. What more could any self-respecting card-carrying rock fiend ask for?

Reviewer Greg “Bluesdog” Szalony hails from the New Jersey Delta. He is the proprietor of Bluesdog’s Doghouse at http://bluesdog61.multiply.com.

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