Just got an exciting new review (that I wasn't expecting) from Living Blues Magazine. Thanks to David Whiteis for his insightful, honest review of the album and my new tunes... high praise indeed!
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BUSHMASTER, FEATURING GARY BROWN
Revolution Rhapsody— aka: Uprising Music
No Label, (No#)
Talk about capturing the Zeitgeist—as the Occupy movement spreads across the country, and class inequality finds a place in mainstream political discussion for the first time in decades, guitarist Gary Brown and his cohorts have come out with a blast of populist fervor laced with unapologetically revolutionary overtones. Most of what’s here is less blues, as such, than hard-driving rock and pop with a bluesy tinge, although occasionally, as on 40 Acres and a Mule (similar to, but not exactly like, the Bobby Rush song) Brown sets his lyrics to a pounding blues shuffle. Victim of Nostalgia is likewise derivative (of the Meters’ Cissy Strut), but it’s for a reason: Brown satirizes a retro-hipster, draped in a “big brown hat and that weird poncho,” who’s more interested in living in the past than working for a better future. Brown’s high-energy anthems of outrage and liberation are effective on their own terms, but he hits hardest when he hits most gently. The meditative, Brit-rock tinged Nothing up Your Sleeve (“How many of God’s creatures did you show mercy to?”) both conveys a strong message and lets us take it in on our own terms. Arizona Shame on Ya, imbued with an appropriately Latinesque beat, boasts lyrics that even some sympathizers of the immigration cause might find overly literal and rhetorical, but Brown and his compatriots half-speak, half-sing it with an ominous intensity. This disc’s greatest strength is also probably its greatest potential weakness: although it’s musically solid for the most part, and in places considerably more than that, whether or not you like it will ultimately depend on whether or not you agree with its political sentiments. —David Whiteis
Living Blues Magazine, Feb 2012, pg 50.
http://www.livingblues.com/
