CD REVIEW: PETE HAYCOCK - BIKER'S DOZEN
Pete Haycock is one of my earliest and
strongest influences on the guitar – a “mentor”, if you like. All through the
Climax Blues Band days I scrutinized his every note.. And then later I almost
wore a hole in the “Guitar And Son” LP.
One of the tastiest guitar players and tunesmiths on the planet, he returns with
“Biker's Dozen”...
OK then – guess it's time for me to sit down with my guitar and do some studying
again! A smashingly well done CD which should appeal to a broad range of both
musicians and non-musicians alike. Already a few seconds into the strong opening
riff on the first track, ‘Cry To Me', you know you're in for a real treat.
Delicious slide guitar floats elegantly in and suddenly you find yourself riding
away on an endless, smooth musical highway.
Pete's strong slide guitar makes its mark again on ‘The Heat', a bluesy rocker.
‘Klone Shuffle' has an infectious groove – once again a proof of how Pete can
make even a simple riff sound interesting. ‘Miracle' is a strong vocal tune sung
by John Fiddler – the opening lines sound much like Mark Knopfler. ‘Prattlin' ‘
really caught my ear – what a cool tune! A fresh-sounding groove – oh how I want
to grab my guitar and play along to that stuff! – and those little fiddle fills
in the background really made the tune sound really original !
‘Dominator' oozes MUSCLE. Horsepower! Acceleration! And ‘Talkin' Mutton Jeff
Here' – hi ho, we're in spacey Jeff Beck-land here! Dreamy and powerful at the
same time. One for the road indeed!
‘Collossus' is a little symphonic rocker that
sounds so majestic. Some of it sounds a bit like a mix between William Orbit and
Mike Oldfield. But on top of it all is Pete's signature guitar lines – it binds
it all together and nothing sounds dull at any point.
‘Driver' makes you want to go out and ride a motorbike (or pick up a guitar,
plug in, and wail away!).
Sure, this CD has loads of high energy rock guitar playing on it – but I also
really dig ‘Waiting For Rain' and ‘Blue Breakers'; both are absolutely delicious
pop guitar works of art. ‘Waiting For Rain' would make George Benson envious –
what a tone! What a feel! Imagine you've just parked your motorbike by a small
beautiful beach to watch the setting sun...ahhh..!
And ‘Stolen Wings' is a wonderful ballad in the key of F# minor, a bit
reminiscent of The Allman Brothers. A strong and wonderful main melody. Duane
would love this one...
This is the kind of CD that sounds great at the first listen – and then it just
gets better and better the more you play it...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – even if you're not a guitar player, like me...
- Trygve Knudsen