EL FISH "HOOKED" (1999, Rana - HKM Records, Rana42765)
Songs (click on the -icons
for a small audio-sample) 1.
Visit Dr. Boogie
2. People in Traffic
3. 55th Street Boogie
4. Copydog
5. Hangin' Over
6. Shake'm
7. Why Do You Treat Me So Mean?
8. Look At The Children Run
9. Little Boogiemachine
10. Sweet Blood Call
11. Mighty Long Time
Songs : El Fish, Hound Dog Taylor (3), Willie Foster (7), Minter Iverson (8
en 10), Sonny Boy Williamson (11)
Musicians :
- Filip Casteels : guitar & vocal
- Steven de Bruyn : harp + vocal on 11
- Jan Ieven : bass
- Rohal de Ridder / Toon Derison : drums
- JMX : guitar op tracks 1, 2, 5 & 6
- Willie Foster : harp & vocal on track 7
- Bob Pearce : slide guitar & vocal on track 10
Sleeve Picture : Patrick de Spiegelaere
Design : Macdesign
My opinion
Normally this kind of a cd makes us say : "this collection of alternative
version, live-takes and rarities is typically aimed at the die-hard El Fish fan",
if it wasn't for the constatation that the quality is so good, chances are real
you could become a die-hard fan àfter listening to "Hooked".
It's your choice.
What you get are eleven pieces of adventurous blues, in very different recording
qualities (ranging from the muffled sounds on the big Pukkelpop stage, the near-studio
quality of the Bassta-studio in the VRT, to small blues-venues and even a performance
with óne microphone on a Dutch riding train) and very different atmospheres
(from the rippling chill-out blues as a backing band for Willie Foster
or Bob Pearce to the fucked-up bluesrock with Jean-Marie Aerts on
the Pukkelpop-stage, from Canned Heat-ish roadblues to simple straightforward
jumpboogie).
The tracks that worked best for me are the menacing atmosphere on "Look
at the children run", the wildness of "Shake'm" the
nervous shuffle of "People in Traffic", and certainly also the
bonus-track "Mighty Long Time", in which harp-player Steven
de Bruyn proves that he also can stand his ground as a singer, but most of
all because he does that in a heck of a song of Sonny Boy Wiliamson.
If you know that this cd is being sold at a very democratic prize (somewhere around
400 Belgian francs) ...
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
This Album in the Press
- Jip Golsteyn in De Telegraaf (NL) van 12/18/1999 : "... Although
I run the risk of being called a missionary here : 'Hooked' is the live-album
of the year, El Fish' application for a top-position as one of the best stage-acts,
if they stick together until far in the next century"
- Peter Van Dyck in Weekend-Knack : "For our national pride El
Fish the blues is like a playground they can use to sling mud ... The sound is
not always crystal-clear, but the excitement is high."
- Surf-Inn
: "Live-cd's are usually, almost by defenition, mostly redundant. They
don't improve your collection. And they don't improve the state of your bank-account.
But ... "Hooked" is far from that ... It is an indispensable collection
of radio-sessions, alternative takes and live-takes."
Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell
me about it !
Where to buy this CD ?
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on December
28th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
Watch it : This site pays royalties, and was built and maintained in
accordance with the terms and conditions negotiated with SABAM,
the Belgian society of copyright-holders. Consultation of this site is free, but
this exludes downloading, reproducing or public performance of any part of this
site. Please do not copy. Link!
-icons
for a small audio-sample)
