Low Down and Dirty

The Dog

     

This is a band who between them appear to have such a wealth of knowledge and raw ability, that it carries them through an album like 'Low down and Dirty' with such apparent ease you'd think they'd been born with the blues. The musical quality is what you’d expect from a bunch of guys who not only know their onions, but know how to grow them from seed too, so what you get is precision to go with the beautifully executed riffs and licks. No new ground is broken, but that’s not the aim of the album anyway, so it loses no points for not veering off at awkward tangents.

The lyrics are easy to understand, easy to identify with and fairly easy on the ear, subject wise. Terry’s vocal delivery is fairly workman like, in that not a lot of risks are taken with their delivery, but he does have a good voice which suits the general feel of the album - although I’d like to have heard a few octave leaps in places, the vocal harmonies add much substance to the tracks, in a subtle and almost subconscious way, which again underpin's the fact that these guys are consummate professionals with their eyes very much on the ball.

This is exactly the kind of album we all aspire to producing, this being very much a “Finished article” and is the kind of album that you can put on in the car and really enjoy driving to - although tracks like “Easy Lady” and “Get me out of here” could easily have you breaking the speed limit!
What I did find myself doing a lot, was nodding to myself and thinking “Yep, that sounds like me” and with the infectious hooks and melodies that stick in the mind after a single listen, this is very much a sign that what we have here is a damn good album, with enough diversity of subject matter to suit all of our many moods.
The band have every right to feel very proud of this work. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed.
Steve Gad.