This could be the best Tedeschi Trucks Band album yet. Hell, it\u2019s already a contender for my Top Ten albums of the year, and the Super Bowl just ended.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an album that\u2019s easy to disappear in, such is its hypnotic power. Bluesy roots rock remains a fertile source of inspiration for many, but few embody it like Ms. Tedeschi and Mr. Trucks, almost as if it\u2019s burned into their soul and their fingers as they play. Let Me Get By <\/i>is assured and confident, full of surprises, memorable melodies and the desire to listen to it again once it ends.<\/p>\n
The playing is relaxed but never lazy, and while that approach can result in the occasional solid yet mediocre song (\u201cLaugh About It,\u201d \u201cHear Me,\u201d \u201cIn Every Heart\u201d), those are the exceptions. The disc really catches fire starting with the third song, \u201cDon\u2019t Know What It Means,\u201d which lopes along with Tedeschi\u2019s gritty voice, some impressive yet subtle bass work, New Orleans horns and backing vocals, and the expected guitar fills that lead to a short, soaring solo. It\u2019s hard not to clap along; the band realizes this and drops out with a minute to go, leaving only the handclaps and layered voices for a brief time, and it is wonderful. A skronky sax solo closes out the piece with flair.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight On Time\u201d eschews the blues-rock approach for what sounds like a chunky Russian folk song with elements of gypsy culture and the music from a nightclub in a \u201840s movie, complete with a fat horn break that will make you smile. The band slides into it with ease and pulls it off completely. This then segues into the title track, which is built over a jaunty five-note guitar lick, a muted but effective \u201870s organ solo and Tedeschi\u2019s smoky voice detailing someone fed up with an unequal relationship (\u201cEven a king gives sometimes \/ Even if he don\u2019t care \/ Let me get by \/ If you\u2019re just gonna stand there\u201d).<\/p>\n
The more traditional country\/blues of \u201cJust As Strange\u201d makes effective use of slide and acoustic guitar set to a deceptively shambolic beat, sounding exactly like modern country and Southern rock should sound, Nashville corporate product be damned. Things then veer yet again into Motown territory with \u201cCrying Over You,\u201d which successfully brings together \u201870s funk, \u201860s Motown harmonies and organ (with Trucks\u2019 high voice bringing Smokey Robinson to mind) and the familiar strong, confident rhythm section that underpins this disc. Then, another detour as the song segues into its second half, \u201cSwamp Raga For Hozapfel, Lefebvre, Flute And Harmonium,\u201d which is a lovely little instrumental piece (the former two are members of the band; Lefebvre arrives here fresh off playing on David Bowie\u2019s Blackstar<\/i>, and his work on that electro-jazz-pop album carries through here).<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyhow\u201d is not the greatest opener, but in its updating and expanding of the Allman Brothers\u2019 \u201cMidnight Rider,\u201d it sets the stage nicely for what\u2019s to come. On the back side of the disc is the seven-minute tour de force \u201cI Want More,\u201d which rides an insanely catchy boogie beat and brings in the horns, background vocals and a big grin born of the musical interplay of friends and lovers who have played together for many years and can just lock in. That would be good enough, but the song then moves into a second half wherein the tempo slows, the bass guitar is pushed to the front and the flute and guitar licks swirl in and around each other. It\u2019s very chill at first but slowly builds up, the guitar part becoming more insistent and buzzing, the flute sections arising at once, until both climax and fade out at the same time.<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t a bad moment on the disc, and if a few of the songs are a tad derivative of the better songs here, the sum total is an album definitely worth your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8723],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44415","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tedeschi-trucks-band","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44415"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}