Bobtjeblues www.bobtjeblues.com
Mick Clarke and Lou Martin I knew, but I could only guess at who Killing Floor were. After doing some research I learned that both men were the founders and that they stirred things up with a few others in the late sixties and early seventies. 32 years later Killing Floor emerges again with the album Zero Tolerance. After listening to it for the first time I thought: this can't be, it can't be this good. Yet several listening turns show that it only gets better. What they bring here, together with their soul mates of old, is simply phenomenal. The enthusiasm and passion just drips, nay, streams off it.
Everything's just right: from the greasy guitar sound of Mick Clarke to the singing and harmonica play of Bill Thorndycraft, not to mention the keyboards and fantastic rhythm sections. This is the most agitating blues-rock man can find. The band wrote twelve songs themselves and brings only two covers: 'Strange Love' by Slim Harpo and 'Bring It on Home' by Willie Dixon. The rhythm and style changes are countless, but it always rocks and swings your socks off.
If there's an album lately that really blew me away, it has to be 'Zero Tolerance' by Killing Floor. Listen to any track and get pulled into the wall of sound that these gentlemen bring. During 'Bring It on Home' Bill Thorndycraft yells: "make that guitar smoke". There's no other way to put it, cause this is exactly what this cd does: "making that guitar smoke"!!!
Reviewer: Philippe Warlop
Flemish:
Killing Floor - "Zero Tolerance" : Full cd - UK
Mick Clarke en Lou Martin ken ik wel, maar wie Killing Floor was daar had ik het raden naar. Wat opzoekingen verder leerde mij dat beide heren de oprichters waren en samen met enkele anderen op het einde van de jaren zestig, begin jaren zeventig voor heel wat opschudding zorgden. 32 jaar later duikt Killing Floor opnieuw op met het album Zero Tolerance. Na een eerste beluistering dacht ik: dit kan niet, zo goed kan het niet zijn. Maar meerdere speelbeurten later tonen aan dat het alsmaar beter wordt. Wat ze hier met hun soulmates van weleer brengen is ronduit fenomenaal. Het enthousiasme en de gedrevenheid druipen, nee, stromen er af. Alles klopt: van het vettige gitaar geluid van Mick Clarke over de zang en harmonica van Bill Thorndycraft, zonder de keyboards en de fantastische ritmesectie te vergeten. Dit is de meest opzwepende bluesrock die men vinden kan. De band schreef twaalf songs zelf en brengt slechts twee covers: 'Strange Love' van Slim Harpo en 'Bring It On Home' van Willie Dixon. De ritme- en stijlveranderingen zijn legio, maar altijd blijft het rocken en swingen bij de beesten af. Als er een album is dat mij de laatste tijd van de sokken heeft geblazen, dan is het wel 'Zero Tolerance' van Killing Floor. Luister naar om het even welk nummer en ga op in de wall of sound die de heren brengen. Tijdens 'Bring It On Home' roept Bill Thorndycraft : "make that guitar smoke". Beter zou ik het niet kunnen uitdrukken, want dit is precies wat deze cd doet: "making that guitar Smoke"!
Bluesmatters! October 2004 www.bluesmatters.com
UK - KILLING FLOOR: Zero Tolerance Appaloosa AP144-2. Y'know, it feels good to type that title - a brand new Killing Floor album! Ye Gods, who would have thought that in 2004 we would again be treated to the rasping vocal and sharply played harp of Bill Thorndycraft and the electric (in the best sense of the word) guitar of Mick Clarke; also the driving keys of Lou Martin (in the interim with Rory G of course) plus the bass of Mac McDonald. Drums on this set are either by Bazz Smith or Chris Sharley. I have had this set for a while pending a release date and I couldn't help but wonder - how is it they sound as angry and energetic as on the Sixties first Killing Floor, made at the time when they were touring with the likes of Freddie King? For the answers see a future interview I did this week with Bill but for the moment take my word that everything you may have liked about the original band is present and correct BUT on a bunch of either new or not previously recorded songs. Bill's song contributions reflect his concerns for humanity and The World whilst axemaster Clarke can be relied upon to produce a never ending stream of mean riffs and storming solo's, backing off to let the sly piano runs dance through the songs as the bassheavy rhythm stalks the numbers. 'Calm Down' is a great example of the playful and it must be said totally intuitive interplay this band always had and clearly have not lost. Younger listeners who caught on to the Blues via latterday Feelgood will find the Lee Brilleaux attitude carried on with style here. In a lot of ways the Dr F sound was presaged by Killing Floor and their contemporaries Steamhammer. So this set picks up the threads and the likes of blitzkrieg opener 'Burnout' and the easyrollin' 'Strange Love' will delight original fans and satisfy those new to Killing Floor. I have no doubt that any live performance will leave no audience member unconverted and for Mick Clarke fans this CD is further and quite unnecessary proof that his fame does not match up to his prowess. In short, a comeback you wouldn't want to throw back - just savour the bitterness in the delivery of 'Zero Tolerance' the title track, with it's slide guitar sneering across the break..Pete Sargeant
Blues in Britain www.bluesin britain.co.uk
Yes. this is the band from the late 60s / 70s, reformed some thirty years later! Original members Mick Clarke (gtr/voc) Bill Thorndycraft (vcl/hrp/gtr) Lou Martin (keys) and Stuart McDonald (bs) got back together but couldn't find the drummer (sounds a familiar story!) so co-opted Mick's longtime drummer Chris Sharley. In fact, during recording, the original drummer Bazz Smith got in touch so he does appear on a couple of tracks. There are 14 tracks, 12 new original songs and a pair of standards.
The band pick up where they left off all those years ago so this is high-energy blues-rock. Things kick off with a chugging rocker, "Burn Out", with clattering piano from Lou, Bill and Mick sharing the vocals and good harp and guitar. Another chugger follows, "Prozac Blues" with a nice steel guitar intro, liked this one. As I did the next track "Calm Down", a slow blues with excellent piano and some high-energy guitar work. "Sperm
Bandit" sees some more good piano, harp and slide guitar. "The Big Issue" and the title track are protest /issue songs, the first being sort of punk blues and the latter being an aggressive song. I wasn't so keen on these. The two covers are Slim Harpo's "Strange Love" and Sonny Boy's "Bring it on Home". Both are delivered with a nice rolling beat, both have good harp work and the latter good piano and guitar too making it an excellent closer to the CD.
Other favourite tracks are the rocker "Iron Ewe" - touches of "Cell Block 9" - and "Road of Diamonds" with grand solos all round, my pick of the CD. Good to see the band doing a whole lot of new material; and not just re-treads of their earlier tunes. A solid rhythm section and good solos from all. Lou's piano playing impressed, not only his solos but also his fills and background playing. Solid vocals from both Bill and Mick, with trademark high-energy guitar work from Mick and some useful suckin' and blowin' from Bill. Overall a good modern blues-rock album that comes with a recommended sticker!
Rating: 9 - R. Jim Greaves.
Amazon UK
amazon.co.uk
Customer review by John Yates from London
Improving with age
Amazingly this historic and under rated blues/rock band have come together again with basically the same line up as before. Ten new tracks of varying tempo plus a couple of blues standards make for a wonderful listening experience. They are playing for the love of their music and it comes over as one of the freshest blues rock albums for some time. With raw and raunchy vocals and mouth organ from Bill Thorndycroft and simply stunning guitar work by Mick Clarke the tracks re trace the historic roots of blues by commenting on the angst of our time from happy pills to oil wars. A great come back and worthy of many of the best bands around.
JY
SMN News - Pure Metal News
www.smnnews.com
Amazing thing, this: an unexpected new record from a band whose last was released in 1971! The sound is akin to Cream, late Yardbirds, Free, Taste, Alexis Korner, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, i.e. hard blues rock. It was a style that was all over England in the late sixties and which influence can most readily be felt in the debuts by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, so its metal connection need not be questioned. Certainly its validity in the 70s is beyond reproach, as the blues-based hard rock strain continued on in massive UK-borne successes like Bad Company and Foghat and in American stadium-fillers like Ted Nugent and Aerosmith.
This one, though, hearkens back to a slightly more purist early period, with many of the fourteen tracks herein (perhaps a bit too many to enjoy all at once) playing it close to a strict blues aesthetic, perhaps studiously so, like Canned Heat or sides three and four of Exile on Main Street. The two-and-four beat is in place, Nicky Hopkins-style piano tinkles throughout, a harmonica duels with vocal breaks, acoustic slide guitar pops its turtlehead up every now and again, and verses are repeated in couplets.
And then, out of nowhere but not disingenuously so, mad bursts of kinetically charged electric guitar are spurted over the thing, removing it from the humble, earthbound constraints of rudimentary blues and into the sanctified realm of hard rock. There, the lineage continues through ZZ Top, AC/DC, The Four Horsemen and American Dog, all groups steeped in tradition but not remanded to obsolescence. So, too, this one, with 'Zero Tolerance' 'Burnout' and 'Run On' all leaping from the speakers with an energy belying these fellows' certainly advanced years. If Clapton still managed to sound this vital, I would stop planning to strap a pipebomb to his groin.
Repeated caveat to the intolerant: this isn't metal. But, then again, neither are you. Rating: 8/10
Matthew Kirshner
Suono
www.suono.it
Voto Artistico: 7 Voto Tecnico: 7
Italian:
Alex Saccomano
Il blues � endemico, � uno stato di salute mentale: la depressione � blues, ma
anche qualcosa che tocca ognuno di noi in momenti particolari della vita. Con queste parole Bill Thorndycraft, il chitarrista e vocalista del gruppo cerca di dare una spiegazione a quello che milioni di persone sentono, provano. Alcune incontrano il blues nell�infanzia, causato da privazioni o da genitori negletti o per abusi. Per altri il blues arriva durante l�adolescenza quando si ama qualcuno che non vi corrisponde, per altri ancora il blues arriva con il fallimento, licenziamento, disoccupazione, razzismo, sessismo, povert�, isolamento, perdita dei valori: ognuna di queste situazioni pu� contribuire al blues. Di certo il blues non � discriminatorio. Alcune canzoni di questo disco parlano delle situazioni sopradescritte. I Killing Floor, in pista dal 1969, dopo un breve successo, come molte altre band, hanno imboccato la china dell�insuccesso fino a uscire dai circuiti musicali. Questo disco nasce per la volont� del manager italiano della Appaloosa che li ha rintracciati e rimessi in pista con e grazie al blues, dopo trentadue anni di silenzio. Unico assente il batterista Bazz Smith, nascosto nell�amena Neuchatel in Svizzera, e riapparso giusto in tempo per le ultime session di registrazione del CD. Ottimo lavoro.
Il Popolo del Blues.com www.ilpopolodelblues.com
Italian:
"ZPer la recensione dell�album di ritorno dei Killing Floor, uno dei gruppi minori del tardo blues inglese che con i Savoy Brown di Kim Simmonds e i Chiken Shack di Stan Webb appartennero al filone �ciuchedelico� (mai sentito il termine? lo coni� Ciao 2001 nel 1973 e descrive bene lo stato di ebrezza costante di molti rocker del periodo) sono andato a rispolverare i due, peraltro rari, dischi della formazione, �Killing Floor�, del 1969, ristampato nei tardi settanta dalla Sparks ma reperibile per brevissimo tempo, e �Out of Uranus�, la cui ristampa in cd � un evidente tarocco/bootleg.
Per valutare bene questo �Zero Tolerance� del 2004, pubblicato e prodotto dalla IRD di Franco Ratti, volevo, insomma, fare i conti con il suono che il gruppo aveva all�epoca e rivivere con i lettori l�onda lunga dell�English Blues, un tema musicalmente a me caro, trattato per esteso nella prima edizione di Rai Stereonotte (estate 1983) e poi in articoli un p� dovunque, dal mensile �Music� al �Il Manifesto�, volti, strade e luoghi rivissuti in prima persona pi� volte on location.
Il blues inglese dei sessanta fu un genere tutto proprio dove in comune con il blues elettrico americano ci sono solo le dodici battute ma tutto il resto, attitudine in primis, sono ben altra cosa. Baster� ascoltare John Mayall e i suoi Bluesbreaker, o ancora prima Alexis Korner e Cyril Davis per capire che la compostezza generale e l�impronta vocale prendono spunto da altri antefatti. Le chitarre di Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, ma anche quelle di Jeff Beck e Jimmy Page dettero al genere una qualifica e divennero marchio brevettato di ci� che, appunto, prese il nome di British Blues.
1969: a Londra come nel resto del mondo, il consumo di sostanze stupefacenti � radicalmente cambiato. Partiamo da questo postulato per spiegare oggi i Killing Floor di allora e il loro sound. Nel 1969 siamo in piena era chimica, e si va gi� duro, combinando il tutto con super alcolici. Converrete con me che la Woodstock Generation era sicuramente molto molto meno rilassata della generazione de l�Estate dell�Amore del 1967 e non vi era luogo intriso di musica che non vivesse le proprie vicende con tensioni pi� alte, vistosamente al limite della follia.
I Killing Floor debuttano con il loro primo album su una scena, quella britannica - ancora pi� raccolta e limitata di quella underground statunitense - che � lo specchio del periodo in corso: i Beatles si stanno sciogliendo, i Rolling Stones sono allo sbando, nascono i primi super gruppi ma � il sottosuolo quello pi� ricco di emotivit� ed estasi creativa che produce sull�onda di trip pi� o meno positivi. Eccoci davanti allora a una band e a un trentatre d�esordio con tempi serrati, chitarre suonate a volumi altissimi, armoniche strizzate e martirizzate, terzinati e ostinati di piano boogie che fanno da contrappunto a incastri di basso e batteria al limite dell�isterismo.
Nell�album dallo stesso nome del gruppo tutto ci� trova per� una straordinaria misura, quella che si chiama �alchimia� di una band, quel qualcosa che rende un gruppo una unit� speciale e che non sai mai quanto tempo durer� (il famoso modo di dire �si � persa la magia�� mai sentito?).
Bill Thorndycraft all�armonica e alla voce, Mick Clarke alle chitarre, Stuart MacDonald al basso, Bazz Smith alla batteria e Lou Martin al piano erano i cinque Killing Floor, gli stessi che riandremo a incontrare nel disco appena pubblicato, ma con 35 anni in meno!. Fra di loro, forse nemmeno se ne resero conto, Lou Martin era il vero asso nella manica e di lui, non fu certo un caso, si accorse l�irlandese Rory Gallagher che nel 1972 lo chiam� al proprio fianco per rinforzare il suo gi� robusto rock blues, uno dei migliori sulla scena. Gli altri non erano certo musicisti di secondo ordine � tutto gira bene qui � ma la band non aveva fatto forse i conti con gruppi come i Black Sabbath, i Free o come i Jethro Tull che giunsero sul mercato in momenti successivi ma con dalla loro una cifra originale ancora pi� marcata del rock blues dei nostri pur provenendo tutti dallo stesso background.
Dei Killing Floor si persero cos�, velocemente, le tracce nel sottobosco musicale britannico insieme ad altre grandi band dell�epoca come Ansley Dunbar Retalation, Writing On The Wall, John Dummer Blues Band, Jelly Breed, Mick Abhrams Band, generando la nascita del mercato dei dischi rari.
Nel secondo album, �Out of Uranus�; pubblicato dalla piccolissima �Major Minor� (una delle etichette pi� ricercate fra quelle minori inglesi) i musicisti non si muovono di molto dagli schemi del disco precedente. I riff indemoniati si sono addirittura moltiplicati secondo uno stile tipico del momento, il batterista guida la band a velocit� a volte proibitive e i Killing Floor si allineano con gruppi quali Pink Fairies, High Tide, con un piede sporco di blues e boogie e l�altro di hard rock- termine che inizia a essere usato proprio allora. Purtroppo per loro mancano all�album quei pezzi forti che contano, a differenza di quelli di complessi che diventeranno presto pi� popolari, ad esempio i Deep Purple.
Nel secondo ed ultimo album dei Killing Floor, proprio come nel primo, tutto � a posto ma, a riascoltarlo oggi, i 33 anni trascorsi non aiutano. Si possono, certo!, cercare interpretazioni ma il gruppo, che si scioglier� nella primavera del 1972 con l�abbandono del pianista dopo circa quattro anni di attivit�, deve aver dato a molti anche all�epoca l�impressione di essere giunto al termine della propria avventura.
L�avvento del progressive, una musica sicuramente pi� nelle corde del popolo britannico che lo stile di derivazione americana a cui il gruppo faceva riferimento, e molte altre cose ancora cancellarono dalla scena, dai giornali, dai ricordi molti di quei gruppi che fra i sessanta e i settanta avevano tentato di trovare una strada originale e una soluzione personale all�evoluzione del blues in terra d�Albione
.
Perdemmo in un colpo solo i valorosissimi Colosseum (nel 1972),i Patto (l�anno successivo), gli Steamhammer (ancora nel 1973). Coloro i quali rimasero in vita non ebbero vita facile (pensate ai Groundhogs di Tony mc Phee!).Qualcuno emigr�: i Savoy Brown negli Stati Uniti, i Chicken Shack scelsero la Germania . Sarebbe cominciata lentamente e inesorabilmente una perdita di stima nei confronti del British Blues. Solo alcuni di quei musicisti si salvarono riciclandosi in un genere, anch�esso di ispirazione statunitense, che avrebbe preso il nome di �Pub Rock�. La depressione prese il sopravvento e per qualcuno iniziarono anni veramente oscuri.
Uno di quei musicisti ad aver sofferto di pi� di questo declino deve essere stato proprio il cantante ed armonicista dei Killing Floor, Bill Thorndycraft, che nelle note di copertina del nuovo �Zero Tolerance � fa riferimento in modo estremamente chiaro ma conciso a problemi di depressione che � uno o pi� � nell�entourage del gruppo sfiorarono i singoli componenti dopo lo scioglimento della formazione. Nei trentanni e pi� che separano il secondo disco dal terzo Bill ha svolto attivit� di assistente sociale.
Ecco allora uno dei casi in cui la realizzazione di un album � terapia nel vero senso della parola e in cui la musica compie quella funzione che John Lee Hooker ben stigmatizzat� con il brano �The Healer�: la guarigione, �blues is the healer��. �Zero Tolerance� � infatti il miglior album che i Killing Floor abbiano mai inciso e probabilmente l�album che � fossero stati pi� in se � avrebbero voluto realizzare trentacinque anni fa.
In �Zero tolerance� i Killing Floor del duemila non ritrovano certe soluzioni uniche degli esordi ma mantengono intatto il loro sound. Gli anni hanno stemperato certe impennate e tutto � al suo posto anche adesso. Il gruppo suona un rock blues molto convincente e si capisce sin da subito che Clarke e Thorndycraft hanno ritrovato l� interplay di una volta. Per un disco il cui messaggio pare essere chiaro e cio� che il viaggio � appena (ri)cominciato.
Google translation:
For the book review of the album of return of the Killing Floor, one of the smaller groups of late blues the English one that with the Savoy Brown di Kim Simmonds and the Chiken Shack di Stan Webb belonged to "the ciuchedelico" tradition (never felt the term? he coined Hello 2001 in 1973 and describes the state of constant drunkenness of many rocker of the period well) have gone to rispolverare the two, moreover rare ones, discs of the formation, "Killing Floor", of the 1969, reprinted one in late the seventy from the reperibile Sparks but for short time, and "Out of Uranus", whose reprint in cd is an obvious one tarocco/bootleg.
In order to estimate this well "Zero Tolerance" of 2004, published and produced from the IRD of Franc Rapes, I wanted, insomma, to make the accounts with the sound that the group had to the age and to live again with the readers the long-wave of the English Blues, a topic musically to me beloved, treaty for extended in the first edition of RAI Stereonotte (summer 1983) and then in articles a P� wherever, from the salary "Music" to "The Manifest", you turn, roads and places lived again in first person more times on location.
The blues English of the sixty it was a kind all just where in common with blues the electrical worker American the twelve are only struck but all the rest, attitude in primis, is very other thing. It will be enough to listen to John Mayall and its Bluesbreaker, or still first Alexis Korner and Cyril Davis in order to understand that the general compostezza and the vocal print take cue from other antefatti. The guitars of Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, but also those of Jeff Beck and Jimmy dettero Page to the kind a qualification and divennero patented brand of that, exactly, taken the name of British Blues.
1969: to London like in the rest of the world, the consumption of drugs radically is changed. We leave from this postulate in order to today explain the Killing Floor then and theirs sound. In the 1969 we are in flood was chemical, and it is gone down hard, arranging all with super alcoholic. You will convene with me that the Woodstock Generation was sure a lot much less rilassata of the generation de the Summer of the Love of 1967 and not was place intriso of music that did not live the own vicissitudes with higher tensions, considerably to the limit of the madness.
The Killing Floor toes make one's debut with their first album on a scene, that British one - still more limited collection and than that one underground American - that is the mirror of the period in course: the Beatles is being melted, the Rolling Stones is to skids, the first super groups are born but it is sottosuolo the that richest one than emotionality and creative ecstasy that it produces on the wave of trip more or little positi to you. Eccoci then of a band and trentatre of debut with locked, guitars played to the highest volumes, harmonic strizzate and martirizzate, terzinati times and is obstinate to you of flat boogie that makes from counterpoint to joints of bottom and battery the limit of the hysteria.
In the album from the same name of the group all that finds but an extraordinary measure, that one that calls "alchemy" of a band, those something that it renders a group a special unit and that you do not know never how much time will last (the famous way to say "is lost the magic..." never felt).
Bill Thorndycraft to the harmonica and the voice, Mick Clarke to the guitars, Stuart MacDonald to the bottom, Bazz Smith on drums and Lou Martin to the plan were the five Killing Floor, the same ones that riandremo to meet in the disc as soon as published, but with 35 years in less!. Between of they, perhaps not even if of it they rendered account, Lou Martin was the true ace in the sleeve and of he, a case was not sure, noticed the Irish Rory Gallagher that in 1972 called it to just the flank in order to reinforce already sturdy its rock blues, one of the best ones on the scene. The others were not sure musicians of second order - all it turns well here - but the band had not made perhaps the accounts with groups like the Black Sabbath, the Free or like the Jethro Tull that reached on the market in moments succeeded to you but with from theirs a figure also originates them still marked of the rock blues of ours coming all from the same one background.
The Killing Floor they got lost therefore, fastly, the traces in the British musical underbrush with to the other large band of the age like Ansley Dunbar Retalation, Writing On The Wall, John Dummer Blues Band, Jelly Breed, Mick Abhrams Band, generating birth of the market of rare discs.
In according to album, "Out of Uranus"; published the small "Major Minor" (one of the labels more searched between those English minors) the musicians does not move much from the outlines of the previous disc. Riff the possessed people are themselves quite second multiply a typical style to you of the moment, the drummer guides the band to speed to proibitive times and the Killing Floor which Pink Fairies, High Tide are aligned with groups, with a dirty foot of blues and boogie and the other of hard rock- term that it just then begins to be used. Unfortunately for they those strong pieces that they count, with the exception of those lack to the album complexes that will become more popular soon, as an example the Deep Purple.
In the second and last album of the Killing Floor, just like in the first one, all it is to place but, to riascoltarlo today, the 33 years passed do not help. They can, sure!, to try interpretations but the group, than will be melted in the spring of 1972 with the abandonment of the pianista after approximately four years of activity, must have given to many also to the age the impression to be reached the term of the own adventure.
The advent of the progressive ones, a music sure more in the ropes of the British people who the derivation style American to which the group it made reference, and many other things still cancelled from the scene, newspapers, the memories many of those groups that between the sixty and the seventy they had tried to find a road originates them and one personal solution to the evolution of the blues in earth of Albione.
We lost in a blow only valorosissimi the Colosseum (in 1972), the Pact (the successive year), the Steamhammer (still in 1973). Those people which remained while still alive did not have easy life (thoughts to the Groundhogs di Tony mc Phee!).Qualcuno emigrated: the Savoy Brown in the United States, the Chicken Shack chose the Germany. A loss of esteem in the comparisons of the British Blues would be begun slowly and inexorably. Only some of those musicians were saved recycle itself in a kind, anch' it of American inspiration, that it would have taken the name of "Pub Rock". The windward and for someone the taken depression began truly dark years.
One of those musicians to have more suffered than this decline must have been just the armonicista singer and of the Killing Floor, Bill Thorndycraft, than in notes of cover of new "the Zero Tolerance" it makes reference in way extremely clearly but concise depression problems that - or more - in the entourage of the group grazed the single members after the issolution of the formation. In the trentanni and more that they separate according to disc from the third Bill it has carried out activity of social worker.
Here then one of the cases in which the realization of a album it is therapy in the true sense of the word and in which music it completes that function that John Lee Hooker very stigmatizzat� with the brano "The Healer": the guarigione, "blues is the healer...". "Zero Tolerance" is in fact the better album that the Killing Floor has never recorded and probably the album that - they had been more in if - they would have intentional to realize trentacinque years ago.
In "the Zero tolerance" Killing Floor of the two thousand they do not find again sure only solutions of the debuts but they maintain theirs intact sound. The years stemperato sure impennate and all it is to its place also now. The group sound rock blues a a lot convincing and is understood sin from endured that Clarke and Thorndycraft have found again the interplay once. For a disc whose message seems to be clear and that is that the travel is hardly (ri)cominciato.
Ernesto de Pascale
Home of Rock www.home-of-rock.de
German:
Oh Lord, die Wege des Herrn sind unerforschlich. Und noch weniger zu begreifen sind die ganzen "Verr�ckten", die Enthusiasten und Aktivisten, die sich (f�r Au�enstehende) der unsinnigsten Dinge annehmen.
Da wird doch der Zweitliga-Gitarrist Mick Clarke von einem bluesverr�ckten Italiener namens Franco Ratti anno 2002 dazu �berredet, ein neues KILLING FLOOR Album aufzunehmen. Nicht da� der Markt mit Alben dieser Band �berschwemmt gewesen w�re, tats�chlich gab es bis dahin erst zwei Alben, aber die waren schon vor �ber 30 Jahren ver�ffentlicht worden ("Killing Floor" 1969 und "Out Of Uranus" 1971) und schon damals war diese Art von Blues-Rock immer weniger gew�nscht. Schneller, h�rter, lauter mu�te es werden oder zumindest sonst wie originell.
Aber, was soll's? Irgendwie hat sich der Mick Clarke auch die Jahre seitdem durchgeschlagen und seine Bandkollegen machten es nicht viel anders.
Wie auch immer, in den Anfangstagen der Band hing man mit Weggef�hrten wie TEN YEARS AFTER oder FREE auf B�hnen oder anderen Orten herum und verstand sich pr�chtig. Rory Gallagher Fans mu� man wohl einen Mann wie Lou Martin nicht extra vorstellen und kurzzeitig r�hrte der sp�ter Gallagher-Drummer Rod DeAth auch bei KILLING FLOOR die Trommeln.
Somit ist klar worum's hier geht: Altbackener Blues-Rock. H�rt sich �bel an, aber der wird mit jedem H�ren besser und macht echt Spa� und tats�chlich sind hier die gleichen Typen am Werk wie anno 1969!
Burnout, mit Riffs wie sie auch auf der ersten Scheibe von Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW h�tten ert�nen k�nnen. Lou Martin's tolle Tastenarbeit kann sich zwar immer mal Geh�r verschaffen, aber eigentlich ist das hier ein Gitarrenalbum, daran lassen Mick Clarke und S�nger Bill Thorndycraft keinen Zweifel.
Prozac Blues erinnert an die fr�hen LED ZEPPELIN, wobei der Gesang nat�rlich schon differiert. Die Licks und Riffs von Mick Clarke sind nicht die innovativsten, aber auch hier: wen interessierts? Es gibt sicherlich nicht allzu viele Gitarristen, die sagen "Ich m�chte so spielen k�nnen wie Bernie Marsden", oder angehende S�nger, die klingen wollen wie Stan Webb, aber genau das sind die K�nstler, die einem am N�hesten gehen.
�hnlich verh�lt es sich hier. Calm Down, irgendwo zwischen AC/DC's Ride On und Howlin' Wolf's Built For Comfort (�brigens: Der Titel Killing Floor stammt auch von jenem "heulenden Wolf") und staubtrocken, Sperm Bandit etwas fetter und rollender, als Blues-Boogie mit eingestreuten Piano-Perlen und herrlich komprimierten Harp-Sounds oder The Big Issue, als britischer Pub-Rocker im Stile von DR. FEELGOOD und Frankie Miller, mit rauer Slidegitarre. Da wird im Text auch mal ein W�rtchen mit "Mr. Bush" und "Mr. Blair" geredet...
Swamp Blues nannte man die Art des Blues, die u.a. Slim Harpo spielte und sein Strange Love scheint auch hier einiges an dr�ckender Schw�le zu transportieren.
Dem pa�t sich das folgende Zero Tolerance durchaus an, mit seinem etwas schleppenden Tempo und brodelndem Swamp-Groove.
Der Titel Run On suggeriert nicht zuf�llig mehr "Drive". Ein Riff, das f�r mich entfernt nach Riff Raff klingt und wieder ein Up-Beat-Feelgood-R&B - kommt gut!
Sagte ich vorhin Rory? Na ja, Iron Ewe hie� bei dem halt Hands Off (und anderswo Riot In Cell Block No. 9 oder Walkin' By Myself...) und war vielleicht etwas treibender, aber ansonsten sind wir mit diesem Boogie-Woogie schon in der richtigen Ecke und wenn Lou Martins Pianotasten erklingen, freut man sich gleich noch mal.
Auflockerung erf�hrt die Geschichte immer wieder durch den Einsatz der akustischen Rhythmusgitarren, kombiniert mit den elektrischen Riffs. Das hat dann nat�rlich auch oftmals den Eindruck einer Blues-Session, aber, unterstelle ich mal, viel anders wird dieses Album nicht entstanden sein.
Ein Titel auf der Country-Rock-Schiene ist mit Road Of Diamonds auch vertreten und der schaukelt einen so richtig sch�n auf einem imagin�ren Sattel hin und her. Auch dieser Titel h�tte auf einem Rory-Album, so um 1972-74, seine Berechtigung gehabt.
Dagegen ist The Radnor Rumble dann schon eher im Texas-Rock zuhause. Die "drei Hombres" plus Piano sozusagen. Da steigern sich die Herren von KILLING FLOOR auch ganz sch�n rein und der Jam-Charakter wird durch die Gitarren-Piano Duelle noch forciert. Da h�lt sich auch Bill Thorndycraft nicht mehr zur�ck und pumpt massig Blue(s)-Notes aus seiner Harmonica.
Bei Fred McDowell handelte es sich ja eher um einen Country Blues Musiker, aber nachdem der auch den Zusatz Mississippi im Namen f�hrte, steht ihm der elektrifizierte Sound dieses Songs gut. Auch hier findet sich wieder reichlich Texas-Blood und Mick Clarke schafft es doch tats�chlich ein paar Mal einen zu verbl�ffen.
Mit der Zeit gef�llt mir der Gitarrensound immer besser. Zwar irgendwo in den Sechzigern verhaftet, aber mehr im Vordergrund, pr�sent, als man das von den damaligen Aufnahmen kennt. So auch in Sony Boy Williamson's Bring It On Home. Klasse, wie sich Mick's Gitarre da ihren Weg durchbei�t und gegen Ende w�hnt man sich mit Unterst�tzung der Blues-Harp gar in einem CANNED HEAT Boogie angekommen. Cool.
Die Scheibe mu� man ein paar Mal h�ren, aber - sofern man keine Bluesallergie hat - dann wird man sie immer wieder auflegen. Weil's Spa� macht und wie sagte einst Lee Brilleaux: "Niemand sagt zu einem Symphonieorchester: 'Oh, ihr spielt immer noch diesen alten Beethoven-Kram?'".
Rather strange Babel Fish translation:
Oh lord, the ways of the gentleman are impenetrable. And to understand still less are the whole "crazy people", the enthusiasts and activists, who take care of (for outstanding ones) the most unreasonable things. There to take up nevertheless the secondary league guitarist Mick Clarke of a bluesverrueckten Italian persuaded named Franco Ratti anno 2002 in addition, a new KILLING FLOOR album. That the market with albums these volumes would not have been inundated, actually there were up to then only two albums, but those had been published already more than 30 years ago ("Killing Floor" 1969 and "Out OF Uranus" 1971) and was ever less desired this kind of Blues skirt already at that time. Faster, harder, louder it had to become or at least otherwise as original. But, which soll's? The Mick Clarke pierced itself also the years somehow since then and did not make its for volume colleagues it not much differently. However, in the initial days that volume hung around one with way companions such as TEN YEARS AFTER or FREE on stages or other places and understood myself magnificently. One does not have to probably present a man to Rory Gallagher fan such as Lou Martin specially and briefly agitated the late Gallagher Drummer Rod DeAth also with KILLING FLOOR the drums. Thus is clearly worum's goes here: Altbackener Blues skirt. Sounds oneself badly, but that becomes better with each hearing and makes genuinly fun and actually is here the same types at the work as anno 1969! Burnout, with reef like them also on the first disk of Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW could have sounded. Lou Martin's mad key work can provide always times hearing, but that is not actually a guitar album, to it leaves here Mick Clarke and singer Bill Thorndycraft a doubt. Prozac Blues reminds of the early LED ZEPPELIN, whereby the singing naturally already differs. The Licks and reef of Mick Clarke is not the innovativsten here, in addition,: whom interthey RTS? There are not surely too many guitarists, says "I would like to play in such a way to be able like Bernie Marsden", or beginning singers, who want to sound like Stan Webb, but exactly those are the artists, who go to one at the Naehesten. Similarly it behaves here. Calm down, somewhere between AC/DC's Ride on and Howlin ' Wolf's Built For Comfort (by the way: The title Killing Floor comes also from that "howling wolf") and dust drying, Sperm bandit somewhat fatter and more rolling, as Blues Boogie with interspersed Piano beads and wonderful compressed Harp sounds or The Big Issue, than British Pub Rocker in styles of DR. FEELGOOD and Frankie Miller, with rauer Slidegitarre. There in the text also times a Woertchen with "Mr. Bush" and "Mr. Blair" talked... One called Swamp Blues among other things the kind of the Blues, those. Slim Harpo played and its strand Love seems some also here at oppressive sultriness to transport. The following zero quite adapts the Tolerance to that, with its somewhat dragging speed and bubbling Swamp Groove. The title run on suggests not coincidentally more to "drive". A reef, that for me far away after reef Raff sounds and again a UP-Beat-Feelgood-R&B - comes well! Did I say a while ago Rory? Well, Iron Ewe was called with the stop Hands off (and elsewhere Riot in Cell block NO. 9 or Walkin ' By Myself...) and was perhaps somewhat more driving, but otherwise we already are with this Boogie Woogie in the correct corner and if Lou Martins Pianotasten ring out, one is pleased equivalent still times. Loosening experiences history again and again by the employment of the acoustic rhythm guitars, combined with electrical reef. That has then naturally also often the impression a Blues session, but, I subordinate times, much differently this album will not have developed. A title on the Country skirt rail is represented with Road OF of dia. moon also and swings to one so correctly beautifully on an imaginary saddle back and forth. Also this title would have thus had its authorization on an Rory album, around 1972-74. On the other hand The Radnor Rumble is then already rather in the Texas skirt at home. The "three Hombres" plus piano as it were. There the gentlemen of KILLING FLOOR increase also completely beautifully purely and the Jam character by the guitar gitarren-Piano of duels are still forced. There also Bill Thorndycraft does not hold back itself and pumps massively Blue(s) Notes from its Harmonica. With Fred McDowell concerned it rather a Country Blues musician, but after also the additive Mississippi in the name led, the electrified sound of this Songs stands for it well. Are also here again plentifully Texas Blood and Mick Clarke create it few marks a one to nevertheless actually astonish. With the time the sound of guitar pleases me ever better. Into the Sechzigern, but more arrests somewhere in the foreground, present, than one knows from the photographs at that time. So also in Sony Boy Williamson's bring It on Home. Class, like Mick's guitar there their way through-bitten and toward end one waehnt oneself with support of the Blues Harp in a CANNED HEAT Boogie arrived. Cool one. One must hear the disk a few marks, but - if one does not have Bluesallergie - then one will present her again and again. Weil's fun makes and as said once Lee Brilleaux: "nobody says to a symphony orchestra: ' Oh, it plays still this old Beethoven stuff?' ".
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