John Cipollina / Nick Gravenites Band Rockpalast: West Coast Legends, Vol. 1 Review by Gary Hill
I reviewed the DVD version of this in the last issue. The CD release is just the audio version. It’s a smoking hot blues rock styled jam. At times it leans closer to pure blues. At other points it’s more rock or even jam band. It never fails to entertain.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Rockpalast Caption
This is just a short little instrumental thing, the theme song to the “Rockpalast TV show.”
Southside After telling the audience that the song is about the southside of Chicago, they launch into a great old school blues jam.
Junkyard In Malibu To me this rocker feels more like The Rolling Stones style of blues. I hear some Grateful Dead on this, too.
Signs Of Life Raw and rather punky, this is a killer tune. It’s got some great slide guitar and shares a lot of elements with the earlier pieces.
My Party Here’s another smoking hot blues jam. It reminds me a bit of George Thorogood at times.
Small Walking Box This instrumental is more jam band than it is pure blues. It features an extended bass guitar solo that’s quite tasty.
Pride Of Man This reminds me a lot of something from Thin Lizzy. The vocals, though, make me think of Bob Weir.
Bad Luck Baby There is some exceptionally cool guitar work on this track. The number is a hard rocking, bluesy piece that just plain stomps.
Hot Rods And Cool Woman We get another tasty blues rocker here. It reminds me a little of old Ted Nugent or Rick Derringer.
I'll Pull The Trigger Here’s a more purely blues oriented cut, but it’s still got quite a bit of rock music in the mix.
Keep On Running This is another track that makes me think of The Stones a bit. It’s a good cut that has some punk in the mix, too.
Buried Alive In The Blues There’s some tasty slide guitar on this and it’s another song much in the mode shown on the rest of the album.
Who Do You Love They put in a killer performance of this old blues standard. They take it out in a bit of ambient weirdness mid-track, but then launch out into a powerhouse blues stomper from there. After that it becomes a jam band type piece for a while. They bring it back home to the main song before they end it.
