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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Lance Lopez

Salvation From Sundown

Review by Gary Hill

Fans of hard edged blues would be well advised to pick this disc up. It is the type of blues that at times wanders into rock and soul territory, but still maintains enough real blues to keep it from really fitting anywhere else. Lopez plays a mean guitar, but it’s meant to embellish not dominate. The song is always the king here.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011  Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Love Of Mine

This starts off as a modern, hard rocking blues song, but shifts out to a more traditional blues sound from there. It’s a screamer with a lot of old school blues in the mix.

My Good Thang
A slower blues jam the guitar soloing on this really steals the show. It’s a real screamer.
Heart Fixin' Blues
A slow, hard edged blues, this makes me think a bit of Howlin’ Wolf. It’s quite a fiery piece.
One Half Hour
The overall picture isn’t changed, much, but this slow blues number has a great texture and some rock built into it.
So Alone
There is a lot of funk and soul on display here. This track really does mark a pretty substantial shift from the rest of the music we’ve heard to this point, but it still feels at home because there is enough blues here to make it fit.
Salvation From Sundown
This is a slow tempo number that’s got a lot of old school blues built into it, and probably fits closer to the blues label than it does to the rock label, but it also has a lot of Led Zeppelin styled hard rock. It’s a great choice for title track because it’s one of the real highlights of the set.
Neverlove
A mellower song, this still has a lot of fire and passion built into it. It’s a real screamer, but also more of a ballad. At times this makes me think of Robert Cray.
It Shoulda Been Me
This stripped down blues rocker makes me think of a cross between Doctor John and Chuck Berry with some B.B. King thrown into the mix.
Stubbs
An instrumental, this is a fiery bluesy screamer that calls to mind Stevie Ray Vaughan a bit. There’s also some jazz on show here.
Locked Outta Love
This smoking hot rocker has a lot of B.B. King and even some George Thorogood built in. Stevie Ray Vaughan is on the musical map here, too. The guitar soloing on this is among the best on the disc. When you consider how good some of the other music here is, that says a lot.
Why
The mellowest number here, this is a slow, soulful ballad. There’s still enough blues on show here that it fits, but it has a great retro soul sound as its predominate factor. In some ways I’m reminded of Lenny Kravitz here.
Romeo
Another blues screamer, this works really. It’s hard-edged and very tasty.
 
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