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of Steam - Pete Hogman Pete Hogman plays the harmonica solo opening on Vaguely Sunny the first Isle of Wight Rock anthology CD. Vaguely Sunny - Isle of Wight Rock anthology CD, price £10 p&p Also available is Drive On from Hoggie and the Sharpetones: |
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| And about time too says I. A CD from the Isle of Wight's boss bluesman Pete Hogman aka Hoggie and the Sharpetones. Talking to Pete Hogman is a bit like getting your blues history first hand. He's the bloke what played with Chuck Berry long before Bruce Springsteen. He also backed the likes of John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter Jacobs before the punks were in knee pants. |
| Pete and wife Gill moved to the Isle of Wight in the late eighties around the time another rocking rhythm and blues guitar man turned up here, Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things. Pete and Gill fronted a series of rhythm and blues lineups and finally joined up with Brian Sharpe one of the finest musicians this diamond Wight island ever came up with. 'Sharpey' started in skiffle, moved through rock'n'roll and pop/rock and now has moved on into Ry Cooder inspired bottleneck and blues guitar playing. Last year Martin White joined the band on drums and then Mark Foley took over on bass. |
| The band took a turn off the beaten path to Martin White's country studio where they laid down the fifteen tracks of Drive On. For not only is Martin White a drummer but a guitarist, songwriter and sound engineer to boot. Together with Brian Sharpe the pair have produced the goods. |
| If you like the blues or you just like to dance this is one beautiful album. Right from the off the band get in the groove and steam it. Pete's smokey, lived in voice is all over the place. When he ain't singing Pete's either blowing way South side Chicago harmonica or trading sweet guitar riffs and licks with Brian Sharpe. The rhythm section smokes, Martin White's drums and Mark Foley's big fat bass sound rock the beat over the switches. Gill Hogman's vocals compliment husband Pete's husky tonsils like the cherry in the cocktail. The cocktails a Manhattan if you were wondering. |
| The CD opens with three sure fire dirty bar room blues of which the band play out of their trees on Smack-Dab in the Middle. This is followed by as beautiful as BB King lick as you'll hear from Sharpey I guess which is matched by an equally wrought vocal from Gill Hogman. Slow, brooding and beautiful. |
| Brian Sharpe cheekily borrows a Cooder arrangement for his own tune Home Every Time but its beautifully done, (off into the Purple Valley methinks guys . . .) Then Gill outdoes George Melly with a vaudeville vamp, Vitamin ABC. Push back the furniture, kick off your shoes and dance. Great original. Then keep your shoes off for Green Onions, the old Sonny Boy Williamson no. 2 classic Help Me. You mean the guy who plays harmonica on this is playing around the Isle of Wight? And the band as well. Phew. |
| Nobody's Fault But Mine tones down the electrics for an earthy old blues sung by Gill. Unplugged or wired up these guys can play. |
| Then the whole caboodle swings south of Mississippi down to Louisana. Starts off with the Natchez man and then drifts further South. Pete Hogman singing Taj Mahal's She Caught The K.T. followed by Gill swinging into Bayou Jubilee aided by the Cajun fiddle by Donal O'Raian. Then it's swamp boogie supremo Tony Joe White's Roosevelt and Ira Lee which literally cooks on mouthfuls of Pete's harmonica before Brian Sharpe sings the tale. |
| This mess of Louisana gumbo is topped by just about my darndest favourite blues song ever, McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Water's Louisiana Blues. The original of which contains just about one of the greatest ever harmonica solos to come down the pike by Little Walter. Just to add authenticity needle crackle has been added. the Hoggie's version. Gill sings it. The band have the sound spot on, somewhere between the old Muddy Water's Genesis band and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band circa The Spotlight Kid. Cracking harmonica from Pete Hogman. |
| So many fine moments on this, but one of the funniest is when Gill gives out a squeal like the rhythm section whispered her a dirty joke, Sharpey rattles off a piano run and the whole train starts rolling again on Oh Oh, No No. Once again Pete and Gill Hogman trade vocals on this glorious romp. |
| The album's title track has an atmospheric opening of falling rain, and is the only track on the album that veers away from the solid rhythm and blues format. This is more rock'n'roll than blues because Martin White's voice leans more towards folk and country but it rocks with a stinging guitar workout by Brian Sharpe. |
| The fifteenth track is a live favourite Hey Bartender, opened by Pete Hogman with more of that classic harmonica and the ice broken by Gill's storming rendition. The whole band kick this one into touch. Pete Hogman's harmonica wailing, Sharpey's guitar going off the dial and the rhythm section smoking. |
| The stamp of Pete Hogman master bluesman is all over this and he don't sling his pork pie hat in with anyone but the best. Kicking stuff. |
| Head
of Steam - Pete Hogman Pete Hogman plays the harmonica solo opening on Vaguely Sunny the first Isle of Wight Rock anthology CD. Vaguely Sunny - Isle of Wight Rock anthology CD, price £10 p&p |
| Hoggies website is: http://www.iow.uk.com/hoggies |
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Mike
Plumbley |
Hoggie
and the Sharpetones - Drive On.