Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Bill Durst - Hard And Heavy

Released: 2013
Size: 93.5 MB
Time: 39:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

1. Devil and the Deep [3:59]
2. Your Love [5:42]
3. I'm Your Man [4:28]
4. Heartless Man [3:47]
5. Kadia [3:47]
6. Sally At the Door [4:10]
7. Gimme That Something [4:26]
8. Blue Rain [3:03]
9. Angels Fly [2:59]
10. Fly Away Home [3:04]

It is that sound that makes Bill Durst’s music so unique, especially amongst Canadian Blues Rockers, for whom no one comes close. Also take the fact that Bill Durst, “has long been compared to the best guitar player/singer/entertainers anywhere in the world”, and you have the perfect Trifecta needed for really great rockin’ albums.

Picking 3 favourites was not an easy task as “Hard And Heavy” hits you with one great tune after another, but never the less, I chose the opener, “Devil And The Deep”, Track 7 “Gimme That Something”, and the close “Fly Away Home”. Both “Devil And The Deep” and “Gimme That Something” were great ZZ Top style rockers, with laid back Vocals and Grinding Guitar. This is the kind of stuff I can listen to all day. “Fly Away Home” clocked in as the second shortest song on “Hard And Heavy”, but it was packed with the most amount of lyrical and musical punch. Really loved that one…

“Hard And Heavy” marks the first submitted album that I have received for 2014, but in my books, I really feel that when the dust settles after all the other new releases hit the air waves, it is “Hard And Heavy” that will still be very near the top, if not still at the top, of my favourite Blues Rock albums of 2014.


“Hard and Heavy” is a real winner of an album, with a sound like no other you are likely to hear this year, and as with Bill Durst’s previous release “Live”, I enthusiastically give “Hard And Heavy” my highest rating of 5*****.

For those of you whom like your Blues Rock in the styling of ZZ Top and beyond, “Hard And Heavy” is a must have beauty.

Review by John Vermilyea for Blues Underground Network

BILL DURST – BIO 2014

Bill Durst, always an audience favourite is a Canadian Blues Rock Roots artist who has long been compared to the best guitar player/singer/songwriter/entertainers in the world.
He has written and recorded over 115 songs on 11 albums including 8 charted radio hits.
Bill has opened for or shared the stage with Areosmith, Yardbirds, Rush, John Mayall, BTO, Savoy Brown, Bobby Rush, Little Feat, George Thorogood, Bad Company, Edgar Winter Group, Rick Derringer, Jeff Healey, Steve Strongman, Ted Nugent, Jack De Keyser, Johnny Winter, Monkey Junk, The Blues Brothers, David Wilcox, Bob Seger, Downchild, Sly and the Family Stone, Slade, L.A. Guns, David Clayton Thomas, Guitar Shorty and many more. Mr. Durst has toured across North America and in Europe and tours extensively in Canada.

As a kid growing up in Wingham and then London, Ontario (which is halfway between Toronto and Detroit), Bill was heavily influenced by Motown R&B and Toronto’s Psychedelic Soul music as well as the British Blues Invasion and Jimi Hendrix. Bill’s entrance onto the national/international stage was with his classic rock band Thundermug formed from London R&B bands in 1969. By the summer of 1972 they had a number one hit and a fan following in Eastern Canada. The band went on to record a total of 5 albums, (3 albums in the early/mid 1970s and two CDs in the mid 1990s). Bill put out his first two solo releases in the mid eighties but it wasn't until the early 2000s that he got some real career momentum.

In 2003 Durst declared his intention to start up a “little, fuzzy, psychedelic blues band”.
Since then Bill and his co-writer Joe DeAngelis have produced 4 full length CDs:
The Wharncliffe Sessions (2005), The Great Willy Mammoth (2009), Bill Durst Live (2012), Hard And Heavy (2013).
Bill Durst was inducted into The Jack Richardson Hall Of Fame 2006.

“Bill Durst is…a consummate blues rocker, with killer guitar chops, a distinctive voice and the heart of a showman...a master songwriter…Bill’s style of Southern/Texas blues rock lends itself well to Durst’s guitar skills.

Hard And Heavy

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are da man,Bill Durst

Fifi said...

Thanks so much Tonka !
I appreciate it!
Fifi

Tonka said...

@ Anonymous, please be as polite as to use a nick name so as we can respond to you, and your very welcome again Fifi :)