The Blasters - 2 albums: Hard Line / 4-11-44

Album: Hard Line
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:48
Size: 82.0 MB
Styles: Roots rock, Electric blues
Year: 1985
Art: Front

[3:46] 1. Trouble Bound
[4:14] 2. Just Another Sunday
[3:12] 3. Hey, Girl
[3:50] 4. Dark Night
[3:33] 5. Little Honey
[3:46] 6. Samson And Delilah
[3:25] 7. Colored Lights
[3:38] 8. Help You Dream
[3:43] 9. Common Man
[2:36] 10. Rock And Roll Will Stand

After releasing two strong albums for Slash, the Blasters had plenty of critical acclaim and a sizable hometown following, but they hadn't come especially close to landing a hit record, and on the 1985 album Hard Line, they overhauled their approach in the studio in hopes of creating something that sounded more contemporary (and saleable). Producer Jeff Eyrich pumped up the sound of Bill Bateman's drums (and for a few tracks replaced him with Stan Lynch of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Dave Alvin's guitar tone got thicker and harder, the horn section of Lee Allen and Steve Berlin sat out the sessions, and the emphasis was put squarely on new songs which owed less to rock & roll's past than on the Blasters and Non-Fiction. The Blasters certainly hadn't turned their back on their influences: the Jordanaires, the vocal group that added harmonies to several of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, contributed backing vocals to four cuts, while an impassioned version of "Samson and Delilah" kicked off side two with raw gospel fervor, and "Trouble Bound" and "Help You Dream" showed Dave Alvin's gift for writing in traditional styles was as strong as ever. The album's biggest gesture toward the mass market was bringing in noted fan John Cougar Mellencamp to write and co-produce one tune, but "Colored Lights" doesn't significantly lower the album's batting average, and it hardly sounds like a creative compromise, even if it isn't as good a song as those Dave Alvin brought to the sessions. Alvin's songs took on a darker tone on Hard Line, especially the tale of a small town lynching, "Dark Night," the anti-Reagan rant "Common Man," and the busted romance of "Just Another Sunday," while the fiddle-led acoustic arrangement of "Little Honey" serves the tune far better than the version X recorded on Ain't Love Grand (with co-author John Doe on vocals). Phil Alvin rarely had a better run as a singer as he did on this album, which finds him better controlled but just as impassioned and expressive as ever. And the closing track, the rollicking "Rock and Roll Will Stand," is a darkly funny appraisal of the music biz that shows the Blasters knew just what they were getting into by trying to scale the charts, and were prepared for the consequences. Hard Line proved to be the Blasters' final studio album with their original lineup, and while it sounds like an experiment that only partially succeeded, the best moments revealed they could move forward without losing what made them special, and if this is as close to a sell-out as they got, they held on to their principles far better than the vast majority of roots rock bands who figured a different producer might get them on the radio. ~Mark Deming

Hard Line

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Album: 4-11-44
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:25
Size: 113.2 MB
Styles: Roots rock, Electric blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:29] 1. Daddy Rollin' Stone
[3:42] 2. 4-11-44
[3:39] 3. Rebound
[3:15] 4. It's All Your Fault
[3:16] 5. Julie
[3:35] 6. Dry River
[3:15] 7. Your Kind Of Love
[2:50] 8. Love Is My Business
[4:10] 9. Slip Of The Tongue
[4:02] 10. Precious Memories (The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised
[3:29] 11. Boneyard (Dick Tracy Theme)
[3:21] 12. Window Up Above
[3:33] 13. Just To Be With You
[2:44] 14. Fire Of Love

While the Blasters called it quits in 1986 after Hard Line failed to break through to the mass audience, it was only a few years later that lead singer Phil Alvin brought the band back, though without the participation of his kid brother, Dave Alvin, who played guitar with the Blasters and wrote their most memorable songs. For years, Phil Alvin promised to take the Blasters back to the studio, and in 2004 a new Blasters album finally appeared, 4-11-44. One spin confirms that this edition of the band can play up a storm, and that Phil's passionate roadhouse vocals are as exciting as they've ever been; Keith Wyatt is, if anything, a stronger picker than Dave Alvin, the rhythm section cooks with gas, and the results will get the party started with soul fire and real rock drive. But if you're a fan of the Blasters, it's hard to not feel as if something is missing on 4-11-44. When the Blasters started out, they were practically the only game in town for this sort of charged-up blues and retro-rock wailing; these days, there are a number of worthwhile bands flying the flag for this sort of music, and while the Blasters are still better than most of them, the guys on 4-11-44 don't sound as special as the band that cut American Music or The Blasters. There was an almost ministerial fervor to the group's original recordings, as if they needed to wake up an audience to a musical tradition that was on the verge of dying out; 4-11-44, on the other hand, sounds like a great roadhouse band rocking on out, but there isn't nearly as much force behind it. It doesn't help that the set list isn't nearly as interesting as the Blasters' previous albums; while there are two new Phil Alvin originals, including the great title song, the truth is he can't write with the same impact as his brother, and while the covers are all great songs, they don't have the same resonance as the classic obscurities the old band made its bread and butter. 4-11-44 is a good album, and it does nothing to tarnish the Blasters' name, but it just doesn't bear the same weight and move with the same fervor as the original band's catalog, and in this case these small details really do make all the difference. ~Mark Deming

4-11-44

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