OK readers can I ask you not to take the brown acid drop some blues its time to choose switch on tune in and drop out because this website is heading down a wormhole that’s mainlining right back to the glorious glam stomping rock and Roll of the mid-seventies and your captains for this trip are Jeff Ward on Guitar and Vocals ably assisted by Cynthia Ross on Bass Guitar and backing vocals and finally, Dahm Majuri Cipolla on Drums. We might encounter some bumps on the way but trust me – when we arrive it’ll be a trip youre glad you made and will want to make again and again. Outta Noo Yawk Citee these cats know their way around a three-minute pop song and know a thing or two about how to deliver the good to your ears time and time again.
‘4 a.m Strangeways’ is a ragtag loose as hell baby number that has that T rex grit to their pop n roll. they’ve certainly captured that vibe perfectly well as the mid-tempo tune cruises along on a sweet vibe with some low down dirty riff that sounds like its been draggin’ itself around the LES since getting lost in about ’74. Then to follow it up with the low down twelve-bar jig. Jeffs almost hushed tones are like a warm fuzzy comfort blanket as the music wraps itself around you and you just sit back and drift away.
There are some pretty awesome guests on this record firstly some of that fuzzed-out and fucked up six-string wall of noise is from the deft hands of the one and only Ray Hanson former thee Hypnotic six-stringer and some of the sax blowing through this record is courtesy of Dannyl Ray which makes sense as hes got NYC coursing through his veins. The best use of these cats is ‘Ladykiller Blues’ as they trade off of each other superbly.
I love the laid back drift of ‘How Could You (B Girl)’ and then the jazzy blues of ‘Sonic Ray’. To be fair this whole record is pretty laid back especially the trippy ‘Darkness’ where Cynthia takes lead vocals but no singing please just narrating.
The decay on the drums is so Marc Bolan related and ‘Suicide Spaceship’ nails that sound almost as much as the twelve-bar jig of ‘Morphic Resonance’ Of course I don’t know what it’s about I don’t wanna ask either just get into that vibe man and enjoy the tunes.
Sure I dig the Thunders romp that is ‘Favourite Male’ complete with honkin’ horn and ragged riffs and the solo is pure Johnny. Not too many albums are made like this anymore so we should embrace it when one does come across our path. Pull-on your space boots tease your hair and strap yourself in and let’s go. Grab a bag of ‘Roxy Epoxy’ and lets go on a trip before they leave without us and we get left behind. They’re treading a well-worn path but it seems New York is alive and well when you scratch the surface and come across these and the likes of Beechwood and long may it continue. I love Electrajets they’ve got it goin’ on for sure.
Buy ‘Transatlantic Tales’ Here
Author: Dom Daley
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