Album Of The Week - 19th October : Seasick Steve - 'Man From Another Time'

This week has been a pretty quiet one as far as new releases are concerned but this album would definately be worthy of album of the week status any week of the year. It is the fourth album from Seasick Steve although his musical career stretches back to the 60's. He started out touring with his friends and fellow blues musicians in the sixties and he's been working on and off as a session musician and recording engineer ever since. Whilst never being that well know himself during that time he had some pretty famous friends including Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and Kurt Cobain. As a recording engineer and producer he produced a number of Modest Mouse's early releases including their debut album. He has lived moved around a lot never settling in one place and since getting married in 1982 has lived in 59 different houses.

Seasick Steve started pursuing a career as an artist in his own right after moving to Norway in 2001. This led to his debut album 'Cheap' which came out in 2004 recorded with The Level Devils. In the last three years his popularity has exploded in the UK appearing at major festivals including Glastonbury and Reading/Leeds and selling out the Royal Albert Hall. I first heard his brand of blues/folk/country when he appeared on Jools Holland. I am not sure what it is about him but you can't help but get drawn in by his live presence. He has a real character to him and you can just tell he is having fun and absolutely loving what he is doing.

He has a crazy array of instruments which he uses live and on his albums. Opening track "Diddley Bo" is named after one of these instruments, the Diddley Bow, which is a one stringed string instrument consisting of a semi-loose guitar string nailed at each end to a two foot long piece of wood and played using a slide. Also used on the album are the Three-String Trance Wonder which is a normal looking guitar but with only three strings present. This can be heard on "Seasick Boogie". He also has a small wooden box which he stomps on to provide percussion and refers to as the Mississippi Drum Machine.

I have only ever heard Seasick Steve when he has been playing live on varous television performances. I was intrigued to see how he would come across on CD having never listened to any of his previous records. Part of the attraction in his live show is how he engages to audience and the character, enthusiasm and energy he puts into it. So has he successfully translated this onto the studio recordings? I think he's made a very good effort! This is a proper blues record with lyrics covering tales of outsider America including riding a tractor on "Big Green and Yeller" and tributes to his instruments with "Diddley Bo". His vocals lend themselves perfectly to the sound and the simple yet infectiously catchy nature of his sound means you can't help but tap along.

I still think you don't get the real brilliance of the man unless you are seeing him live. He is definately at his best with a captive audience but you can't have him playing in your house every day of the week and this album is definately a worthy alternative.
Seasick Steve – Man From Another Time