The party starts as soon as you look at the cover of the new CD from Roomful Of Blues. Come to think of it, I think I voted for this cover design on the Alligator Records Facebook page a few months ago. Hook, Line & Sinker is an assortment of twelve songs from the likes of Little Richard, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Floyd Dixon and others. Pulling double duty by producing and playing some very solid guitar is long-time member Chris Vachon. This album gives him plenty of room to show off his skills and he takes full advantage of it. Chris really sets the fretboard on fire with his splendid interpretation of Gate Walks To Board from Gatemouth Brown.This release also showcases the wide vocal range of Phil Pemberton, who blasts away with one of the best set of pipes in the business! The whole band really does a fantastic job of breathing life into some older tunes, picking them up, dusting them off and putting a shine on them!
Roomful has been at this game for over 40 years, shuffling the lineup and coming up with a winning combination! I’m pretty sure their solid fan base is going to love this.
Personally, I didn’t find a dull groove on this entire collection, even the slower downbeat stuff like Win With Me, Baby has such an deep, infectious, bass driven groove, that it just pulls you right in.
Also, if you love the brass you will not be disappointed. The horn section is top notch from front to back, from side to side and all points in between! Geez, you can hardly tell Rich Lataille has been in this band for 40 plus years! Let me see here, I was in second grade when he joined Roomful…yep, he could do this blindfolded! This CD just doesn’t stop delivering and we haven’t talked about the piano yet! The energetic piano riffs throughout this whole edition are just brilliant and I found myself thoroughly entertained. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that this was a blast to record.
If you are in the market for something fun to listen to, something that will get you moving, then this CD is for you.
Hook, Line and Sinker is a swinging good time and highly recommended!
