For a change, the bluster and the hype is worth it. I haven’t heard a female singer who kicked my ass like this since the first time I heard Beth Hart.
Sari Schorr has a voice that just burns with power and emotion, She is a rocker with all the subtlety of Janis and the Blues sensibilities of Lydia Pense. She is also backed here with a band who have as much skill and power as is needed to back up a talent like this. Innes Sibun, Walter Trout and Oli Brown feature on guitar while Nani Conde (bass) and Jose Mena (drums) lay down the platform for her. The legendary Mike Vernon produced it.
This isn’t the kind of Blues that will leave you scratching your head and wondering what just happened; this is heartland Blues with a classic feel and real passion. It may not be something |I haven’t heard before but when she cuts it as strong as this it is just right.
The songs are incredibly strong, touching on Wall Street greed (‘Ain’t Got No Money’) or the perils of heroin addiction (Aunt Hazel) of which she was quoted “Aunt Hazel” is an urban slang for heroin. I was working with a beautiful and brilliant dog trainer for my three rescued Pit Bulls, who was known in Brooklyn as the “Pit Bull Whisperer.” Tragically, she had a secret heroin problem. She was on the verge of losing her son, her apartment, her dogs, everything. I tried to help and managed to get her into some programs to get her back on her feet. She made some progress, but it didn’t last. She just couldn’t beat it and ended up losing everything. Personifying the drug as “Aunt Hazel” allowed me to create a sense that heroin enjoys a villainous satisfaction when its victims suffer. You feel it in the line: “Aunt Hazel’s laughing as my words get slurred.”
If you then add a remarkable version of the Leadbelly classic ‘Black Betty’ where she manages to make the song an homage to a downtrodden and abused woman rather than the usual bombast – loaded with emotion but still rocking to the core - you are on to something remarkable.
‘Demolition Man’ is just plain dirty Blues, thudding and sleazy beat and roadhouse style vocals while ‘Kiss Me’ – with Oli Brown on guitar – has a real 60’s psychedelic edge. A brilliantly cheesy ‘Stop! In the Name Of Love’ completely in the style of Janis is one of the best numbers on a very good album.
There aren’t enough singers around who are prepared to own a classic form and take it to their heart – Sari Schorr definitely is one.
