For close to thirty years, musician/pastor/Cornerstone Festival guru Glenn Kaiser has been making blistering rock and blues music, with the occasional pause for a contemplative worship album here and there. For the past decade or so, Kaiser has ventured away from fronting the pioneering Resurrection Band for the sake of solo discs and projects with his Glenn Kaiser Band. Blacktop, the latest from the Glenn Kaiser Band proves that the man still has his chops.
Truthfully, there is nothing groundbreaking here. Kaiser's gritty guitar and husky vocals have always appealed to the common man, and the themes of hard times and redemption here continue to aim for the same audience. A thick buzz guitar pervades throughout on songs such as the title track, where Kaiser sings about marital pain, and the hot and frustrated "Save Me From Myself." The autobiographical songs "Voice in the Wind" and "Use to Be" are slower jams, and the closer, "Facin' the Music," is a swampy blues number.
Lyrically, Kaiser is at times guilty of borrowing too many cliches (one song actually contains the words "takes away my blues"), but blues musicians have been borrowing cliches from each other for ages. If you're looking for a good, smokey blues album to take with you on the open road, Blacktop is a fine choice.
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Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Darryl A. ArmstrongGlenn Kaiser has been making powerful music for a long time. From his days as the frontman of The Resurrection Band to his solo blues oriented recordings to his power rock trio the Glenn Kaiser Band, two things have always been constant, well played infectious music and a firm foundation on the gospel message. This album, Blacktop, the third from The Glenn Kaiser Band is no exception. In fact,…Similar sounding releases
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