Box Of Frogs "Box Of Frogs/Strange Land" (1984****/1986***)

I remember seeing the original Box Of Frogs LP in the shops and passing it by immediately because of the album cover and ridiculous band name. Apparently there's a British expression I hadn't heard before: mad as a box of frogs, which certainly sounds like a crazy idea. Why would anyone fill a box with frogs? But, by all accounts, the band seems to predate the expression. I searched and searched the language sites on the internet (you may argue that I've too much time on my hands, but once my curiosity is aroused I can't leave a question unanswered). Nobody has heard the expression before the 2000's. So probably the expression means crazy like that band was for choosing such a ridiculous name. It turned out to be a bad idea, even more so because Box Of Frogs were actually famous in the 60's with the name The Yardbirds. Yes, I'm talking about the group that nurtured Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Singer Keith Relf had regrettably died only a few years before (electrocuted by his own guitar) so the rest of the band (Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty) added the very good singer John Fiddler (former Medicine Head) and reformed the band under a new name. This CD gathers both of their albums. The eponymous debut featured guest guitarists Jeff Beck and Rory Gallagher, ensuring some top-notch playing, while all the songs are original group compositions. The style is rootsy hard rock but the synthetic 80's production neutered their sound somewhat, making it sound like any other record of the period. So I guess the question is: can you still listen to 80's mainstream rock? How cool are you with the sounds of Foreigner, Aerosmith, Status Quo and ZZ Top from that era? Well, if you can get past the dated production values, there's much to like in BoF's debut. Opener "Back Where I Started" is the perfect introduction, a rolling boogie with great bluesy vocal and harmonica, smoking guitar courtesy of Jeff Beck and backing vocals reminiscent of The Yardbirds' heyday. It was the band's biggest hit, cracking the Top Ten in the U.S. and getting exposure on MTV. "Harder" is a commercial hard rocker with Ray Majors on guitar (Fiddler's former bandmate in British Lions). "Another Wasted Day" is an excellent mid-tempo boogie with an understated vocal that reminds me of Mark Knopfler. "Love Inside You" is mid-tempo FM rock. "Two Steps Ahead" and "Poor Boy" are bluesy hard rock a la Bad Company with stellar guitar work by Jeff Beck. Rory Gallagher takes over guitar duties for the hard rock "The Edge" and ballad "Into The Dark", where he also contributes slide guitar and sitar - talk about East meets West! "Just A Boy Again" has a folkier Americana sound, like a hybrid between Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac. Different but also nice. The second BoF album has a bigger sonic variety but is generally considered to be inferior despite the impressive guest list. Too many songs are generic 80's hard rock, e.g. "Get It While You Can" (sung by guest Graham Parker) or synth-driven "You Mix Me Up" with misjudged female backing vocals. "House On Fire" seems to copy the plastic boogie of Eliminator-era ZZ Top while "Asylum" is almost metallic, with heavy guitar riffs by former Yardbirds alumnus Jimmy Page. Guest vocalist Roger Chapman (ex-Family) delivers excellent performances on the emotive ballad "Strange Land" and a throat-shredding reworking of Yardbirds' 1965 hit "Heart Full Of Soul" also featuring the song's writer Graham Gouldman and Rory Gallagher on smokin' lead guitar. Rory's electric sitar is the highlight of the strange electronic ballad "Hanging From The Wreckage". Ian Dury's punk sneer saves "Average" from mediocrity. The song is an otherwise average combination of hard rock and new wave, despite some nice solos by Genesis' guitarist Steve Hackett who also plays on the melodic FM-rock "Trouble". This compilation also adds single-only "Nine Lives", another Foreigner-style commercial rocker with Bowie associate Earl Slick on lead guitar. Far from being the sum of its parts, "Strange Land" seemed to make up for its lack of inspiration with a parade of guest musicians. BoF did not tour or even play live often, which may be the reason for their decline. They never made another record but in 2003 Dreja, Samwell-Smith and McCarty reformed The Yardbirds, under their own name, this time. They released a CD but mostly functioned as a touring band. I saw them in Greece and their performance was workmanlike and quite enjoyable. They've been on the road since then, although I believe that drummer Jim McCarty is the sole original member left.

**** for Back Where I Started, Another Wasted Day, The Edge, Two Steps Ahead, Poor Boy, Average, Heart Full Of Soul

*** for Harder, Love Inside You, Into The dark, Just A Boy Again, Get It While You Can, House On Fire, Asylum, Strange Land, Trouble

** for You Mix Me Up, Hanging From The Wreckage, Nine Lives

Various Artists "From Clarksdale to Heaven - Remembering John Lee Hooker" 2002***

Born in Mississippi in 1917, John Lee Hooker was around almost as long as the blues itself, devising a new urban blues boogie style, scoring his first hits in the 40's and experiencing a late career rebirth with 1989's "The Healer" that lasted until his death in 2001. These late records were full of guests from the blues and rock world, lining up to play the blues with one of the last original pioneers of the genre. Many of them are also featured here to pay tribute to the master bluesman and help raise money for a charity in his name. The result is entertaining but uneven, as it often happens with such tribute albums. Although most of the songs are J.L.Hooker originals, the end result mostly reflects the players themselves. A bit of the old DNA is in evidence in the opening soulful performance of "I Want to Hug You", sung by his daughter Zakiya backed by Johnnie Johnson & Bobby Murray. The classic "I'm in the Mood" is given a generic hard rock treatment by Jack Bruce and Gary Moore (now both also sadly deceased). Not bad, but I much prefer their slow take on "Serve Me Right to Suffer". Yes, it does sound like any other Gary Moore ballad, albeit a very good one. In any case, neither song sounds anything like the original. "Bad Like Jesse James" (by Vince Converse backed by Leo Lyons and Ric Lee from Ten Years After) comes somewhat closer. "Baby Lee" and "Little Wheel" are even more faithful, played with gusto by 60's veterans Gary Brooker (Procol Harum) and Andy Fairweather-Low (Amen Corner and, more recently, Roger Waters' band). The acoustic "Ground Hog Blues" also sports a quite original feel, not surprisingly since T.S. McPhee (from The Groundhogs) has played with Hooker since the 60's and was one of the first people to introduce him to British audiences. Colosseum's Dick Heckstall-Smith on sax adds a welcome jazz twist. On "I'm Leaving" they rock harder, as they're joined by Humbie Pie guitarist extraordinaire Clem Clempson. Jeff Beck offers his guitar pyrotechnics to the Hooker-like boogie "Hobo Blues" and the traditional gospel "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". Former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor adds workmanlike boogie "This Is Hip" and Peter Green takes on "Crawlin' King Snake", one of Hooker's most famous tunes. Of all the superstar guitarists involved in this project, Green was (in his Fleetwood Mac days) once the greatest. Inspired by religion (and drugs) he took a break in 1970 and never completely returned. His folk-blues guitar playing here is beautiful but very different and inferior to his old style, while his vocals sound like they're from beyond the grave. The remaining two tracks are the most intriguing as they come from half-finished J.L.Hooker projects: Greggs Eggs' blues-soul "The Business" (vocals by Suzanne Sterling) was destined for the next Hooker CD but never recorded by him due to his death and "Red House" features the great man himself backed by Booker T. Jones on organ and Randy California (from Spirit) on guitar. It was supposed to appear on a Jimi Hendrix tribute album and it's typical late-period J.L.Hooker, a nice slow jam with his trademark mumbling vocals. Not an extraordinary find, but a fine epitaph nevertheless.

**** for I Want to Hug You (Zakiya Hooker & Johnnie Johnson), Baby Lee (Gary Brooker & Andy Fairweather-Low), I'm Leaving (T.S. Mcphee, Dick Heckstall-Smith & Clem Clempson), Serves Me Right to Suffer (Gary Moore), Red House (John Lee Hooker & Booker T & Randy California)

*** for I'm in the Mood (Jack Bruce & Gary Moore), Bad Like Jesse James (Leo Lyons, Ric Lee, Vince Converse), Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Jeff Beck), Ground Hog Blues (T.S. McPhee & Dick Heckstall-Smith), This Is Hip (Mick Taylor), Little Wheel (Gary Brooker & Andy Fairweather-Low), Crawlin' King Snake (Peter Green), The Business (Greggs Eggs), Hobo Blues (Jeff Beck)