DAVE HERRERO & THE HERO BROTHERS

Corazon

Hero Music Group

By Brian K. Read

Sometimes you get hungry, but you’re not sure just what for…you’re a bit tired of the usual fare, and feel like having an adventure; sometimes music can be the same way…you have an appetite, but you just wanna hear something a little different!

So sit back and sink your ears into Corazon, the new Dave Herrero & The Hero Brothers Band CD, and enjoy something a little different in the blues genre!  This wonderfully polished, self-produced release has something for all tastes, from rock to gospel to soul, all tinged in the blues, thanks to Herrero’s nuanced voice and mean slide guitar.  The music sits softly on the sonic palette one minute, then leaves a heady rush of an aftertaste on the next!

The sound of this CD is par excellence, and the recording quality really showcases the music.  The band has the ability to deliver the traditional blues, but it whets the appetite with Southern soul, a dash of gospel, and a nice helping of roots-rock too. It’s just the kind of departure guaranteed to pique the ear pans and entertain the spirit!

“Old Sun” starts off the eleven-course meal, with a rockin’ blues feel that resonates throughout much of the CD.   A lot of gospel-overtones also predominate at times, and there is a Biblical quote to be found in the liner-notes, from Corninthians 1:13, all about love.  Love is the theme for this banquet; love stories spun into lyrics and mixed into rich bluesy recipes, ready to provide a filling experience. The CD’s title translates to “heart”, incidentally.

It takes a great chef to make a great meal, and as any chef just has to admit, it really takes a talented team in the kitchen to get things cooking.  Joining Herrero is longtime collaborator Felix Reyes on guitar, and though a bit different in age, (Herrero 35, Reyes, 55 when the CD was released) the two talents combine easily, and blend their sounds into a blues stew that can’t be beat!

The other “Hero Brothers” are Ed Strohsahl on bass, and Henrik Maarud on drums, who keep the backbeat hot.  The band simmers through a set of many styles with ease, and supplies the kind of dynamic backing that a voice like Herrero’s demands, not too heavy to drown him out, not too thin to the point of being overpowered.

It is a voice that is at once big and bluesy, yet sensitive enough to do justice to a ballad like “Angeline,” served up in acoustic guitar, with a dash of Southern soul.  It has the sass of a young Kris Kristofferson to my ears, or a throaty hint of Black Crows, and a small pinch of Steve Earle in there too. 

“Mean Wicked World” is a second helping of tasty acoustic guitar, superb playing with great tone and dynamics, and something I’d like to hear more of on a future Herrero release.

Pass the Bo Diddley sauce… “So I Can Die Easy” hits that groove right in the pocket, and the slide guitar is like a sonic slab of ribs, good and greasy.  Here’s one to satisfy the blues purists, but it has a lasting aftertaste of something new, too.  Some sure-footed drumming here by Maarud gets this song up on legs, and running nicely.

“Won’t Be Too Long” fires up the grill with a veritable barbeque of rockin’ rhythm, and reminds me of the kind of music that sounds so fine on a hot summer night , a good side-dish for red hot brats and burgers.  If you can’t get up and move to this kind of music, it might be a good idea to cut out some of the fat from your CD collection, and get into a diet of this kind of dancin’ blues!

What’s this on the menu?  Bob Dylan?!  Steeped in a Grateful Dead marinade??!  Well hell yeah, why not?  “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” has what it takes to smooth out the lump-de-lumps in this rollicking rendition of the classic song.   This is a hot little number, it really wanders through the riffs, but I’ll bet it can pack the dance floor!

Herrero’s upper register stirs things up on “Cheatin’ Blues,” and he sings some great  parallel stuff along with his guitar on this slow, familiar grind.  He chases solos up and down all over the neck, squeezing and bending with a soulful intensity to the very end.  This is the track I’m betting gets the majority of the airplay from the CD, and for good reason, as it shows the band knows how to deliver the down and dirty blues!

“Lover Man” has another hook sure to get on the radio too, with a catchy beat, and it gives Herrero the room he needs to really unwind on the slide guitar. The guitar work covers some ground, between an earlier style of blues, notably from the 1950s -- when bands cut “singles” that packed short, punchy lines -- contrasted with the later more relaxed delivery of bands that followed in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  The whole CD delivers songs with these kinds of tasty bounces and sticky hooks.

I somehow flash back to the 1960s hit, the Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction,” when I hear the Hero band tear into closing track “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”; it’s much like the nostalgic sweet aroma of snickerdoodle cookies that takes me back to Grandma’s kitchen, down on the farm.   Late rock scribe Lester Bangs loved Count Five, and about this closing-track, he MIGHT have said (but didn’t):   Hard-drivin’ psychedelic blues, rich and layered with effects, careening into an ending a la’ the sounds of an Echoplex-box, whiffle-balling a fat riff off into the distance.

Kudos, by the way, to the designers of the coverart for this CD.  Directed by Felix Reyes, designed by Albena Ivanova, the tattoo-art and textured burnt-orange liner ensconces the disc in a kind of flambé presentation, along with subtle photography by Atanas Kandzhikov and Crystal Rolfe, a fitting package for the fiery tunes to be found within!  (A good reason to pick up the tangible CD version!)

So next time the munchies hit, pick up Dave Herrero and The Hero Brothers Band, Corazon for something a little different, as is the spice of life. Bon appetit!

For more info on Dave Herrero & the Hero Band or to buy the CD visit:

http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/DaveHerreroandtheHeroBrothersB