Kaiser/Mansfield
Trimmed and Burnin'
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This album lays down some of the grittiest, down-home acoustic Blues you'll find anywhere. It's not rock 'n' roll, but you'll clearly hear the music that has influenced hundreds of yesterday and today's rock musicians. For example, Darrell and Glenn do the old Blind Willie Johnson tune "Nobody's Fault But Mine", which Zeppelin ripped off in 1976. Both Darrell and Glenn have been heavily influenced by those old Blues masters - who used to record live in people's living rooms with a minimal amount of instruments (vocals, harmonica, and steel guitar) - and have been anxious to record some of this stuff. Six out of 15 of the songs here are penned by Glenn. These tunes are stripped down to the simplest of structures, and the bare essentials hold their own against most rock tunes. Repeated listenings will have you humming and singing along. The lyrics are heart-felt presentations of the Truth in basic, black and white terms. Check it out.