Gulf Coast (label)
05 April 2020 (released)
04 April 2020
Castiglia’s last album ‘Masterpiece’ was nominated for all sorts of awards and got very highly reviewed by most of the Blues press. However, I felt that some of the ‘fire’ was missing from the album, it was superbly played but it didn’t quite have the electricity that he generates with his band on the road.
‘Wild And Free’ sees him in his most natural environment and it really does capture all the explosive attitude and electricity he has been known for. Real ‘hairs up on the back of the neck’ stuff.
There are only a few original numbers here, the rest are covers but when those covers are by the likes of Freddie King (‘Boogie Funk’) or Paul Butterfield (‘Loving Cup’) he is doing homage to some of the greats and doing it with real panache.
Mike Zito does a great job of production as well as playing guitar on Johnny Winters ‘Too Much Seconal’ and his band are quite superb especially Justine Tompkins on bass and Ephraim Lowell on drums (it don’t matter how good a guitarist you are, if the engine room is weak you cannot play live).
The album opens with Will Wharton’s ‘Let The Big Dog Eat’ and all the best traits are present from the off Castiglia’s guitar is screaming, the drums are hammering and Lewis Stephens Hammond is wailing behind Castiglia’s gruff and punchproud vocals. 4 and a half minutes of sheer exhilaration.
Mike Zito’s ‘Hoodoo On Me’ follows with the band kicking it along with real power and punch – it nearly had me dancing around the room.
The first of Castiglia’s own numbers is ‘Heavy’, much slower and more melodic with some sweet playing from the man. Dark and emotive, the vocals are stunning and the whole thing is a real Blues exploration.
One of my favourites is his version of ‘Searching The Desert For The Blues’ which has an almost mesmeric groove to it and some fine riffing from Castiglia.
As live albums go, it is a cracker. Albert Castiglia is one of those artists that can really express themselves onstage and, while there are plenty of mistakes, he nails every number. No filler here – it’s all killer.
