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Rhythmic Jet Ear Games
© 2009 James Velvet

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The Ivory Bills
Rhythmic Jet Ear Games

Total Time: 43:31
Cost: $11.98 + s/h*

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Read Our Review

STYLE: Rock - n (BooGee WooGee) - Roll

HOME TOWN: New Haven, CT

1. The Wrath Of God
2. Down To Dirt
3. The Royal Heart
4. She's A Collector
5. Solitary Time
6. I Pray
7. Summer Touch
8. Hamlet Blues
9. (Riding In) The Pocket Of The King
10. Dispossessed
11. Point To Point

Issue #116                                  Mar. '09                                   

Once again, New Haven, CT’s heart beats proudly as it delivers loud original Rock-n-Roll to the masses who sometimes think of it as extinct. The Ivory Bills debut album is a hip-shakin’, bone-rattlin’, Boogie-Woogie inspired throw down of an amazing good time. This trio of New Haven music stalwarts, James Velvet (bass, vocals), Johnny Java (drums, percussion) and John L. (guitars, vocals), lays down songs of huge guitar licks with a hot-stompin’ Rhythm that has a pulse of nonstop fun matched with excellent vocal interpretations of classic Rock subjects, and then some.

Rhythmic Jet Ear Games (a loose translation of a European reviewer’s assessment) opens with 2 straight-ahead, knock-your-socks-off, good old fashioned Rock-n-Rollers (The Wrath of God, Down To Dirt). Using a structured balance, rather than bombast to hone the trio concept in an electric homage to every 50’s Rock-n-Roll icon, The Ivory Bills create a smorgasbord of musical delight, from Bo Diddley and Buddy Holly to the Brill Building, Cream, Mott The Hoople and Elvis Costello. Add in every pulse inducing rocker in-between and you’ll be captured by all the nuances that are not only preserved within the Ivory Bills repertoire, but also expanded upon to bring us up to speed, because if anything has been lacking in modern music these days, it‘s the rhythm, the primal beat of the Boogie-Woogie music within the Rock content.

Of course, this is the heart of the album from beginning to end, but individual songs stand on their own as well. For instance, The Royal Heart is an epic Rock tale sung in a low register that brings the urgency of the matter to the forefront as the music carries the story along – doing right by the lyrics by laying back and allowing the lyrics the spotlight. It takes a professional skill to allow a song like this to breathe as it must, letting the lyrics play out the story of tragic events in the lives of but a few characters we all have known – This song/story is a “Classic” gem.

She’s A Collector is a raucous, Rock-n-Rolling, innuendo-laced gallop through the escapades of one woman who will never be pinned down, and when John L. explodes with a lead that’ll melt your face, we as listeners have been collected as well. Now that The Ivory Bills have gotten our attention with their Cream inspired riffage and John L.’s Mick Ronson style glam leads, we are treated to an array of substance and style with the solid groove and heavy backbeat of Solitary Time and the reverb heavy, crashing, haunting, sinister aura, rumble of I Pray (which gives us pause to ponder what/which prayers are being answered, if any, when we hear: “God loves me / God loves me / When I pray”).

Summer Touch, Hamlet Blues, and (Riding In) The Pocket Of The King give us more ringing guitar, chunka - chunka Rhythm with up-tempo blues beats, gorgeous bridges, pick and pluck style R&B with rollicking good story telling that have you toe tapping, your head bobbing and you unwittingly singing along. If anything, these songs solidify The Ivory Bills’ ease in the studio by capturing the essence and heart of their Rock-n-Roll commitment. It’s one thing to lay down a bare bones Rock-n-Roll track, it’s quite another to make it rock in such a way that we are never even thinking about the studio - it’s all the band, as it should be.

The Ivory Bills finish the album with two songs that flat-out kick our asses with pure ripping rhythm and sheer power guitar. Hold on as Dispossessed gives us a tale that can be interpreted in many ways, but points to the plight of post-Katrina New Orleans. Howling guitar and rhythm brings the helplessness of a tragic situation to the forefront, yet inspires a hopefulness as well. Then, Point To Point showcases John L.’s awesome guitar riffage as Velvet & Java roll us across the (musical) landscape with solid hip-thrusting rhythm that soars into the chorus and sends us reeling. Point To Point is an anthem that gives us what we haven’t heard in ages – You want to play Guitar Hero? Plug this song in and see what you can do with real instruments.

The Ivory Bill is “the loudest, most colorful bird in the swamp – the ‘lord-god’ bird – perhaps extinct.”*

The Ivory Bills are “a collection of three musicians for the purpose of making loud, original rock and roll music – heart still beating proudly.”*

*Taken from the album liner notes.

Rhythmic Jet Ear Games by The Ivory Bills
available now for $11.98 + s/h*

Click to order    View Shopping Cart  /  Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal

*Shipping & Handling charges:
USA - $3.00 for the first 2 CDs ordered,
                     Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the first CD ordered,
                          Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00 for the first CD ordered,
                                        Add $3.00 per each CD after.

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