MY TOP 11 ALBUMS FROM 2001

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   I’m running this list earlier than usual to help you with your Christmas shopping. If you don’t go out and buy some of these CDs, it’s like letting the terrorists win.
   11) The Hoodoo Kings/The Hoodoo Kings — Three New Orleans blues vets team up and get down
   10) John Phillips/Phillips 66 — Papa John still had a few tricks up his last sleeve
   9) Duane Jarvis/Sacred Miracle — Roots rocking songwriter reveals his rock roots
   8) Loudon Wainwright III/Last Man On Earth — A new bible for aging baby boomers
   7) Vigilantes Of Love/Summershine — Top tracks from roots rockers who take a whack at power pop
   6) Ray Wylie Hubbard/Eternal & Lowdown — Wise alt-country sass from an Austin wiseass
   5) Blind Boys Of Alabama/Spirit Of The Century — Transcendent gospel blues
   4) Beulah/The Coast Is Never Clear — Modern Beach Boys, symphonic and ironic
   3) Nick Lowe/The Convincer —Ex-pure popster morphs into a crooning Southern soul man
   2) Greg Trooper/Straight Down Rain — Byrds, Petty & Dylanesque … what’s not to like?
   1) Paul Reddick & the Sidemen/ Rattlebag
Who? Well, Paul Reddick and the Sidemen are based in Toronto, have been together ten years and are one of the best Canadian blues bands going. Rattlebag is produced by Colin Linden, who’s one of the best blues player in Canada. He’s also one hell of a producer and solo artist. A while back, I went nuts over Raised By Wolves, Linden’s most recent CD. So, if you team up these top Canuck talents, it’s a no-brainer that it could turn out terrific. That it did and then some. Rattlebag comes with the motto “Hard blues for modern times” and the sonic advisory, “Please play this album loud.” Reddick looks like mob muscle that Tony Soprano would hire if he ever had a big deal going down North of the border. (Come to think of it, any one of these tracks belongs on the next album of music from “The Sopranos.”) He plays the meanest harmonica I’ve heard since Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Reddick wrote all the songs and his words have a lyrical snap that you don’t often hear on any kind of album: “All the world in silhouette, with Sleepy John Estes and a cigarette.” Rattlebag is blues for people who think they don’t like the blues. It’s got a slam-bang rocking rhythm that will get under your skin like a sailor’s drunken tattoo. From the quietly hypnotic “Dreamin’ Dreamin’” and “Tumblin’ Down” to the sublimely pneumatic title track and “Sleepy John Estes,” this is an explosive album. It’s a ripsnorting reminder that without the blues, there wouldn’t be any rock and roll —- and that would give us all the blues, wouldn’t it? You’ll think of The Band, The Doors and Stevie Ray Vaughn but Paul Reddick and the Sidemen ultimately are what Los Lobos would’ve wound up sounding like if they’d been born in Toronto instead of East L.A. Amazon has Rattlebag for $15.19
*Tom Freund is opening for Stacey Earle at McCabe’s on December 14th. (Earle’s “Good-By” is one of the best break-up-and-see-ya songs ever.) On December 15, Loudon Wainwright III is doing a free, in-store gig at Border’s in Westwood at 2 p.m. and that night, Lisa Loeb is at The Roxy.
The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Blue Floyd.