Wednesday 12 March 2014

Albert Castiglia: Solid Ground

Solid Ground
Albert Castiglia
The new album from Albert Castiglia presents 14 meaty slices of blues rock.

Track List

Triflin'
Keep You Around Too Long
Searching The Desert For The Blues
Have You No Shame
Put Some Stank On It
Love One Another
Sleepless Nights
Going Down Slow
Celebration
Hard Time
Bad Avenue
Sway
Little Havana Blues
Just Like Jesus

Triflin' starts off the album as it means to go on: infectious guitar riff, pounding drums and no-nonsense lyrics expressing a growing intolerance of people who trifle with one's time. That's not to say Solid Ground is one-trick pony; indeed, although all of the songs reside firmly within the blues rock genre there are several changes of house style along the way. Have You No Shame drops the tempo for an effective heartbreaker, while Put Some Stank On It swerves to dip a toe or two into rockabilly territory.

There's one or two surprises along the way too, with Sway - yes, the Rolling Stones classic from Sticky Fingers - being tackled in ambitious fashion. I had my doubts about the wisdom of such a cover when I first saw the track list, but Albert - with deep blues voice well to the fore and firing off guitar licks left, right and centre - pulls it off in impressive fashion.

There's clearly been a lot of effort put into this album, as confirmed by Albert himself: ''Solid Ground is my best album to date. I put more time, love, blood, sweat and tears into this recording than any of the others, and it shows. I love every song on it and I'm sure there'll be something for everyone to like.''

For the latest news and tour dates, head over to Albert's official website and the GFI Promotions site.

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