Ray Stubbs' R 'n' B All Stars @ The Magnesia Bank, North Shields.

Ray Stubbs (vcl/blues harp), John Hedley (gtr), Max Whitehouse (bs/gtr), Ray Snowdon (keys), Brian Ferry (dms).

Wow! this is kick the door down and massacre the eardrums! The R 'n' B All Stars blast off with an eruption verging on the heaviest of metals! Even Ray's screaming harp struggles to be heard above the thrash.

However, after questioning the wisdom of sitting so close to the P.A., gradually our eardrums adjust to the decibels fruggin' inside our heads and the music takes over.

It's blues from the south-side of Chicago - they don't tell no tales of happy ever after - Ray Stubbs, an earthy poet of doom, hollers the blues like the newsie on the corner of Twelfth St and Vine peddling the Kansas City Chronicle. He intersperses his tales of woe with blues harp blasts that come across like a five piece horn section. The hair may be greyer and the paunch acquired since I last saw him but the raw emotion remains - no bluesman does it better.

On Fender Strat John Hedley tells his own story. He takes his twelve bars on crazy roller-coaster rides and the Strat becomes a Hot Rod as he races down Highway 51. Leo Fender says 'I didn't know my guitar could do that!'

On bass, Max Whitehouse goes with him - adds a sartorial touch to the trip. Ray Snowdon plays a whole lot of keyboards and Brian Ferry's solid as a rock which is what he does good - rock.

The Maggy Bank is heaving, but we're leaving, gotta board a southbound ferry cross those muddy waters... (actually got a lift) it's been one helluva good groove.

Photos.

Lance.