Rating: NNN
After years of moonlighting as a blues sideman (with the likes of Big Dave McLean and Paul Reddick), Edmonton songwriter Ben Sures has finally made his first blues record.
Unlike Sures’s last album, Gone To Bolivia, which was bursting at the seams with quirky wordplay, Son Of Trouble shows his less challenging sillier side as well as his obvious fondness for diverse forms of the genre. (He includes a Los Zafiros cover and his version of a love song by Boubacar Traoré.)
The original tunes’ lyrics focus on sex and romance: wooing a new lady, remembering flings from bygone eras. But what the songs lack in substance they make up in musical pizzazz. Reddick returns the sideman favour on harmonica and vocal harmonies, and band members (including Ken Whiteley) sound like they’re laughing their asses off hollering along to Eat Drink And Make Babies.
Top track: Where Are They Now
Ben Sures plays the Supermarket Wednesday (October 2).
