The Mississippi Hippies - John Valenteyn's Maple Blues CD Review

(back) -JOHN'S BLUES PICKS/MAPLE BLUES MAGZINE- MISSISSIPPI HIPPIES
Perhaps oddly named for a local band, the teaming of John Dickie with Gord and Hugh Leggat, of Foot in Coldwater fame, has resulted in a smoking album of New Orleans-flavoured rocking Blues. With John at his high-powered best on vocals and harp, Gord Leggat on guitars, Hugh Leggat on bass & guitar, Mike Sloski on drums, Norm Brown and Rob Gusevs on keys, Gord Myers on trombone, Chris Mitchell on saxes and Pat Perez on tenor, this is one exciting band. All the songs are by Leggat/Leggat/Dickie and particular attention goes to "Dangerous Curves" and, harp-led "Don't You Touch My Hair".

Dickie gets to turn down the power and turn up the soul on "Ain't Got the Blues" with its great horns. "Luv Pad" starts out as a solo Country Blues but soon charges up to turn into a fine full-band rocker. This one and a couple of the others seem to have rather more firepower than the lyric requires but this too is a New Orleans tradition and the songs sure are fun to listen to. Every one shows careful attention to the arrangements with subtle and clever shifts in instrumentation everywhere. It's a pleasure to report that all the obvious effort has paid off. This band was supposed to open for and then back Long John Baldry on his summer tour but now he's in a Vancouver hospital. Let's hope he recovers soon and that many other opportunities arise to see this band. Get this CD! - by John Valenteyn/ Maple Blues Magazine /May/05

RARE AND GENUINE EXCITEMENT - by Greg Quill/ Toronto Star/ In joyful acknowledgement of Toronto’s enduring passion for bedrock Blues, these proudly un-reconstituted Young St. saloon warriors bring a raw and elemental edge to 10 originals that recall the trademark antics of every major American Blues legend from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Chuck Berry and James Brown, and pull it off with great authority and, more importantly, without actually mimicking their mentors....read more!

LIVINBLUES CD REVIEW by Gary Tate - Who cares about such details as to why they call themselves The Mississippi Hippies, especially when you're getting an adrenalin rush from their explosive carnival of 'rock-em/sock-em' revivalism. These musical Canadian veterans, by way of Toronto, have souls firmly immersed in the rich Delta soil that cultivated the likes of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and Bo Diddley...read more!

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