Soledad Brothers

Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move (Estrus)
by Grady Gadbow

If I ever bought a one-way train ticket to some distant city, taking nothing but an old guitar and a hundred bucks to seek my fortune as a drifter, secretly thinking, “This is so cool!”, I’d have albums like this one to blame. It’s not the first Delta blues-type rock album to ever peak my interest, damn sure it won’t be the last either. It’s as cool as Saturday night. As cool as sunglasses. As cool as Blackjack. Fuhgeddaboudit.

I like the shout-outs to “all the kids in the Cass Corridor,” the most desolate urban landscape in the world. Sweet.

Track three is some sort of acoustic classical thingy called “This Guitar Says I’m Sorry,” and it’s not that cool. There’s really no cool way to say you’re sorry. Rock ‘n’ roll is not apologetic. Let’s try and keep it that way. Sure enough, your boy starts the next track with, “My Name is Johnny. You Deal with Me Now.” Shit, the guy’s name is Johnny Walker. How cool is that?
(PO Box 2125 Bellingham, WA 98227)