Paul Orwell
Organized Blues
Heavy Soul Records [2016]
Fire Drill Album Review: How do you follow up a ’60s style fun rocker like Paul Orwell’s excellent Blowing Your Mind Away (2015)? Well – if you are the mod artist Orwell, you follow it with a mid-‘60s R&B bang of a record that features 12 heavy Hammond organ instrumentals. That is right – instrumental organ jams!
You may think TFN has lost their head but trust when I say that Organized Blues is an upbeat trip from the opening fire starter “Don’t Do As I Do (Just Do As I Say)” to Orwell’s arrangement of Neal Hefti’s Batman theme on the closing “Badman.” Of course this record is not just some English dude plucking away at chopsticks but finds Orwell rolling up and down the octaves while blaring out the electric keys with force.
An organ also cannot stand alone to turn the heat up here as the record is rounded out from the help of some well-placed horns, drums and guitar. If you are a person that thinks instrumental records may not be your thing – Organized Blues will make you think again!
Paul Orwell Website
Paul Orwell Facebook
Heavy Soul Records
– Reviewed by Christopher Anthony
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