Black Pearl is a brand new rock-blues project featuring Marcus Malone, Muddy Manninen and Pete Feenstra.
Marcus will be familiar to the British Blues circuit for his powerful festival performances and Muddy has the credentials as a former member of Wishbone Ash.
Our very own top British blues DJ/ Blues /promoter also contributes as a songwriter.
The album opens with ‘Angel Town’ a solid guitar based rock blues followed by ‘Cheap Perfume’ which has more of the same. ‘Deliveryman with its wah and slide infused Americana has shades of Little Feat about it. ‘Handmade Pearl’ has a more laid back groove while ‘Luxury girl’ at time has a vocal delivery that reminds me of David Bowie.
There is a great funky vibe to ‘Mexican Romance’ and ‘Natural Light’ is a real powerhouse blues rocker. The album closes with ‘She Knows Every Move’ which has a great percussive groove throughout.
The guitar work as you would expect from these two guys is great throughout, the songs are well constructed and the album is well produced.
However, there is something missing to my ears, the whole does not equal the sum of its parts. I’ve always been a fan of Marcus vocal delivery style, which is powerful and similar to Paul Rogers, check out his blues radio album and you will get my drift.
In this album I think there is a lack of conviction of belief in Marcus’s voice, which is a shame as Pete’s great lyrics tend occasionally to get lost as a result.
Anyhow that aside, please doesn’t let me put you off. Please give this album a spin.
Review by Ged Wilson
BLUES IN THE SOUTH REVIEW May 2022
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