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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

DION:

SON OF SKIP JAMES

(VERVE FORECAST) ***

He's best known for doo-wop and streetwise, East Coast rock 'n' roll, but Dion DiMucci was brought up on blues, folk and country like all the early rockers.

"Son of Skip James" is more than a tribute to the blues. Even singing and playing other writers' words and melodies, DiMucci makes them sound personal.

His Christianity, ever preachy and all the more affecting for that, colors the title track and the Dylanesque "The Thunderer." Those two cuts lead into the finale of "Preachin' Blues," "If I Had Possession (Over Judgment Day)" and "Devil Got My Woman," backing DiMucci's liner note assertion that the blues is "the naked cry of the human heart to be in union with God." So much for the devil's music.

Download this: "The Thunderer"

Curtis Ross

KATE NASH:

MADE OF BRICKS

(GEFFEN) ***

Kate Nash isn't the new Lily Allen - and that's not a bad thing. She's doing her own thing.

This 20-something Brit is gully meets pop, catchy and fun. The album is like a blog chock full of accented everyday musings set to tunes that match their mood. Thoughts are simple and cut to the chase. Case in point, there are two song titles we can't even put in print.

There's a lot of talk about relationships and other twitterpated syncopations, plus personal moments of clarity and bitterness. And all the music was written and performed by the kid, with the exception of two tracks.

Let's just hope Kate doesn't have to go to rehab.

Download this: "Pumpkin Soup"

Sarah Hoye

POPA CHUBBY:

DELIVERIES AFTER DARK

(BLIND PIG) **½

"Deliveries After Dark" delivers just what the beefy Bronx bluesman promises: rocking blues so visceral you can almost smell the cigarette smoke and stale beer of the clubs he likes to play.

Chubby is not one for subtlety.

His lyrics are as raw as the music. Sounding like a cross between the all-out rock of Aerosmith and the soaring electric guitar blues of Jimi Hendrix, Chubby (born Ted Horowitz) even throws in some white-boy gangsta action on "I'll Piss on Your Grave," a bluesy paean to music-industry rivalries.

Nothing really new here, but this disc is like a fun barroom hookup.

Download this: Theme from "The Godfather"

Howard Altman

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